Judging Freedom - Alastair Crooke : How Iran Blunts the U.S.

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

Alastair Crooke : How Iran Blunts the U.S.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Undeclared wars are commonplace. Fragically, our government engages in preemptive war, otherwise known as aggression with no complaints from the American people. Sadly, we have become accustomed to living with the illegitimate use of force by government. To develop a truly free society, the issue of initiating force must be understood and rejected. What if sometimes to love your country you had to alter or abolish the government? Jefferson was right? What if that government is best which governs least? What if it is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong? What if it is better to perish

fighting for freedom than to live as a slave? What if freedom's greatest hour of danger is now? Hi everyone, Judge Andrew Napolitano here for judging freedom. Today is Monday, August 31st, 2006. Alistair Crook is here. We'll be with us in just a moment from Siberia on how does Iran blunt the United States. But first this. Throughout history, governments have rarely surrendered power voluntarily. They seek more control over our money, our movements, and ultimately our freedoms. That's why it's smart to understand your legal options before you need them. I'd like to recommend a free special report from Mikkel Thorpe, founder of expat money. For more than 26 years, McKell has lived as an expat, helping families, entrepreneurs, and investors build a legal

plan B through overseas residency and second citizenship. Mikkel's free report, Plan B, Residencies, and Instant Citizenships explains some of the best plans available. If preserving your freedoms and expanding your options are important to you, get your free report at expatmoney.com slash judge. Be sure to use my link in the description so that Mikhail knows you're a judging freedom fan. That's expatmoney.com slash judge. Auster Kruk, welcome here, my dear friend.

I know that you are quite literally on the other side of the world in Siberia. No snow and ice there, I gather, this time of year, but thank you very much for joining us. you also were gracious enough to go to another hotel because where you were, the internet just broke shortly before we came on and now we're communicating very well. To Iran, if the United States has won the war, as President Trump has said repeatedly, either 40 or 50 times, if their Navy, Air Force, military infrastructure are obliterated, as he said, 40 or 50 times, why is the United States? States still engaged, as recently as last night, in these pinprick attacks?

I think he still hopes that he can have a capitulation by Iran, that Iran will suddenly decide that it's ready to capitulate, and that the threat of these financial deede, as Bessens said, we are going to do sanctions like we've never done before. I think he hoped still that this would suddenly produce a capitulation and that Iran would announce that it was giving up. In fact, what's happened is actually quite the reverse. And I think this will come as an unexpected shock in Washington because last night or early this morning, time zones are rather confusing at the moment. But early this morning from my time, there was the Iranians fired missiles at a vessel that was trying to leave the Straits of Hormuz without authorization are under American protection.

By American protection, we're not talking about frigates or anything. We're talking about air protection and radio encouragement, but not much else. advice, but no more than that. So the Iranians fired missiles at a vessel. And in retaliation for that, the United States attacked and destroyed the two missile sites, the two launchers, that had launched those missiles at the vessel. They destroyed them and killed a number of, I think there were a number of IRGC and civilians that were killed in that attack. And there, Iran reacted furiously. There was massive ballistic missiles attacks across the Gulf from all parts of Iran from different sites.

Right across Iran, ballistic missiles were fired. They were fired at Jordan, damaging. We know that they've destroyed aircraft there. They were fired at Al-Udeid base in Qatar, the main CENTCOM, or. the previous ZENCOM main base and other other targets throughout the Gulf. So there was an intensive retaliation by Iran. And this follows their principles, which I think I've outlined before last week or so on this program, that really they promised that if there was an attack on Iran of any sort,

then they would go and escalate and escalate right up the escalatory ladder. And that's just what's happened. And so now I think it will have come a shock. The actual naval vessels of the US are still about 400 kilometers away from Hormuz. The island that has been hit, Larrick, is the other side of, if you like, the Iranian corridor. It's just the other side from Kassam Island. It's the other side of the corridor.

