https://x.com/arashreisi/status/2040885998817591779 Arash Reisinezhad @arashreisi Emerging evidence suggests that U.S. operations south of Isfahan (marked in red on the map) were unrelated to any pilot rescue mission.
The downed American pilot was reportedly located in southwest Iran, near Kohgiluyeh and Boyer-Ahmad Province (marked in blue on the map), not central Iran.
Instead, this appears to have been a failed heliborne insertion aimed at locating uranium within Iran.
The recent dismissal of seasoned U.S. generals may not be coincidental; it may reflect internal resistance to such high-risk operations.
Given Iran’s increasingly effective air defense, and the apparent failure of this mission, the viability of future heliborne incursions deep into Iranian territory is now in serious doubt and may ultimately be abandoned.
[X]
Arash Reisinezhad @arashreisi Firing top U.S. generals is not routine; rather it signals resistance inside the military to a ground invasion of Iran. When seasoned commanders are sidelined, it suggests the push for escalation is political, not strategic.
History is clear: Ignore the counsel of experienced generals, and failure may follow!
[x] Last edited 10:53 AM · Apr 3, 2026
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Was Pilot Rescue A Nuclear Seizure PLOT Gone Wrong? Breaking Points Apr 6, 2026
Krystal and Saagar discuss the rescue operation of the downed US pilot in Iran.
US satellite firm Planet Labs announces blackout on war on Iran images. Company says move amid US-Israel war on Iran comes after a request from the US government. by AFP and Reuters 5 April 2026
Satellite imaging company Planet Labs has said it will indefinitely withhold visuals of Iran and the region of conflict in the Middle East to comply with a request from United States President Donald Trump’s administration.
The US company announced the decision in an email to customers on Saturday, with news agencies quoting it as saying the government had asked satellite imagery providers to impose an “indefinite withhold of imagery”.
The restriction expands upon a 14-day delay on imagery of the Middle East that Planet Labs implemented last month, which extended an initial 96-hour delay, a move the firm said was meant to prevent adversaries from using the imagery to attack the US and its allies.
Planet Labs said it will withhold imagery dating back to March 9 and that it expects the policy to remain in effect until the end of the war, which began on February 28 when the US and Israel launched aerial attacks against Iran. The conflict has since spread across the region, with Iran firing missile and drone barrages at Israel and US assets, as well as civilian infrastructure across the Gulf.
Planet Labs, which was founded in 2010 by former NASA scientists, said in its email to customers that it would switch to a “managed distribution of images” deemed not to pose a risk to safety.
Under a new system, Planet Labs will release imagery on a case-by-case basis for urgent, mission-critical requirements or in the public interest.
“These are extraordinary circumstances, and we are doing all we can to balance the needs of all our stakeholders,” the California-based company was quoted as saying.
Military uses of satellite technology include target identification, weapons guidance, missile tracking and communications. Some space specialists say Iran could be accessing commercial imagery, including pictures obtained via US adversaries. Satellite images also help journalists and academics studying hard-to-reach places.
Iran AMBUSHES US Special Ops, Trump BEGS for 45-Day Ceasefire | Jon Elmer & Justin Podur Danny Haiphong Apr 6, 2026
Iran just exposed a major US ground operation masquerading as a rescue operation of the F-15 pilot and the consequences are devastating. Now Trump is responding with pleas for 45-day ceasefire while escalating the war rhetorically as Iran hits back for the 98th wave of Operation True Promise 4. Jon Elmer of the Resistance Report and Justin Podur of the anti-Empire project join the show to break down the latest military updates.
