The Duran Podcast - Economic meltdown, everyone will be hit w/ Alex at Reporterfy

Episode Date: April 2, 2026

Economic meltdown, everyone will be hit w/ Alex at Reporterfy

All right, Alexander, we are here with Alex from Reportify. Alex, how are you doing? Thank you for joining us. And before we get started with the video, where can people follow your work? You can follow me at Reportify Media in most socials on X and also on YouTube. Those are the main platforms. I will have those links in the description box and as a pinned comment as well. So Alex and Alex, let's talk about what is happening.

with the war in the Middle East, with the markets, with the energy crisis, and also with China's diplomacy, or at least a diplomacy that appears to be starting up. So Alex and Alexander and Alex, I pass it off to you. Well, indeed. And who better to discuss these things with than with Alex of Reportify, who knows the markets has a sense of what's going on there. And at the same time is based in China and has a feeling of what's going on there too. And, well, we did a program with Alex and, by the way, and Cyrus Janssen as well, about two weeks ago at the start of this. And Alex, in that program, discussed the way the markets would eventually react and the effect on the global economy if this war continued. And it seems to me the thing. The thing is

Things are going up, going out, playing up pretty much, as he said. And just to remind people, he spoke about enormous stresses in the financial markets, enormous stresses in the global economy. And he and Cyrus also told us that China, contrary to what many people assumed, would probably come out all right. Well, Alex, we aren't now further in. We've had a speech from the President of the United States and addressed to the American people, which has caused great dismay here in London, at least. People were expecting more. They were expecting

some idea as to how this would end. The markets appeared to have acted negatively. This after weeks of the president and his officials trying to reassure the markets, giving them the impression that everything was going to end and end soon. But that didn't seem to be what he was offering. in this speech. Where are we? It's like a bad nightmare. The President of the United States is playing a game of either truth or dare or a game of chicken with the world economy here. And it's the average, I would say, let's start with the North American market. The average hardworking American that goes out every day to work is feeling it immediately.

This is happening from importer, exporters. If you're bringing in products, you're hit with the tariffs. If it's not the tariffs, then you're hit with the spiking gas prices. I mean, there are so many fundamentals that this hits, but it's going to start with the average person that wakes up every morning. They're going to say, where am I going to come up with this extra $2, $3, $500 to help fill up the car? And that really takes its toll.

And that's why we're seeing this go through the financial markets. Now, we used to have an administration a few weeks back cheerleading the markets prior to them opening. And the Iranians caught on to that. And just to educate people, you know, the real war, I wouldn't say is all the bombs dropping. But the one that's happening right now is on the global financial markets. I mean, let me try to clarify what's happened here. We've seen an administration over the last few weeks. weeks cheerlead the market before it was open. Now, the average person would say, well, isn't that

good news that Trump is getting up in the morning and he's saying positive things and the market should be good? Well, it happened for a couple of boosts in the market and then the market gave back all those gains immediately. Now, we have to understand that most people think the market closes when the bell on Wall Street dings at night. It doesn't. And here's where again, and then thank you very much, guys, for having me on this program. I have to nail it home to people. The derivatives market is a $900 trillion beast that is huge. Okay.

It never sleeps. The market closes, yes, but this market stays open. And we have seen massive manipulation on this market. It's, I would say it's almost an act of treason. You know, to understand this, some in the years. U.S., of course, they're on the left or the right. They want the MAGAs or the Dems to be wrong. In this case, everybody is going to be affected. Doesn't matter what political party you're voting for. It doesn't matter who's in power. You are going to be hit. And again, most people think that the

markets are just stocks, but the derivatives market is now the real one that everybody needs to focus on. It's 10 times the size of the entire global GDP. Now, remember, this is America. America's market, they have listed companies that are publicly traded that are prison corporations, two of the largest prison corporations, the United States, are listed on the New York Stock Exchange. So if we really think that this market is going to show mercy on the president because, you know, he's in a war in Iran, it's not. And this is going to be played out in the global equity market. And I'm telling you, before these markets are open, there are players in this market.

