This is literally the exact same tactics the Dune Imperium tried to pull off on Arrakis before getting completely humbled lmao. What’s next, the Iranians gonna lob a surprise nuke family atomics at a nearby mountain to cause a landslide?

To be fair, statements from IRGC/ Iranian armed forces officials have been a lot better during the war, and they did correct Pezeshkian not long after he made such comments. And they have also lost a lot of their senior leadership in the opening day of the war which has probably severely disrupted Iran’s ability to push a cohesive counternarrative to US propaganda.

It also doesn’t help that US/ Western media influence and soft power has dominated the globe for decades and has a huge advantage thanks to the Cold War victory. I don’t expect Iran, Russia, or even China to match the propaganda of the Epstein regime because the latter has a massive head start.

Here’s some bonus Iranian political drama that’ll make you laugh:

Iranian parliament member is furious about the remarks made by Iran’s president, Pezeshkian, today.

Iranian MP says: “Mr. Pezeshkian’s weak, unprofessional, and publicly unacceptable televised address has made it the definitive duty of the Presidium and members of the Assembly of Experts to bring the activities of this temporary council to an end and appoint the future leader as soon as possible.

Saw an interesting theory from Middle East Spectator Telegram channel in regard to Pezeshkian’s latest comments on Iran stopping their attacks on certain countries that I will share below:

So what happened? Here’s my own theory: Two days ago, Iran struck Azerbaijan (according to Aliyev). Aliyev then says Iran must apologize or face retaliation. The IRGC at the time already denied the strike, saying it was not carried out by them.

Today, after detecting signs of an imminent Azerbaijani attack, President Pezeshkian issued this statement of ‘apology’ to reassure Azerbaijan that Iran will not strike neighbourly countries (like itself) unless facing attacks from them. The Armed Forces Spokesman quickly confirmed and repeated this, and also added that this refers to countries ‘we have not attacked AND will not attack’ (again reiterating that Iran did not strike Azerbaijan).

This is clearly not about the Gulf, because we took responsibility for those strikes. Pezeshkian’s wording was confusing and should have been better. But it was regarding Azerbaijan, NOT the Persian Gulf states.

This theory seems to be backed by the fact that Iran is still sending missiles and drones into the gulf states in the last few hours.

President Pezeshkian: ‘Yesterday, in the temporary leadership council, we made the decision that from now on, Iran will not attack neighbouring countries unless attacks are carried out from there’

Source: https://t.me/Middle_East_Spectator/30008

I highly doubt this is because Iran is running low on missile stockpiles (it should be noted that their missile bases in the Eastern provinces have barely been used in this war) so what is the reason for this move?

My speculation: It could be Iran signalling a potential off-ramp to Arab gulf states that they will spare them from further attacks if they stop collaborating with the US; in practice I doubt the gulf states have any ability to challenge US presence on their soil without a massive grassroots uprising so I don’t think the current circumstances will change unless the US chooses to pull out completely. If anything, this is just the leadership council making it clear why these gulf states are being attacked and giving justification for future strikes.

It could also be the Iranian military changing their strategy to prioritize US military targets, especially with the rumours that the US will launch a ground invasion soon and Iran is anticipating this.

Edit: changed source to adhere to mod general notice.

There are rumours circulating online that Azerbaijan may join in if it happens. This is fuelled by the fact that they are currently doing a military build-up on their border with Iran, and they withdrew their embassy staff in Tehran earlier today.

I fully expect the Kurdish separatist groups in Iraq to join in too.

Ansarallah has the opportunity to do the funniest thing of the century.

Tweet update says Polymarket took the bet down after the OG tweet made it viral lmao.

Critical support to all hispanics for being the most principled and least morally corrupt Westerners in 2026 (minus Argentina and El Salvador).

Finally got off my computer after being stuck to it the last 4 days and touched some grass.

Would be nice if China snuck in some drones and anti-air defences as a part of this deal. A “win-win cooperation” as they like to say.

Pahlavi: “I’m in charge of Iran’s future!”

Trump: puts bigly hand on Reza’s shoulder “Do you feel in charge?”

IIRC Iranian state media reported earlier this week the Assembly of Experts was doing the voting electronically and would not meet in-person.

So Israel is definitely lying here.

Only Democracy in the Middle East btw.

“It’s just not as easy as that. Millions of people in Nazi Germany are innocent Aryans just born in Nazi Germany. We can’t just move people around like cattle. The solution will always be to eradicate hate, get rid of Hitler, and work towards a peaceful co-existence.”

That song is gonna need an update by the end of this decade lmao.

Power doesn’t panic.

Essentially the Hitler Youth being raised by their fascist education system.

Probably even more radicalized thanks to social media giving confirmation bias.

What the fuck was the US expecting? You murder their head of state, his immediate family (Khamenei’s daughter, grandson, and son-in-law all died too btw), a significant portion of the senior leadership, at least hundreds of civilians including an elementary girl’s school full of children that were blown up as morning classes started and NOW you expect mercy and concession from the Iranians?

That isn’t gunboat diplomacy, that’s a fucking gunboat massacre. The Yankees have gotten so high off bullying/ extorting/ terrorizing/ killing so many smaller, weaker, poorer nations without any repercussions in the last 40 years they thought they could just easily waltz into Iran and take what they want by force.

I hope the Great Satan gets absolutely humiliated in this war and the amount of pain it has inflicted on Iran gets flung back to the mainland one hundred fold when the empire inevitably collapses.

I don’t really see how that strategy is achieved by attacking a vessel that is known for carrying Iranian oil AND is already sanctioned by the US. If it’s to spite the UAE where the logistics company is based in ok sure, but that still doesn’t explain the reason to attack this tanker in particular. Would this not create an effect of other logistics companies not wanting to work with Iran anymore because they will now be afraid of their vessels being attacked regardless of how much they aid Iran economically?

You have to remember that Iran also needs the strait to export its oil and gas (of which China is a major buyer), and closing the strait for everyone would impact their economy significantly as well.

To recap, Iranian state media have confirmed the killing of the following state officials in the last 24 hours:

• Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, supreme leader

• Ali Shamkhani, Khamenei’s security adviser

• General Abdul Rahim Mousavi, Iran’s armed forces chief of staff

• Aziz Nasirzadeh, defence minister

• Mohammad Pakpour, IRGC commander-in-chief

The Islamic Republic News Agency have stated more commanders of the armed forces have also been killed and that their names will be announced later.

As to how Iran has handled the command structure since Khamenei’s martyrdom, there is currently a three-member temporary leadership council chosen by the Expediency Discernment Council (who in turn were all appointed by the Supreme Leader as a sort of supreme advisory council) that have been granted the legal powers of the Supreme Leader to govern the country.

The three members of said leadership council are:

• Ayatollah Alireza Arafi, a Cleric that is also part of the Guardian Council, which is another council that oversees the legislature and the electoral system.
• President Masoud Pezeshkian (yes, he’s still alive lol)
• Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, another Cleric who is also the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Iran. He is also reportedly a hardliner.

As for how the next Supreme Leader will be chosen, this duty officially lies with the Assembly of Experts, yet another powerful council that advises the Supreme Leader and whose members were approved by the Guardian Council, and the Supreme Leader, AND chosen by direct elections every 8 years.

Don’t ask me how this works and which branch/ council has more power than the other, the entire political system of the Islamic Republic is quite confusing for me and I’m still learning.