Is the Iranian War About to Become Apocalyptic? (w/ Trita Parsi) | The Chris Hedges Report The Chris Hedges YouTube Channel Apr 6, 2026
Transcript
Donald Trump on Easter of all days issued an expletive laden threat to Iran in which he demanded the regime quote open theing straight of Hormuz you crazy bastards. He vowed to target the country's energy and transport infrastructure which is a war crime. His latest rant is part of a pattern of incendiary rhetoric, including a threat to bomb Iranians, quote, "Back to the stone age where they belong. Tuesday will be power plant day and bridge day all wrapped up in one in Iran," he posted. There will be nothing like it. Open the straight, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in hell. Just watch. Praise be to Allah, President Donald J. Trump. Leaving aside the obvious questions about Trump's mental stability, the threat comes as the Trump White House approaches yet another self-imposed deadline. By tomorrow, Iran must reopen the Strait of Hormuz, one of the world's most important shipping lanes for oil and gas, or according to Trump, face apocalyptic retribution. The strait has been effectively closed since the US and Israel launched the war in Iran in February and has seen global oil prices skyrocket. What does this latest deadline portend? Will it be extended in desperation as past deadlines by the US have been? Or will it signal an escalation of the war? One where vital energy facilities and infrastructure, including desalination plants, will be targeted by Israel and the United States, as well as by Iran. Iran insists that it will only open the strait after receiving compensation for war damages paid via a new legal regime based on transit fees imposed on shipping in the straight. Joining me to discuss the looming Tuesday deadline in the war on Iran is Tita Parsy, an expert on US Iranian relations, Iranian foreign policy, and the geopolitics of the Middle East. He is the author of four books on US foreign policy in the Middle East with a particular focus on Iran and Israel. He is the co-founder and executive vice president of the Quincy Institute and the co-founder and former president of the National Iranianamerican Council. He has served as an adjunct professor of international relations at John's Hopkins Universities, SIS, New York University, Georgetown University, and George Washington University, as well as an adjunct scholar at the Middle East Institute and as a policy fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington DC. So Trita, let's begin with this self-imposed deadline, the newest that I spoke about in the introduction. Uh but it does seem although these, you know, the these self-imposed deadlines have been extended, it does seem that we have reached a very frightening point where there's serious consideration of massive escalation in desperation uh obviously driven by desperation. Is is that where you see us headed? I fear that is where we are. We can see a pattern in which Trump is issuing angrier and angrier tweets with all kinds of deadlines and threats of escalation. He has largely backed off from actualizing many of those knowing very well that he doesn't have escalation dominance. So take a look at what the situation is in the Persian Gulf right now. For instance, we have high oil prices because the Iranians are not letting the tankers through. Um uh you know, they're letting some through but not all. Uh they're trying to collect transit fees, etc. But we don't have a destruction of the oil infrastructure in the region. And this is deliberate. Now, if the United States goes after the power plants and other type of infrastructure in Iran, the Iranians have threatened that they will go after the oil infrastructure in the region. If that happens, we're not just in a situation in which right now oil prices are high because of a bottleneck in the Persian Gulf, but once that bottleneck is open, the oil will flow rather quickly. We will be in a situation in which the oil will not flow for quite some time because there will be a production problem. It can take to years to rebuild all of those different things. that would cause a prolonged and much higher level of oil prices that would destroy Trump's presidency and throw the world most likely into a global depression. So precisely because of these reasons, Trump has so far been very careful not to go that full distance. But because of his desperation, because of his false belief that he's still in a strong position, they can dictate the terms to the Iranians and his psychological refusal to accept the fact that in order to get out of this war, he actually has to give some concessions, there is a likelihood that he will just go all out and do something absolutely insane, potentially using non-conventional weapons. So that risk cannot be discounted because if we presume rationality, well, we wouldn't be in this position in the first place. There's nothing rational about being in this war or having started this war under this false belief that the Iranians would cave or collapse within days. And of course, the other question is how desperate is Israel? I don't think the Israelis are desperate, but I think the Israelis are very comfortable knowing that they can keep on pushing Trump uh in the direction that they want him. I mean, take a look at, for instance, where he's now suddenly saying that he will bomb Iran back to the stone age. And then on top of that, he said, uh, we will set them back and then the next president may have to bomb them again. That's the exact Israeli blueprint for their strategy of mowing the grass. Uh, this is not the way the US has been conducting war. You know, the US, as much as it it's committed a lot of atrocities in Iraq and Afghanistan, the United States did not deliberately target universities Iraq. But that is what the Israelis have been doing in Gaza and in Lebanon. And this is exactly what they're doing right now together with the US and Iran. Sharif University, their top university was hit just yesterday. So we're seeing the Israelization of America's conduct of the war, but also of the goals of the war in which uh you know mowing the grass strategy which by definition means an endless state of war with Iran is now being embraced by Donald Trump. That's a sign of desperation and a sign of the control or or the influence that the Israelis have over his direction. uh if there is an escalation, a military escalation, if they hit for instance the oil facilities on Kharg Island, if they actually strike the power plants uh in Iran, what do you see the Iranians doing at that point? And I see them targeting uh um refineries as well as power grids in the GCC countries and in