And it is an IRGC base too. So they sail between Kashim and Larrick to, as that's part of the Iranian passageway for vessels. So they've hit Larrick, which is one side of it, which does have an IRGC base on it. And that was probably from which these, missiles were fired. So this is certainly an escalation. But the point of this, which needs to be underlined, is I don't understand why America wants to escalate. I really don't understand it,

because Iran has the escalatory advantage here. Because whereas the United States does not have either the munitions. It doesn't have the missiles. It doesn't have the wherewithal for an escalation. According to everything we see, we see unofficially as well as officially. It's now all over the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times that there aren't the munitions to make a serious attack on Iran. So why do they do this when, of course, for Iran, it's quite different. they have the whole realm of targets, Gulf targets, just sitting in front of them on their lap, and they can attack them at will.

So it's very easy for Iran to escalate. And so it makes no well sense for the United States go down this route of escalation. And even more, I would say that what we're seeing in a way is because just a few days ago, Trump was asked, what are you going to do about the bond market if Bessence's plans don't work out?

And he said, well, there's always military action. And everyone scratched their heads at that and thought, what else does he mean? Military action. But what we see is it's all about, as usual, the markets and manipulating the markets. And so we've seen him suddenly say, well, I've got all of Venezuelan's oil now. And so, you know, I'm going to refill the strategic reserve from Venezuela.

It's a great deal for Americans. I didn't pay a cent. We've got more than half of the oil, all their oil. Of course, it's nonsense. Because that oil is the heaviest, heaviest crude possible. I mean, it's only fit for really making roads and asphalt. Some of it can be a little bit lighter, but dragging it out of the ground, it's not going to go into the Special, into the Strategic Reserve, and it's no good for actually making diesel or kerosene.

That won't come from it. It's too heavy for that. It would take a huge amount of treatment to get to anything reasonable. So why the escalation? That's not clear. I think there's just a feeling Trump is angry and very frustrated and that he might just do something rash,

lash out, do something that is a little bit crazy. And I think that is a real worry for everyone. But Iran is not going to move from its position. It's going to stick to this position. And so really what they did was part of the financial war, too. Not only that, but the, as Trump tries to manage the markets his way, quoting Venezuela, Iran has moved the markets its way by attacking all the bases and the infrastructure in the Gulf.

So this is Iran's answer, if you like, financial war by kinetic methodology. How can you conduct, much less boast about a blockade, 600 miles? 600 nautical miles away. How can you even call it a blockade? Well, it isn't. And it's again, it's all, this is all PR, PR, like the figures that keep getting quoted about how many vessels are passing through Hormuz. We had just the other day a statement by the U.S. government for last Friday

that there were 44 vessels that passed with, I can't remember how many, million barrels of oil on it. And it's nonsense. There were no vessels passing on that day. There are almost no vessels passing through Hormoz. There are a few vessels that pass through the Iranian channel, but even those are really quite limited, and they probably mostly going to China anyway, and not to Europe or elsewhere. So, no, all of this is, we're in this, I mean, the lies, on top of lies, on top of lies. It's just becoming a game, a casino game in the markets. You know, how do we put the markets up to day to take them down the next day to

goop them up? It's all about market manipulation now and keeping the bond market from rising further and to try and get interest rates down. And so all of these things, including a tax on Iran, come into that category. Maybe even flights to Moscow come into the category of sort of, you know, showing the markets that, you know, things could be moving in the good direction. Iran was told that the field marshal from Pakistan is about to come down with new proposals.

I think it's very unlikely that there will be any new proposals that are even vaguely acceptable to Iran. and what was this flight going to Moscow for? Is this another effort to say, yeah, a deal on Ukraine is it at hand? We can do that too. We can have all of these things, and the market will go sky high, and the oil price will sink down. What has been the international reaction, economic as well as political, to Secretary Besson's threats late last week?

week, his so-called economic D-Day in which he actually said to the IRGC, put down your arms and come over to our side. I mean, this was absurd, but he actually said that. I think people are just shrugging at it because, A, it's not going to happen. It's just more, it's more bluster and it's more hot air coming out. But it's not going to happen for the simple reason. that there is a bypass for Iran and they've been using it for some time and it's known as China. And of course, Besan told China, you know, you've got to get on program for this. You're going to go on program for our war on Iran. And China said very firmly, no thank you.