They are making billions of dollars on the hardship of people's lives in Iran. That's where the money is being made. Sure, some of the military industrial complex is making lots of money, stocking up the shelves with all the missiles that the Americans have dropped. But the financial markets, this goes on way before the market opens and way after the market closes when the regulators have gone home. It's wide open and we're seeing it play out here. This is an extremely interesting and very important point that this is the first real war, actual war, that has been fought out more in the financial markets than in any other place. Now, you spoke about manipulation. How long can this continue for?

Is this something that can go on indefinitely? I know some people who think that it can, that you can manipulate and play markets. indefinitely and you can just keep things moving that way. I have to say, I find that very difficult to believe myself, but then I'm not a person who is involved in markets. Can manipulation continue indefinitely in the way that has been done? Yes, it will and it will do it until it breaks the bank. We saw what it did to the housing crisis and the financial crisis that Peter Schiff predicted in 2008. He was screaming from the rooftops, guys, look out, this is going to going down. Oh, don't worry, Mr. Schiff. We have credit default swaps. Sound familiar. Well,

we have that. Okay, let's look at the data from this Monday at about 6.49 a.m. And you can see this play out in the market. If you're a derivative trader or you're an option trader. If not, basically you're left out of the party. Okay. And this is where the big boys, they make a lot of the money. They are on the financial markets. Their crew is in at 6 a.m. They're putting up the trades, even before mom, pa, waking up, looking at the 401k, these guys have made their moves. And here's a move that was a fact that happened on the market. In a single minute of pre-market trading, over $600 million in oil futures were traded on Monday. Okay.

Now, that's a $580 million that has moved in about 60 seconds. Okay, that's a lot of cash coming in to the option and derivatives market. Now, the timing of this, 15 minutes later, bam. post his piece reversal on true social, the price of oil collapsed, the mystery trader, he then shorts that market, whether it's using a derivative or using an option. He nets hundreds of millions of dollars in profits before anybody's even waking up having coffee in the morning. So, you know, if you do that enough time, if you slam the market enough time, it's going to play out and it is playing out. Now, let me talk to you guys. You might say, well, the police should

be called. The regulator should be called. The Security Exchange Commission only has the power to civilly charge someone, not criminal charges, civil charges in the United States. Okay, so they, they go after a guy, oh, you made $800 million on this. Okay, well, we caught you. We caught you. Okay, well, how about of that $800 million? I hire, you know, 10 of the greatest lawyers in litigation and security lawyers in the United States, give them $100 million to defend me. The SEC doesn't have, you know, that much resources to go against it. It usually ends in the settlement. The settlement is never paid out and we move on. The only other flip side to this is if we get the Department of Justice involved. Well, I think Pam Bondi is to focus on cheerleading the Dow. She needs to get it back

to $50,000 where she loved raving about it before. And that's, it. So the cowboys are out there and, you know, no one's immune to this, Alexander. It's, it's incredible. This is really hurting people. And the average person, they wake up, they're looking at their stock portfolio and they're going, what happened? I thought it was over. He said everything is cooled in the market. Now, my last point to this is the Iranians have caught onto this. And they have saw this manipulation in the market. And if they're smart, which they are, They're probably playing it too, saying, okay, you can go and cheerlead the market. It'll move up pre-market.

We'll short it. And then after you're done your cheerleading, Mr. Trump or, you know, the administration, we'll come out and we'll say we deny it. And this is what's driving them crazy. Because you saw these vast moves in the market two hours later. Soon as the market comes in, the Iranians get on there and say, what are you talking about? We're not talking to anybody. And boom, down the market.