Israel. And as I mentioned that will create a completely different oil crisis than compared to what we have right now. Right now this is just because of a bottleneck in that other scenario will be because of infrastructure being destroyed, production being uh uh degraded. that's going to cause a completely different type of a scenario that ultimately will likely destroy Trump's presidency. And this is part of the reason why he's refrain from going in that direction so far. But out of this desperation and which he realizes he is not in control. He cannot dictate the terms. He cannot decide when this war ends or when it uh uh pauses. Uh there is a risk that he will go down this path. Right now, the US is apparently putting forward these phased uh ceasefire proposals and then Trump gets more and more frustrated because the Iranians are rejecting them. But why would any country at this point agree to a phased ceasefire? Would the United States and Israel, mindful of the track record that Israel and the United States have in Lebanon and in Gaza in which these ceasefires have been violated uh within by the Israelis without any repercussions from the US and we have never reached phase two or phase three because they were not meant to go to that point. And if you take a look at the proposal that has been put on the table so far, it is essentially asking the Iranians to give up all of their leverage in phase one. And then there's a huge question mark as to whether there ever will be an achievement of reaching phase two. Well, that's every agreement going back to Camp David. They're they're always written in phases. Israel gets what it wants in the first phase and ignores every other phase. That's that's the pattern for those of us who have covered the Middle East. Indeed. And when we when it comes to Gaza, for instance, the Israelis were very I mean, they're not even hiding it. They were very clearcut. They're never going to go to phase two. Uh and and uh the Trump administration thought that at least phase two would be achievable, but they knew themselves that phase three was never going to be achieved. At at this point, if you're serious about diplomacy, you don't put forward proposals of that kind and lowballing uh because it simply won't go anywhere. And if you don't have time on your side, which Trump does not, getting serious means that you actually put some real compromises on the table. And so far, we have not seen that. Well, you also had strikes on Iran in June and then again starting on February th with this war in the midst of negotiations. Exactly. Twice Iran now has been struck by two nuclear weapons states in the middle of negotiations. So all of that adds to a scenario in which the Iranians are not going to agree to anything that does not end the war in a durable manner. End the war, not just cause some sort of a ceasefire. Um, and within that also they're going to be asking for concessions that the US probably thought it would never have to give, such as uh lifting of the sanctions. They may not agree to completely open the straight. They may actually try to install a transit fee system permanently and use their control of the straits not to end the war but to negotiate uh or manage the relations with states after the war. States who in the past used to have economic relations with Iran but who cut those economic relations in the last years because of pressure from the United States. It seems like the Iranians are going to try to use this leverage to rein restart those economic relations with those states rather than using it uh for some sort of a uh negotiations with the United States. If that is the case, it tells you something of what type of assessment the Iranians have themselves of their position of weakness or strength. And they may be miscalculating as well and overplaying their hands. But it shows you that the distance between where the US is and where the Iranians believe they are is so massive that any negotiation um that is based on these type of lowball things are are absolute non-starters and are probably setting back the cause of uh ending this war. Well, that's what we get for having two Zionist asset Jared Kushner and Steve Witov running our negotiations with Iran. I think at the end of the day though um the real issue is that it's not the negotiators not to say you know in defending them or how they conduct themselves or even if they know anything about these subjects the details that have come out of from the Geneva round of negotiations really are frankly embarrassing in terms of how little technical knowledge uh coffin and Kushner appear to have had uh and as a result opportunities you know they contributed to those opportunities being missed but the fundamental problem is who the negotiators are reporting to and that is Trump and with him right now you have a scenario in which he had been lulled into this belief that the Iranian regime is so weak it has no choice but to capitulate and all you need to do is to push it a little bit whether it's through military threats or actually taking military action and they will either implode internally or they will surrender and that was a fundamental misread of the situation But it was not a misread from the Israeli side. I think the Israelis knew very well that that was not the reality. But they knew also that the only way you could convince Trump to do something like this, take military action, adopt a regime change policy, things he had promised his base that he wouldn't do, the only way you could do that is to convince him that it's going to be so easy. It's just going to be a repeat of Venezuela. And as a result, you're better off doing that than to negotiate a deal and agree to a compromise with Iranians. And that mindset ruined the negotiations and then also led to this war being turned into a debacle. You already have the Iranians imposing tariffs, fees, whatever you want to call it. I think it's $million per oil tanker. I think those tankers have about $million worth of oil. They've already set up this kind of toll booth system in the straight. They have, but it has not been I mean de facto is operating right now. Even the French apparently now are getting some ships through and I suspect that there's going to be a larger number of countries that will negotiate either collectively or their bilateral deals with Iran. But whether that is a temporary situation on war or whether that becomes a permanent mechanism post-war remains a question. Clearly the Iranians want to go towards the latter making sure that this is now a permanent situation. If that ends up becoming one of the long-term outcomes of this war, u then that it's a clear sign of what a disastrous