Iranian Resilience
Back in 2023 I had the honor of meeting with former Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi while he was in New York for the General Assembly debate. He provided me and the others in attendance with a very frank and detailed assessment of the situation in Iran following the tragic death of Mahsa Amini in police custody in 2022. He described the massive internal unrest that followed as the greatest threat to the Islamic government of Iran since the revolution. He stated that foreign intelligence services had taken advantage of societal fractures and were seeking to break Iran apart. He stated that Iran had been able to defeat these outside forces, and was a stronger nation because of it.
Raisi died in a helicopter crash in May 2024. He was replaced by the current President, Masoud Pezeshkian. In September 2025 I was again invited to a meeting with President Pezeshkian in New York. He stated that Raisi’s death had led to a division in the Iranian government about policy on how to deal with the West. He said that foreign intelligence services, led by Israel and the US, sought to exploit these divisions, and that the decapitation attack carried out by Israel with the assistance of the United States in June 2025 was designed to collapse the Iranian government and create an opportunity for anti-government forces to take control. Pezeshkian noted that these efforts failed, and that Iran emerged from the 12 Day War with Israel and the United States more united than ever.
The effort to topple the Iranian government was a major Israeli/United States objective. Both Israel and the United States have pulled out all the stops to create the current unrest in Iran. But the Iranian victory against the foreign-led opposition in 2023, combined with the unification of political purpose which emerged after the June 2025 war, has made Iran extremely resilient against outside efforts to overthrow the Islamic government.
The Iranian government is on the verge of fundamentally defeating the foreign supported opposition in Iran today. This has Israel in a panic, because they have burned the totality of their resources in Iran in support of the current unrest. The United States as well is concerned that an Iranian government victory today will make it impossible to change the regime in Tehran. There is a real danger that the United States and Israel may launch attacks on Iran in the near future designed to weaken and discredit the Iranian government while providing military cover for the opposition forces carrying out acts of violence in Iran today.
It is highly unlikely that these attacks will succeed in their own right. They will, however, trigger an Iranian response that will disrupt oil production in the Middle East for a significant period of time.
This appears to be the goal of the Trump administration, and explains in large part the timing of the United States attack on Venezuela, which sought to secure Venezuelan oil in anticipation of a new energy crisis triggered by a joint US-Israeli attack on Iran.
The world is looking at a deliberate attack on global energy security as a means of bringing down Iran, weakening Russia, and destabilizing BRICS.
As you said before Scott, Trump is at least honest about what he wants, in the same way a child sees candy/sweets or toys and excitedly jumps up and down, pointing to the items of desire whilst annoying the hell out of the parent by their incessant 'I want! I want! I want!!', as they tug, weep, and act in a manner that should see them bent over a knee and ... well I dare not say it, but I think you get the picture.
I wish fervently however that there was a 'parent' that would put Trump over their knee and spank some discipline and empathy into this violent, arrogant, spoilt child of 'peace'. I really do not want to see Iran harmed. Like Russia, they have been subjected to hate from the West since before I was born, and over time, just as with Russia, I have come to see a different version, a true version of these countries, a version that fills me with respect and awe, not hate and derision.
I really hope that Iran is able to defend itself properly, and stamp out the machinations against them (I think you will have a much better understanding of what is possible than I), just as I wish and cheer Russia on towards a very necessary victory, but saying that, I don't wish for the death or harm of Americans, or Iranians, Russians, Ukrainians, or anyone, even though I hate the political reality in America, and indeed my own country the UK.
I am sick of the lies told about these nations, the false histories, the constant undermining by the CIA, MI6, and many other spook entities who seem intent on doing the very work of the Devil, lying to their own people, narcissistically projecting the very things they are guilty of onto others, all for the purpose of controlling their resources and people. All for the sake of Empire, a concept that needs to be left in the past, and never revisited.
It is all about undermining BRICS, about saving the petro-dollar, and Global conquest. I know there are plenty who would say I'm being naive, and point to this or that to tar the entire Iranian nation with the same brush, indeed I have to put up with such from even friends who think we, the West, have the right to change other countries, to Police them and not ourselves - to those I say remember Jesus's words - and here I am paraphrasing -
'Why do you seek to remove the Straw from your Brother's eye, yet ignore the rafter in your own? First remove the rafter from your own eye, that you may see clearly how to help your brother remove the straw from his'. No doubt I will get kick-back for daring to apply those words to this, but those words are true (even if I didn't quote them verbatim, the meaning is the same).
I really hope that Russia, and China will step up, and help to protect Iran against the West's lawless desires, indeed I wish all those countries that fear American led aggression and greed against them would unite, and send the West a message that cannot be ignored, regardless of religion, and even rivalries, as they should know by now that they are next.
I, like Putin, wish to see a Multi-Polar World with all our different cultures celebrated, respected, and keeping our noses out of other's business. I wish to see a World that obeys, respects, and lives by law.
Every nation was born from chaos, and grew into law, and without it no nation can be a nation, no peoples a people. Lawlessness is the antithesis of society, of unity, of nationhood. No group can exist without it, no country can, and neither can this Planet. If it is everyone for themselves, and might is right, or my way is the only way, we lose the best of ourselves, and we lose the best that life has to offer.
Consider the level of psychopathy that our leadership manifests at all levels. This cannot be fixed at the ballot box nor can their pathology be fixed by medical intervention. Things are going wild weasel now. It cannot be stopped.