goes again. So, you know, and I just want to clarify to people that, you know, the derivatives market and the option market is, we have a nickname here, okay? We call it the crystal ball for most people here. It's kind of like a locked door. And the really big banks, you know, the big five, the big six, they really dominate this space. And pretty much most of the public are, are in the dark. I mean, most people don't like, they say, what do you mean options? derivatives, I heard, you know, we should stay away from those. You know, having spent 20 years in Monaco trading, you know, at the highest level in Monaco, I've seen firsthand how these banks are getting in front of people. I would say it's a rigged game, but there is hope. And that hope is,

you know, people can get educated in this space. It's the only, and I would say the only, if you're playing the market, if you're involved in the market, which most people are, it's the only lifeline to do it. And well, I mean, we have to battle back because we are in a whole new world here. And we've seen it from the administration just manipulating the markets right in front of our eyes. You guys have seen it. I've seen you guys tweet about it. It's all over the place. And yeah, it's incredible. Back to you, sir. So let's talk about the situation in the real economy. There's a report this morning in London, which predicts that in Britain we're going to have 10% inflation over the next few weeks. Some say that's a terrible, dangerous underestimate. There's worries

about what that means for interest rates. There's also supply shortages now starting to increase across Asia. We've had reports that over the next week or so, Africa is going to start being affected. And then from about late April, we're going to have supply shortage. in Europe too. Is this true? I mean, is this your own assessment that this is, that this is correct? And if we start getting that kind of inflation and those kind of shortages and situations where economies begin to shut down and there are talks about people going on,

already apparently it's happening in some countries in Asia, short time working, extended holidays for workers, that kind of thing and rationing. If we start getting things like that beginning to happen, can the financial markets, despite all of this manipulation, can the derivatives markets continue to remain buoyant or active in the way that they have been doing over the last few weeks? What, in other words, is the connection between, the real economy, what people call the real economy, the economy people live in and the financial

economy that we've just been discussing. Well, there is some good news. If this war stops, we can all be saved. If that's any words of encouragement, if this continues on for another three or four weeks, as predicted on your show a few weeks back, we will start to tread towards $150 a barrel. And that is going to be biblical, okay? That's going to be biblical in the financial markets. And that is going to, you know, fall all the way down to the average person that wakes up in the morning and goes to work.

I always say it hundreds of times the average hardworking American or the average hardworking British person. This is going to hit their pocketbooks. I'm seeing it even in China here. It's not massive yet. Most of the prices are under control. but we are starting to see some costs of certain items gradually move up. Now, if we look at how devastating this can be, just ask Cuba, which is, I think, 90 kilometers off the coast of America. What happens when your economy runs out of gas?

Well, the lights go out. You try to salvage whatever you can. Well, we're not far away from that. Now, the administration in the United States, you know, I'm no longer going to call them the commandant. in chief. I'm going to call him the traitor in chief because Trump thinks this is a big gain here that he can settle, you know, by choking off the Iranians from their own gas to thinking that he can control the Strait of Hormuz. It's not like that. You know, this is a guy who's first in and first out of any trade, but he's got it wrong here. So they said, okay, we're going to, we're going to

crush oil. This was about 10 days ago when he looked at the oil market and said, we got to We've got lots of barrels of oil in reserve. Let's bring 400 million barrels in. That should really calm the prices down to the mid 60s, mid 70s, no problem. Didn't happen. In fact, the price went up and they're saying, well, wait a minute. We brought 400 million barrels of oil. It should have depressed this market.

Well, when you cut off 20 million per day, you do the calculations and people can go back and look at my tweet that I did a few weeks. back. And I predicted here around the August or pardon April 5th or 6 within 20 days. If you're cutting off 20 million barrels coming out of Iran and you're short, well, that 400 million barrels of oil is going to run out in 20 days. And that brings us up to the first week in April here. Well, how much do we have in reserve in the world? We probably got another billion barrels of oil. Sounds like a lot, but it's not. Okay. Maybe another 30, 40 days. The problem with that then is when that runs out, we better have other VLCCs sitting inside there pumping more oil in to bring them back.