decision it was for the United States to initiate this war in the first place. But there's still a lot of question marks as to whether that mechanism in the long run will work, will be accepted, etc. But right now, that is where the Iranians have their mindset. I want to talk about the diaspora. I was in a Persian restaurant in New York on Saturday and the owner told me when the on February th when they assassinated the supreme leader, they all broke out the champagne. Um, and but there is this disconnect between the diaspora, the Iranian diaspora. Uh and I think at this point the citizens of Iran were watching uh their schools be obliterated with the death of what's the final count school girls uh you know basic infrastructure being they just hit a petrochemical plant um and it reminds me very much of the Iraq war where you had figures like Anan McKaya and Chalabi and others kind of cheering on the destruction of Iraq. Can you speak to that issue? Sure. Absolutely. First of all, I think it's important to know that those people in the diaspora who were cheering the war, not just the assassination of how many, but actually wanted more war, were never a majority in the community, but they had become a very strong plur plurality just in the last year or so, which in and of itself is quite astonishing. Mindful of the fact that just years ago, support for war within the Iranian-American community was less than %. So some things clearly had shifted. Uh the latest poll done by the National Iranian-American Council that was published last week showed that two-thirds of the Iranian-American community opposed this war. But this brings us to the other parallel that you just mentioned in regards to Iraq. Back in those Iraqi voices, Iraqi American voices that were cheerleading this war, they were paraded on mainstream media going from channel to channel begging the United States to bomb their ancestral home. The same thing happened here in which a lot of those voices were overwhelmingly invited onto all mainstream media shows to kind of give um uh an Iranian face to this war to humanize it to say that essentially this is done out of humanitarian concerns. Um those voices were never representative of the majority of the community and that right now they're representative of a a shrinking minority because more and more people are understandably turning against this war. They had been criminally naive, thinking that this was going to be a quick affair and that this would liberate the country, that Israel would bring democracy to Iran in the midst of its ongoing genocide in Gaza. Criminally naive, but nevertheless, people are understandably turning away from that position. But it is the mainstream media that I think more than anything else have been responsible for giving everyone the impression that that is the totality of the Iranian-American community, whereas it wasn't even a majority to begin with. It is a shrinking minority now, but still those are the voices that are being paraded on TV just as they were in the Iraq war. I want to talk about the sanctions. Um Iran is a wealthy country. Uh it uh had uh a thriving middle class. We should also be clear, Iranians like Iraqis, I also worked in Iraq, are highly educated. A vast majority are highly educated. Um it's not in any way as uh you know the the kind of the way it's painted certainly by the Trump White House but often in the media. Um and the middle class is a bull work of any democracy. Our own disintegrating middle class certainly contributed to the rise of Trump and the right wing. Um, but many of the policies that the United States have has carried out since the the revolution uh I think have have been counterproductive to building democracy. And then we just have to throw in the Moseday the overthrow of Mosadegh by the CIA and British intelligence which at the time was the he was the prime minister and he wanted control of Iranian oil rather than turning it over to British petroleum. he was overthrown in a coup and that was one of the last if I have that correct truly functioning democracies in the Middle East which we destroyed. So, but talk a little bit about how this uh I don't think Israel United States actually wants democracy. That's why they're kind of pushing the Shaw's son on on us. Not so much Trump, but certainly the Israelis. But talk a little bit about how counterproductive our policies have been and how those policies have really um uh played to the advantage of this uh Ayatollah, you know, the Ayatollah-led regime. No, you're you're absolutely right and you're putting your finger on something very important that goes to explain why you had % support for military strikes years ago and and then suddenly a strong minority uh in the community uh above % but not that um uh in the beginning of this war were in favor of it. Obviously the fundamental factor is the repression of the Iranian uh government itself that has intensified but the question is why has it intensified and here the sanctions come in as a very important factor between and when the JCPA was in effect and the US had lifted or at least waved its sanctions the Iranian economy grew to% every year the middle class was getting stronger um and if this had continued for another years if the US had never walked out of the JCPOA and sanctions had remained. This is just for people who don't know this is the Obama correct uh the the agreement which freed up I think billions you probably know the exact figure of Iranian frozen assets correct frozen assets were freed up but more importantly the Iranians were were able to sell oil again uh investments could be flowing in it didn't happen to the extent that the Iranians hoped for but nevertheless even in that limited sense their economy grew to %. If that had continued, economists have uh made calculations, Iran's middle class would have become the strongest, if not one of the strongest middle classes in the Middle East by years after the signing of the JCPOA. This would then have led to a scenario in which the Iranian middle class, as in all other middle classes, would be exerting pressure on their government for greater openness, political liberalization, same trends that we have seen in other places. But they would be doing so from a position of strength because the growing economy would have reduced the state's ability to control all means of production and assets and and uh uh income in the country. Instead, Trump walked out of the JCPOA, imposed even stricter sanctions on Iran, which then decimated the Iranian middle class. Between and onethird of Iran's middle class actually went into poverty. as a direct result of the sanctions. This then predictably led to an even