No thank you at all. We're not going to do that. We are simply going to pursue our own interests. and we're not going to take part in a war on Iran. And we know that Russia's position is similar. Russia has made it very clear to Iran that the US suggested to them politely that they should stop all contact with Iran,

otherwise it would be more sanctions on Russia. And the Russians said, bye-bye, goodbye, we're not going to do that. And they told the Iranians that the sanctions that were proposed were not going to be particularly grave or serious for Iran. So they weren't really concerned. So I think there's a big shrug and everyone is thinking, well, you know, what's going to happen? I mean, Iran is going to go on.

They're doing ship to ship, selling of oil. They've actually sold more oil than they would have in a normal year before the war at this time. And they're still selling oil. And yes, I mean, you know, things are tough, but was quite interesting to hear the latest statistics show there's been something like a 15 to 18 percent increase in agricultural production during the war. 15 to 18 percent agricultural production during during the war. And goods are coming in via the Caspian and across from Pakistan. Pakistan also said, I'm sorry, we're not going to do that. these sanctions.

They, I mean, they will try and help America to the extent they can because they're desperate for a bailout from the United States. They're in real economic trouble, so they would like a bailout, but I don't think they're going to probably going to get it. We'll see. Let's say a Chinese bank makes a loan of a couple of billion dollars to an Iranian arms manufacturer, does Bessent really think he can punish the bank so as to deter them from making the loan? I mean, it's a crime in China to comply with U.S. sanctions.

Well, exactly. And that's why, you know, it's nonsense. It's not just banking sanctions. It's all sanctions that the act applies to complying with American sanctions. And they only have to list those. I think, you know, they're not, I don't think it'll be to arms manufacturers. He's probably going to what they call the teapot refineries, who are the main purchases of Iranian oil. And some of them are quite big purchases of oil. But all of this is done through, if you like, quarantine payment systems. The payment systems go into accounts or financial incentives.

institutions that have absolutely no contact with the dollar structure or system at all. And they stay in this quarantine system. And then if they're expended, they're expended outside of the dollar system. Again, it's a complete quarantine of the structures. And the transaction takes place on chips, on the Chinese, transfer system on their sort of equivalent of SWIFT. And it goes through. If you listen to the U.S. press and the European press,

you're told, oh, it's tiny that SIPS doesn't really cover very much because they use certain criteria for it. But in fact, it's doing well over a trillion, and I think nearly trillion and a half dollars a day of trade transfers in Juan. And they've opened new systems by which you can now deal it in Hong Kong. And you can take your, if you like, your profits or your income out of China via Hong Kong in gold, in physical gold. So they're moving rapidly to provide an alternative route.

And of course, Iran has been making use of that and is making use of that. So it won't have a big effect on Iran. They've been avoiding sanctions for years. I mean, if anything, this marks the end of the sanctioning system, I think, because we'll see. But I doubt that many Gulf states are going to get really involved in sanctioning Iran because they know that there will be a cost to it. Iran has said clearly, if you start being involved in financial sanctions on Iran, there will be a cost you're going to have to pay. And I don't think the Gulf states are in a position to bear that cost.

I mean, if you take Qatar at the moment, it's had to cut its budget by 30%. Its revenues are down drastically. The same for Saudi Arabia. The same for other states. there's only, there's really only Abu Dhabi, who is so enthusiastic for continuing the struggle against Iran. But for sure, I mean, they will probably have to pay a price for that. So I don't think, I think actually the way in which China shrugged, India shrugged, all of these states have been just shrugging at Bethent's threats of these

these sanctions being post-secondary sanctions being put. He will put some sanctions on. But I bet you they will not be ones on major Chinese institutions or banks, if any, because we know where that's going to lead. It's going to lead to a complete halt of rare earth and tech exchange to the United States by China. China's really going to be tough on this, I believe. It's quite clear they've said that. They're going to be very tough.