The problem is the ships aren't even going in there. Some are coming out, but they're not going in. So by the time you get these cargoes, these VLCCs in there to bring it out, we're talking, I don't know, I'm going to be generous here, 60, 90 days. And then voila, what happens, you're 10%, you're 15%, your 20%, inflation happens. And that's exactly, Alexander, what you have just mentioned is coming to an economy near you. And unless the Americans, you know, bite their tongue, turn around and get the hell out of there, they are going to literally bring down the world economy and it will happen. I don't want it to happen.

It's devastating, but people need to prepare for it. If we start getting inflation of that kind, what happens to interest rates? If it's the question I get all the time, people ask me, bear in mind, we are in economies in Britain, in Europe, in the United States, where people are heavily in debt now. I mean, people are worried about interest rates. If prices are rising, that's already going to cut. into their incomes. Interest rates rise also, and they're going to have to pay more on their debts too. I mean, it's going to be a very, very cruel, hard double whammy for both people.

What happens? I mean, are we going to see interest rates go up? I've seen some people say that central banks should not increase interest rates because there would be a mistake to do that. If they do increase interest rates, what effect does that also have on financial markets, on the derivatives markets especially? Yeah, interest rates is a real touchy one. It's a powder cake. If you get it wrong, most doubtably, people are going to suffer for the next quarter or two quarters or three quarters as they structure their life. it really is down to interest rates. Let's look at this market.

We have the trader-in-chief Trump who says, okay, you know what, it's okay to have a 40-year mortgage. Now, he might roll out the idea of, you know what, America, it's okay to have a 50-year mortgage. It's fine. Throw another 10 years on your mortgage. Doesn't matter if you get bumped up, you know, six, seven, eight percent.

Roll it over 50 years. Everything's fine. Well, it's not. And the system's eventually going to break here. It can't handle this economy. These economies are so fragile coming out of the pandemic that they were just getting going again. They're just starting to get inflation under control. And what do you do?

You take on the Iranians in their backyard. Are you nuts? Okay. And of course, this is going to spill into the financial markets. You see, most people think, well, okay, it's just the gas pump where I'm going to have to pay a couple hundred more dollars. Not true. If oil goes to about $150 a barrel to this. the average American, that's an extra $16,000 to $18,000 a year that they got to find.

Now, that's going to play out in groceries. That's going to play out in logistical things. That's going to play out in airlines. You think the airlines are just going to sit idly by here and say, yeah, no problem. We'll eat the cost. No, they're not going to. So everything is going to get expensive. And then the Fed is going to have to look in the mirror and say, definitely, we're not lowering.

we're either holding or we're holding and we're going on the way back up. And this is a problem. Now, the Americans have not thought this went through. They thought the Iranians would cave over. They could go in there, take this thing out, and we're going to run the oil market. And Bob's your uncle and everybody's happy. But no, no, no. This is the Iranians.

They know the financial markets. And I got to tell you guys, reading some of the government's responses to, you know, the Trump administration cheerleading these markets on and then coming out, mocking them 10 minutes after the financial markets open and say, nope, no deal. See you in the red guys because that's where your market's going. And look at today in the futures market just before the market opened, it's not buying a single word of what he said yesterday. We're looking at a very red opening here. on the Dow and the S&P.

And what did you see today, Alexander? Look at the price of oil. It's flying again. Okay. Last question on the financial things. If we have interest rates, if this starts creating a crisis in the derivatives markets, I don't want to scare people,

but tell us what that means. Tell us what that could mean. As I said, what kind of scenarios might we start to see? if derivatives start to go problematic. Would it be 2008 all over again? Would it be less bad? Would it be worse?

In 2008, we knew kind of, you know, as Peter Schiff predicted, the size of it. And during that time, it's interesting because the Americans did invite the Chinese over to help them out during that massive financial crisis. But this is a little bit more complex. You know, this is like an invisible tax. You know, oil isn't like gas. It's like it's really, you know, the power of an economy. And you have to kind of view it like you see it at the pump.