more repressive Iranian government who had to use more repression in order to be able to sustain their own power in the country as the economy was deteriorating further. Then we saw the massive protest in around Masa Amini and of course the protest uh earlier in December and January uh in which the government was using more and more repressive means and in January killing several thousand uh protesters. And what you saw there is that as a result of this increased repression which to a large extent has to do with the economic situation which has very much to do with the sanctions uh being reimposed is that uh the population also then in reaction became radicalized. In they were protesting in favor of making sure that the election results would stand that there wouldn't be any election fraud. uh but it was about change within the system. By there was no demand for reform. It was a demand for the re the regime to fall altogether and the means for that was street protest and revolution. By the demands that we were increasingly hearing from the protesters was again no reform just get rid of this regime. But now suddenly at least a portion of the protesters a minority but nevertheless started asking for military uh intervention from the outside. The argument being that the population no longer is in a position to overthrow the government on its own. It has to have military intervention. So you had these protests again occurring of course but instead of being from a position of strength as they could have been had the sanctions been lifted now people were out there out of desperation and despair protesting from a position of weakness. Um and I think this is a very important lesson for us to understand because yes sanctions can destroy and devastate the economies of these countries but we have almost no examples in which the sanctions lead to successful protest movements that overthrow the government. More protest but less successful protests and more desperate protest. That's exactly the pattern that we have seen here and it tells us how counterproductive US policy has been. if we assume that the goal actually has been to see Iran move in a more liberal and and democratic direction. Now, the US government has admitted to also arming factions within Iran. Can you speak about that? Yes. So, we had Trump himself reveal it to uh a Fox News reporter that the US had been sending arms to the Kurdish rebels in Iran. Um, and on top of that, of course, we saw how both the Israelis were saying that they were on the ground. How we saw the uh former head of the CIA, Mike Pompeo, saying that the Mossad and others are on the ground and that armament, etc. have been shipped. I think what is emerging here with these revelations or admissions is that the protests in December and January were overwhelmingly peaceful and they were overwhelmingly by people who just came out out of their frustration and anger at the repression and mismanagement of the economy by the Iranian government. But there were also elements there who operated under the shadow of these protesters who the protesters had no relationship with and did not know about, who were armed and trained by Israel or the United States, who used extensive violence, burning banks, burning mosques, burning fire stations, killing a lot of um uh police and other members of the Basie for instance, which is something we had not I just want to interrupt you. The best seizure are these popular militias the popular militias for people who don't know which are used by the government to repress the population but you know despite the fact that they are of course extremely unpopular we had not seen this level of violence from protesters before the protesters were extensively peaceful with a very strong nonviolent discipline. Uh a person I spoke to who has essentially attended all protests in Iran since uh said that in if anyone started using violence or throwing stones at uh shops etc other protesters would intervene to keep a nonviolent discipline. This time around he said he was out protesting in ou in in in January but then he saw people dressed in black that seemed to move very coordinated planned way uh using violence and he saw no one intervening because people were as afraid of those violent elements as they were of the repressive representatives of the state and this is a phenomenon we had not seen before in Iran in the last years or so. And again, when Trump is coming out and saying, "Hey, we armed these people." It frankly makes sense. The picture is starting to become complete. Well, and that those armed attacks became the excuse for wholesale slaughter. We don't really know. I mean, Iranians killed in the streets, maybe more, but they became the excuse to gun people down all mass. Yeah. The Iranian government essentially started gunning people down on mass not making a distinction between you know uh peaceful legitimate protesters and others who have been trained and armed by foreign u uh services. Uh and as a result you had frankly a massacre. You know some people are throwing out the number etc. see no evidence for that. But reality is there is evidence for around and people killed is a ridiculous and horrific number of people killed by the Iranian government in just two days. Uh and that tells you something. It tells you how bad the situation was. Uh how how u perhaps desperate even the Iranian government was uh thinking that it was losing control and then allowed its militias to just use violence in an indiscriminate manner. There's an internet blackout. It's hard to get information. Um, but one senses from a distance, you know more than I do, that the mood within Iran is changing as Iranians understand that this is not about regime change. This is about the the destruction of the physical infrastructure of Iran to do to Iran, what Israel did to Gaza, what it's doing as I speak to southern Lebanon, and what it did to Syria um to turn Iran into a failed state. Absolutely. I think it's starting to become clear. I think it was clear to a lot of people, but for those um portions of the Iranian population who out of desperation thought perhaps military intervention can help them, it's starting to become very clear to them that this was never about them. This was never about their freedom. this was a campaign that had nothing to do with those things and that the goal of the Israelis always have been to turn Iran into a failed state because that takes Iran off of the geopolitical chessboard and Iran can no longer pose a challenge to Israel's designs for hegemony in the region if Iran turns into a failed state. Um, and I've written about this going years back that that was the Israeli objective with uh any