So I don't think it's really going to go anywhere. And Iran will find the run bypasses to this process. One way or another, they've been doing it for so many years anyway since 2015. And they'll just continue that. And China, I mean, the big difference, the important thing to understand was when the JCPOA was signed in 2015. it was done through the Security Council. It was voted in the Security Council

and therefore approved by Russia and China. Now, we in 2026, Russia and China support Iran in this conflict. And so what reason have they to put sanctions on Iran? Iran is vitally important to Chinese Belt and Road. It lies right in the middle of the Belt and, Belt and Road. For Russia too, it's very important in security terms in the whole of the caucuses and in the stands, because Iran has experience there, security experience, and it has

security weight. So I don't think they're going to put sanctions on Iran at all. So I think it's probably the beginning. It's not the end, but, you know, Churchill's famous phrase is probably the beginning of the end. Got it. Got it. Or the end of the beginning. Yes. Switching to Ukraine before we conclude our time together today,

is the war nearing an end? I think the Ukrainian economy is nearing its end. Yes. That's certainly the case. The statistics coming out of Ukraine are really quite staggering. They are saying, the former head of Ukrainian intelligence is saying 90% of Ukrainian logistics has been destroyed, 90%. And he adds, but don't worry, you will find

some way to get food to you. So when Zelensky made this incredible mistake of attacking wildberries, the equivalent of the Amazon, but which is a huge logistic. I mean, even when we're up, we're up near Mongolia, and there are little wildberries outlets all over the place, in yurts, in the sort of step, you come across these wildberries. So attacking those, of course, resulted in a sharp reaction from Russia. And it seems they move to another stage of attack where instead of having waves of drone attacks, they're having 24-hour on 24-hour attacks with a few minutes in between. So the people in Kiev, I mean, I feel, you know, certain, I'm sorry for it,

but what's happening is that, you know, there's no let up. You're in the bunkers all day, all day. You can't get out. And there's nothing in the shops if you do get out because the logistics system has ended. And that, as I say, is Budanov saying that himself. It's 90% destroyed. So it is a catastrophic economic situation. They can't sell grain.

All of the grain shipment possibilities have been ended, terminated. They can't sell the grain out of. This is the main export of Ukraine. And of course, the ports, Odessa, all the ports in the Black Sea have been destroyed. And now the Russians were destroying the trucks, having not been able to use vessels to transport grain or export grain from Ukraine. The Ukrainians relied on trucks. And then since in the last few days, the Russians have been using drones to target those trucks as they come down with the grain export. So no grain is being exported.

And the agricultural sector is bankrupt. So the economy is in a very serious condition, yes. Next week, you and I and some of our friends will have the pleasure and privilege of meeting with Sergey Lavrov, the Foreign Minister of Russia. If it's appropriate to question him in front of the group, what will you ask? I think the question I would ask is how he sees the ability to end this continuous provocation coming from Europe in terms of missiles far out into deep Russia, into also into refineries. I'm speaking to you from Siberian. In the last few days, we've driven, really, from the Mongolian border. And some parts, some parts, there's no problems.

But when you get to close to, when we got close to Nova Sobiesk, which is the third biggest city in Russia, there are, you know, nearly a kilometer queues outside petrol stations, gasoline stations, huge queues, many of them there. You move further away, then the queues, disappear but in parts of it it's still affecting and so you know it's easy to say you know the refineries are quickly built and quickly repaired and back online i'm sure that's true but certainly for some people you know they're spending half a day to get their tank filled in some parts and

novus subbiersk is the third biggest city so it's a big big place where a lot of people get frustrated. It doesn't mean there's a political opposition or anything emerging from this, but, you know, people are angry. Who they're angry at, is it Zelensky, is it the Europeans, or the administration that sort of allows certain amount of gasoline to one part of the country, but doesn't seem to get it organized for all over the country? I don't know. But that I would say that, you know, that's just one effect that is present at this time. Alster, thank you very much, my dear friend. Safe travels, I look forward to seeing you in a couple of days.

On the other side of the world. Thank you very much. Safe travel for you, too. Thank you. All the best. Great conversation. Coming up, if you're watching us live in 30 minutes at 11 o'clock this morning, the golden boy, Max Blumenthal, at 2 this afternoon, Professor John Mearsheimer at 5.30 this

evening, Professor Jeffrey Sachs. Judge Napolitano for judging freedom.