That's only where you see it. But when oil goes up, everything follows, whether it's bread, whether it's your clothes, whether it's tech. I mean, even a $10 jump in oil can really put a GDP of a country off by one or two percent. So again, it's what can the governments handle? How much debt can they take on? Already, many companies are already drowning in debt. The average person's in debt. To my understanding, if this continues, if we see Barrel go up another $20 or $30, this will make 2008 look like a picnic. Really, it's going to be that bad. And people already feel it. Look, they already feel it. And I don't think the cost is really in there yet because a lot of these old shops and stores are still working through some of their economies with some of the stock that they had on hand.

But if you're receiving goods on the shores of the west coast of the United States, you're going to be paying more for that. And it comes down to also oil. You know, it's like a worldwide global auction. You know, a driller in Texas, he's not going to take 70. for a barrel, but maybe somebody in Europe is willing to pay $90 for a barrel. So these prices, it's going to be to the highest bidder right now because people are trying to get, save their economies, right? And the lifeline is being pulled out.

So to answer your question, this war better end in the next couple of weeks. If it carries on and if we see, we warned everybody about this a few weeks back. Matter of fact, some people said, you're crazy to think. of $100 a barrel, Alex, what are you talking about? We predicted it. We said it'll blow past it. Look it today. It's on its way to 150. If it gets to 150, alarm bells will be going off. And by that time, I think the Trump administration is going to pull the plug and get the hell out of there. If not, watch his economy go down. So let's now look at what China is doing. Because we've had a very strange conjunction of events.

we've had the President of the United States making a statement, which, as far as I could see, offered no very clear idea of the way forward. And at the same time, we had this meeting between the foreign ministers of China and Pakistan, and we had a five-point proposal. I looked at the proposal. I get to say straight away, I mean, it is very, very simple. it doesn't, it's in no conceivable sense, a peace plan. I think that's, I mean, it doesn't aim to settle the conflict between the United States and Iran. I mean, it's not going into all the huge details about uranium enrichment and all of that kind of thing. But I think it, to me, it looks like it's trying to do that which one needs to do at this time.

which is to try to bring a stop to this and try to get everybody sitting down and talking and accepting that the objectives that led to this war cannot be achieved, but that there has to be a proper diplomatic resolution. Am I getting this right? Spot on, Alexander. You know, Wang Yi is, he's not a guy that's, you know, on true social or Twitter every day He's, you know, giving ultimatums to people. He's a master class of diplomacy, you know, just like Lavrov.

I mean, these guys are true diplomats, and they live up by their words. They're not threatening in any shape or a matter. But let's talk about the five-point plan. You know, it's not saying to Iran, you've got to do this. You need to do this. And if you don't, we're going to reign terror on your, your tant. with bombs. It's basically asking for, I believe the five points were immediate ceasefire. And they were, as you said, they're very generic. They wanted to discuss a lot about the,

have a dialogue about the destruction that happened in the country. Of course, protecting civilians and critical infrastructure, what's left of it, unfortunately, and securing the Strait of Hormuz and basically saying, and this is coming from China people. adhering to the UN charter. And isn't that amazing that we need Chinese diplomats to remind our Americans what diplomacy is, what the UN is, what the UN charter is. And again, you know, another key point that we have to understand, you know, why is China stepping in here? Well, I'm going to tell you guys, you know, this is a big country. It's $1.4 billion.

Imagine waking up every morning with that on your back that you've got to make sure that 1.4 billion. billion people outside that window there, okay, need to wake up, need to have stability in their lives. They need to sell products. They need to sell semiconductors. I mean, this is a warehouse of the world here in China. And they're very concerned now. The government's like, okay, guys, you've had your saber rattling in the Middle East. You've been bombing the hell of each other. but now this is coming in our backyard and we're we're a little bit worried about this right now. And that's why we're seeing the Chinese, you know, come in here. I mean, the Americans send, you know, Marines and the Chinese send engineers.