war that they would be engaging or or starting. Uh and now I think it's become clear to a lot of folks that um you know they're they're they're not out there to help them but to destroy the country as a whole. And we're seeing at least on the side of folks inside of Iran that um uh you know more and more people are speaking out against this war even people who may have been part of the protest early on or who perhaps even were in favor of the war that they are shifting sides. Still some people I'm sure this is a huge country million people. you can find a lot of different opinions but the trend I think is quite clear and I think um what is not happening with the same clarity is within the diaspora and I think part of the reason is for many of those who took these strong positions in favor of the war they've essentially entered no man's land they don't know where to go from here uh and as a result they're just doubling down uh on the position that they held before and just becoming more and more radical to be able to essentially handle the cognitive dissonance for uh that they have put themselves in and put uh helped put their their compatriots in inside of Iran. We had a similar phenomenon happening in the s with a group called the Mujah which was an opposition group on the US labeled as a terrorist group by the United States. Exactly. Up until uh they sided with Saddam Hussein during the Iraq Iran war. They actually were a pretty popular group prior to that as part of the opposition to the Shaw. But because they sided with that invader, uh it was essentially their death now. And instead of reassessing uh and and rethinking what they had done, their response was to just double down and become more and more dependent on any foreign entity, a rival of Iran, that would seek use of them. And as a result, essentially they turn themselves into a hated group that became like a mercenary for any of Iran's geopolitical rivals. I fear that the monarchists may actually go in the same direction because they made this massive bet on this idea that bombing their own country would bring about democracy instead of it's bringing about death and destruction. Um and uh and I think it's very hard for them to manage that. So I think they will frankly double down instead of trying to extricate uh themselves from this situation. Unfortunately I just want to close about the use of nuclear weapons. Um that is you know especially with Israel there's no been no Israel has certainly if they've learned anything with the almost three years of genocide it's that they can kill with impunity. not only with impunity, but they can be supplied with billions of dollars of armaments to continue to kill with impunity. Um, and yet they are not achieving their objectives. As you pointed out correctly, it is Iran that will determine, I think, when this thing ends and they can through asymmetrical warfare and crippling the global economy, they have uh, you know, they have us by the throat. I I know it's speculation, but I I unfortunately, you know, my fear is that we can't rule it out. And can you talk about that? Yeah. No, it's it's extremely concerning because this is just a scenario the United States should not be in. But I'm hearing it increasingly from people, including former officials, that fear that this is the direction that Trump may be going in. that his desperation for something that can turn this war around, something that can allow him to declare victory and end it even without an agreement um requires him from to take actions of this kind. Perhaps it could have worked if there was a a successful effort to extract the uh highlyenriched uranium, the % enriched uranium that the Iranians have somewhere underneath the ground around Fordo, which they apparently have not been able to access or extract themselves. But this would be a tremendously difficult operation, probably quite a few American deaths. But Trump seems to think that he needs something of that kind in order to say, "I won the war. it's now over and I'm going to leave and that this is then pushing him in the direction of more seriously considering nuclear options and and from what I hear there is that pressure from Israel as well. I don't know this for certain. Again, um there's a lot of communic, you know, a lot of information that is flowing around right now, a lot of speculation. We don't know any of this for certain, but folks are pointing to the fact that Trump is using the language of World War II, for instance, total surrender, the type of language that preceded the bombing of Hiroshima and Nakasaki. uh and and they're very worried that because Trump doesn't have any other options, he doesn't, you know, he's doesn't seem to be willing to take the deescalatory offramps that are available to him because it will be an admission that this war was a failure. It will be an admission that he did not succeed that as a result he may actually go so desperate that he will take uh escalatory actions such as using nuclear weapons. And just to close, what would be the Iranian response? How fast can they I mean at that point it's impossible to know because we don't even know if if this were to be used and it feels uh frankly uncomfortable even talking about this publicly given the fact that it is such an unthinkable option or should be such an unthinkable option. Um no idea whatsoever what the Iranian response would be and if they even could respond in any way, shape or form because it would be completely unclear um uh because it all depends on exactly where they would hit etc. But again, I don't think we are there yet. I hope we don't get to that point. But the fact that this is increasingly being discussed in Washington as a potential possibility, it tells you about how badly this war is going. Great. Thank you, Trita. Uh, and I want to thank uh Sophia, Max, Thomas, and Victor who produced the show. You can find me at chrisedges.substack.com. Thank you so much for having me on, Chris.
As deadly riots burn Iranian cities, Western media ignores the shocking wave of violence, turning instead to US government-funded NGOs for data. The one-sided portrayal has helped push Trump to the brink of authorizing renewed US attacks.
Western media has ignored a growing trove of video evidence showing terrorist tactics deployed across Iran by protesters described by Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch as “largely peaceful.” Recent videos published both by Iranian state media and anti-government forces reveal public lynchings of unarmed guards, the torching of mosques, arson attacks on municipal buildings, marketplaces and fire stations, and mobs of armed gunmen opening fire in the heart of Iranian cities.