So there's a lot of investment in the Middle East here. And let's be real here. Okay. Tehran is on, Tehran is on the foot for, I don't know, how many billions of dollars, Alexander, to rebuild that country. And I think the last estimate was about $18 to $20 billion to rebuild it from these current strikes from the Americans. It's biblical, the amount of devastation here. But, you know, who do you think are they're going to hire for contractors? The people that drop the bombs were the ones that keep trade lines open. And here is where China has basically sat back and said, we're winning by just staying out of this. We win every day. Now they bring in the big boys and they sit down and the Pakistanis are very clever here. They know that if they have great diplomacy with the Chinese and the Iranians, everyone's going to benefit. And this could really, this isn't just about Iran.

This is about the whole demographics about the Middle East here. It's going to be very interesting how this plays out. We did a program, Alex and I, you can actually see it. It's out on our channel today, in which we discussed the situation that we have at the present time. And we discussed a lot about the kind of diplomatic action that might bring the conflict possibly to an end. And we discussed the kind of conventional diplomacy that used to happen that the United States used to do to try to end conflicts. And we said that it might be a good idea to talk to countries like China and Russia, the countries that played an important mediation role. They did in bringing the Vietnam War to an end.

I have to say that to me, it looks as if the Chinese with these five points are saying the same to the Americans. They say, look, here we are. We have leverage over the Iranians. We have ideas that we could put forward. They're not impossible ideas for you to accept. They're in your interest. Come to us. Speak to us.

show that you're interested in negotiations, and we will help you get them going. Put aside these ultimatums, these deadlines that you love to come up with. Just engage in traditional diplomacy in the way it used to be done, and we are here to help you with that. That was my sense very much when I read this document, this statement. What do you think of that? Well, we know the cost that this is happening to the economy. It's a game of chicken. And who plays it better?

Well, the Chinese are very good at this kind of stuff. They sit back and they've done it for the last 50 years. They've rebuilt their economy. A lot of people really don't understand. They think, you know, China, it's communist. It's very closed off from the world. It's not. I mean, the average person can go out in any major city here in China.

and see more American brands here than probably in America. Some of the American brands are very popular here. So there is a real liking for American and European brands here. The Chinese are major consumers. The Chinese love making money and the country likes making money. And that's a very big misunderstanding. People are saying, well, is China going to get in there? Are they going to get in there militarily wise?

No, they do have a big military, but it's for defense. But the Chinese also know that it's costing the U.S. Navy almost $900 million to float their boats every day in the Middle East. And that is going to take its toll. You can't have these floating cities out there just kind of waiting. Now, here's where I'm concerned. This is a big concern for me. Because we have seen this cheerleading talk from the trader in chief where he says, guys, we're going to wrap it up in two or three weeks.

We've decimated their Navy. We've decimated their economy. We want to decimate now their infrastructure. I'm very concerned this weekend. Friday is a holiday on the financial markets. It's going to be thin trading going into the financial markets on Monday. Today is the last trading, technically full trading day before we go into the U.S. markets tomorrow. which are closed,

the first markets that are going to open up after the Easter break is not the stock exchange. They're going to be the derivatives market. And the Trump administration, they know this. And again, I cannot say enough to the viewers out there. If you don't know about derivatives and futures and the option market, you need to learn about it quickly. Again, I implore you to.

to try to get educated, watch some programs about it. People can reach out to me. They can reach out to my email if they want. I can, you know, point them in the right direction or chat about it. Because there's going to be a lot of people really worried this weekend. My concerns, Alexander and Alex, is what are the Americans cooking this weekend? What are they up to? Are they just going to say, you know what?

Yeah, we're going to show our cards for the next two weeks. Don't worry, everybody. This will be over in a couple of weeks. It'll be fine. Everything's good. the next thing you know, a major strike happens or a major hit happens or something that is so surprising will hit the market. I am very concerned going into this weekend, what do the Israelis and the Americans have in

their sites? This is a major concern for me. And this could have a huge impact on the, I would say, the global economies. This weekend is probably one of the biggest weekends. If it's going to be quiet and calm, okay, not so bad. but the Americans lately, every time they say everything's about to wrap up, they're sending more soldiers over and preparing for something. I don't got a good feeling about it. I think you're absolutely right, by the way. I don't have a good feeling about it either.