Instead, Western media has focused almost exclusively on violence attributed to the Iranian government. In doing so, they have relied heavily on death counts compiled by Iranian diaspora groups funded by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), the regime change arm of the US government, and whose boards of directors are filled with committed neoconservatives.
The NED has taken credit for advancing the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests which filled Iranian cities throughout 2023 – and which also featured gruesome acts of violence ignored by Western media and human rights NGOs. Today, the NED is far from alone among the intelligence-aligned actors seeking to fuel the chaos inside Iran.
The Israeli spying and assassination agency known as Mossad issued a message from its official Farsi language account on Twitter/X urging Iranians to escalate their regime change activities, pledging that it would be supporting them on the ground.
“Go out together into the streets. The time has come,” Mossad instructed Iranians. “We are with you. Not only from a distance and verbally. We are with you in the field.”
Toppling Tehran through terror
Protests began in Iran in early January 2026 when merchants took to the streets to demonstrate against rising inflation rates triggered by Western sanctions. Iran’s government responded sympathetically to the bazaar protests, providing them with police protection. However, these demonstrations quickly dissolved, as an amorphous mass of anti-government elements seized the moment to launch a violent insurrection encouraged by governments from Israel to the US – and by self-proclaimed “Crown Prince” Reza Pahlavi, who has branded government workers and state media outlets as “legitimate targets.”
On January 9, the city of Mashhad became the scene of some of the most intense riots, as anti-government forces torched fire stations, burning fire fighters alive, while setting buses alight, attacking city workers, vandalizing Metro stations and causing over $18 million in damage, according to local municipal authorities.
In Kermanshah, where anti-government rioters shot and killed 3 year-old Melina Asadi, groups of militants were filmed firing automatic weapons at police. In cities from Hamedan to Lorestan, rioters have filmed themselves beating unarmed security guards to death for attempting to impede their rampages.
https://x.com/MaxBlumenthal/status/2010453405698064552?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2010453405698064552%7Ctwgr%5E10b11e49813aaa0630e7df216d60c45f826cd336%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fthegrayzone.com%2F2026%2F01%2F12%2Fwestern-media-riots-iran-govt-regime-change%2F Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal
Kermanshah was infested with armed militants and rioters when 3 year old Melina was killed
The Israel-controlled Trump administration brands unarmed American protesters as terrorists and supports terrorists in Iran
VIDEO | Funeral procession in Iran's Kermanshah, where a flood of people turned out to mourn Melina Asadi, a 3-year-old girl who was killed in the province after being shot by anti-government rioters.
Melina was murdered three days ago while on her way to a pharmacy with her
Footage has emerged from the central Iranian city of rioters attacking a public bus and setting it aflame on January 10.
In Tehran, meanwhile, mobs of rioters have attacked the historic Abazar Mosque, burning its interior, while others conducted arson attacks and burned copies of the Quran inside the Grand Mosque of Sarableh and the Muhammad ibn Musa al-Kadhim shrine in Kuzestan.
Hussein bin Saeed Ahvazi @SayyidHussein
The footage shows damage being inflicted on ABUZAR #mosque. In recent days, claims had circulated that mosques were being used as bases for repression or as detention sites. However, the images indicate that the mosque was closed at the time, with no signs of unusual activity or detention inside.
Rioters have set fire to a large municipal building in the heart of the city of Karaj, while burning the marketplace to the ground in central Rasht. In Borujen, anti-government hooligans reportedly torched a historic library filled with ancient texts during a night of looting and destruction.
Max Blumenthal @MaxBlumenthal
Rioters burned the marketplace in the Iranian city of Rasht to a crisp
Netanyahu, Trump and every leader of the collective West has endorsed this
Of course, they are a model of tolerance toward protesters in their own cities
None of these incidents have elicited any reaction from Western media outlets or governments, even after the Iranian foreign ministry obliged ambassadors from Britain, France, Germany, and Italy to view footage of the violence carried out by rioters firsthand.
According to the Iranian government, over 100 police and security officers have been killed during the unrest. However, a pair of Iranian NGOs based in Washington and funded by the US government has set the death toll on the government’s side at a much lower figure. These groups have become the go-to source for Western media on the protests.
Regime change lobbyists set the agenda
In assessing the death toll in Iran, outlets throughout the US and Europe have depended on two NGOs based in Washington and funded by the US government’s National Endowment for Democracy: the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran and Human Rights Activists in Iran.
A 2024 press release by the NED explicitly described the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center for Human Rights in Iran as “a partner of the National Endowment for Democracy (NED).”