Can I last very last comment, which is again about China. I mean, once upon a time, long ago, I used to take an interest in Chinese and Indian, but also Chinese philosophies. And one of the things that the Chinese, and it wasn't just a philosophical thing, it was also a political principle. I'm sure you've heard of it. Wu Wei, Taoist idea, no action. And it's been described that you, effortless natural action that aligns with flow rather than forcing outcomes. In other words, you let things take their course and then you try and shape them as they do. don't try to manipulate and force outcomes, you let things work for you in a kind of a way.

Is that what China is doing at the moment? Well, yeah, up until the phone calls started going on between Pakistan and China. There is concern here. There's a lot of concern. The Chinese don't want the global economy to be hit because their factories are going to be hit. Can I ask you, gentlemen, you guys have been covering this, probably some of the greatest, coverage out there. Some of the people that have been on your shows for the last couple of weeks have been very calming to the average person to give us a very good insight on what's going on in this conflict. I ask you, what do you guys think is going to happen this weekend? It's important for people like myself that's involved in the derivatives market to try to gauge the

sentiment of what people feel is going on. It's not about fundamentals right now. It's about seeing the feeling in the market and it's concerning. Well, you know, we're obviously not here to steer markets, but what I will say is this. We've just done a big program, Alex and I, and both of us agreed, and I think the president's comments last night pointed to continued greater escalation. There is no sign of any kind of diplomatic approach being taken. The Chinese are offering one they're setting out their position. They're saying, come to us. We're here to help you.

But the Chinese could talk to the Iranians, but it's the Americans also who have to make a decision that they want to end the war. And I have to say at the moment, I don't get that sense. And, well, you know, just people in the markets. But that's our analysis. And, you know, people can, wherever they are,

whatever they do, they can listen to it and draw their own conclusions. When you watch that speech last night, and thanks guys for answering that. Thank you. I appreciate it. When you watched that speech last night, did it seem apparent to you that maybe there is no plan how to get out of this? Well, I think it's a point we've been saying for a very long time. The plan that existed at the beginning, which is the assumption that everything in Iran would collapse, didn't work.

So now we have a situation where there is no plan at all, and the president and his officials are scrambling around looking for something to do. That's how it seems to us. The point is that at the moment, the momentum is towards further escalation. It is not towards looking for a solution, a way, a diplomatic way out, because the political costs of that would be very high and the president doesn't want to pay them. And of course, beyond that, there's issues of face, which unfortunately the reality is they're always very important in politics. So that's our own assessment. Thank you for that. Yep.

Well, I think we've had an absolutely amazing program unusual for me to have, you know, to end on a statement like this. Is there anything further that you want to finish with Alex? And other than that, can I thank you for coming on our program again and giving us your views in this exceptional way? Well, thank you, gentlemen, you know, Mr. Christophero as well for a very fine daily vlog to calm people down. I don't reach for the Western media. I reach for the notifications when they come in from both of your guys' channel. Of course, the Duran is very important for people. Even here in China, people are watching your videos.

And as well, understanding China, again, to the people out there that maybe misunderstand this country, these factories right now, these energy plants, these coal plants, they're going at full tilt. They understand that they need to prepare. if something comes offline or massive oil comes offline, that they not only can protect the people here, but also the neighboring countries, even in Southeast Asia, they will do their best to help people. Because this could be potentially one of the biggest global crisis

that we've seen in decades here. Alex, this has been a wonderful program. I just want to say thank you, and I'm sure we will be doing another program very quickly. Very soon. Thanks again, guys. on this and give us a further update as things evolve. Terrific. Thanks for your time. Thank you, Alex. Before you go, one more plug. Where can people follow your work?

Reportify Media on YouTube and, of course, on X. And if anybody, you see my email up there. If anybody needs to feel better about the option derivative market, drop me line. I'll see what I can do for you guys, okay? All right. Those links in the description box down below. Thank you, Alex. Bye-bye. Thanks. Take care, guys.