Elsewhere, a 2021 statement from Human Rights Activists in Iran states that the group “expanded its network and decided to start receiving financial aid from the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), a non-governmental and non-profit organization based in the United States” after it was accused by the Iran government of ties to the CIA in 2010.
The NED was created under the watch of the Reagan administration’s CIA director, William Casey, to enable the government to continue meddling abroad despite widespread distrust in US intelligence services. One of its founders, Allen Weinstein, famously admitted, “a lot of what we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA.”
While failing to acknowledge the NGO’s funding from NED, The Washington Post and ABC News have cited the Abdorrahman Boroumand Center prominently in their coverage of Iranian protests. Seated on the Center’s board of directors is Francis Fukuyama, the ideologue who signed the Project for the New American Century’s founding letter – perhaps the most important manifesto of modern neoconservatism.
Figures from the suggestively-named “Human Rights Activists in Iran” have circulated even more widely, with the NGO’s recent estimated death toll of 544 people cited by dozens of US and Israeli mainstream outlets across the political spectrum, as well as by Dropsite. The “shadow CIA” intelligence firm Stratfor has also cited the NGO in an article entitled, “Protests in Iran Provide a Window for U.S. and/or Israeli Intervention.”
With the precise number of casualties from the protests still difficult to ascertain, a motley crew of online influencers has filled the information void with overblown, dubiously sourced claims. These propagandists include the noted Jewish supremacist Trump confidant Laura Loomer, who crowed that “the death count of Iranian protesters killed by the Islamic regimes’ forces is now over 6,000!,” citing a supposed “source in the Intel community.”
The digital casino Polymarket also inflated the death toll, claiming without sourcing that “over 10,000” people had been killed by “Iranian Forces [using] Automatic Rifles on Protesters,” and falsely stating that Iran had “lost nearly all control” of three of its five largest cities.
In recent months, Polymarket has become notorious for allowing insiders to abuse advanced knowledge of political developments – such as the recent US military assault on Caracas and their abduction of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro – to rake in hundreds of thousands of dollars. The self-described “world’s largest prediction market” was established with a major investment from AI warlord Peter Thiel, and now features Donald Trump Jr. as an advisor.
Polymarket spreads neocon disinformation to manufacture consent for bombing Iran
It is also paying influencers all across this site to popularize its brand
The "world's largest prediction market" relies on psychological warfare to manipulate betting markets
Polymarket @Polymarket Jan 9
BREAKING:
Iranian Regime security forces have lost nearly all control of Iran’s:
- Capital city, Tehran - 2nd-largest city, Mashhad - 5th-largest city, Shiraz
7:44 AM · Jan 12, 2026
By spreading clearly inflated death tolls, regime change activists and Trump cronies are apparently goading the notoriously gullible president into launching another military assault on Tehran.
In a January 7 assessment of the protests, Stratfor described the chaos in Iran’s streets as an enticing opportunity for war, writing, “While unlikely to collapse the regime, the ongoing unrest could open the door for Israel or the United States to conduct covert or overt activities aimed at further destabilizing the Iranian government, either indirectly by encouraging the protests or directly via military action against Iranian leaders.”
However, the CIA contractor acknowledged that “renewed military strikes on Iran would also likely put an end to the current protest movement by leading instead to a wider display of Iranian nationalism and unity, a pattern observed after U.S. and Israeli strikes in 2025.”
‘Locked and loaded’
Iran’s latest round of anti-government protests has predictably received hearty endorsements from a host of Western leaders, including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump.
“If Iran shots [sic] and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue,” Trump announced. “We are locked and loaded and ready to go.”
Days later, Trump threatened Iran again: “You better not start shooting [protesters] – because we’ll start shooting too.” Then, on Jan. 12, Trump decreed that any country caught trading with Iran would face a 25% tariff on goods exchanged with the US.
Now, Trump is reportedly mulling an attack, considering options ranging from cyber-warfare to airstrikes. However, the pace of the anti-government protests appears to have slowed, with relative calm returning to major cities.
As the dust clears, millions of Iranian citizens are pouring into the streets of cities from Tehran to Mashhad to express their indignation at the riots, to denounce the foreign elements that helped spur the regime change rampage, and to proclaim their support for the government. But in newsrooms across the West, giving voice to these masses of Iranian demonstrators seems forbidden.
Max Blumenthal Editor The editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, Max Blumenthal is an award-winning journalist and the author of several books, including best-selling Republican Gomorrah, Goliath, The Fifty One Day War, and The Management of Savagery. He has produced print articles for an array of publications, many video reports, and several documentaries, including Killing Gaza. Blumenthal founded The Grayzone in 2015 to shine a journalistic light on America's state of perpetual war and its dangerous domestic repercussions.
