The Duran Podcast - Trump, 'BIG wave' attack coming. Boots on the ground? (Live)

Episode Date: March 3, 2026

Trump, 'BIG wave' attack coming. Boots on the ground? (Live)

Okay, we are live with Alexander, Mercuris in London. Alexander, how you doing? Well, I'm doing very well, of course, keeping an eye on a war of this kind, a very dangerous war, is always concerning. And we've had people being killed, I mean, civilians being killed, and massive damage. And I think, you know, I'm not giving away anything when I say that I know people both in Iran, in Israel, and in Dubai as well.

So people who are friends of mine, who are either there or who have families, and obviously I'm concerned about them too. Hello to everyone that is watching us on an Odyssey, Rumble, YouTube, and of course, the duran.com. I hope everyone is doing well. and a hello to our moderators for today. On YouTube, we've got Zareel in the house, and who else is moderating? I saw Zareel. I saw Inside Russia Business is moderating as well.

And I think that's it for the moderators for now. Let me check quick. Yeah, I think that's it. All right. So hello to everyone that is watching us wherever you are in the world, this midday Cyprus time. Alexander, let's talk about the latest updates

with the Iran war. Trump made some interesting statements yesterday. He made a lot of interesting statements. He also talked about his ballroom and his curtains as well. Yeah. And he said that a big way. wave attack is coming. That's what he told CNN.

He posted on truth social that the U.S. is not a low on munitions, unlimited munitions, he said, but he also said that because of Biden, the U.S. has to find munitions. So it was an interesting statement. He told the New York Post that he's not ruling out boots on the ground. Pete Hegseth has also not ruled out boots on the ground. and he said that the U.S. is way ahead of schedule, but that is being taken out of context, actually, Alexander. I read the quote from the New York Post interview,

and Trump said that the U.S. is ahead of schedule when it comes to, or when it came to the decapitation strikes. His exact statement was that, or his statement, I'll summarize his statement, was that they were thinking a week or two to remove to kill the Iranian top officials, and he said it happened within a day. So that's what he meant as far as ahead of schedule, at least in that specific quote. We also had Hannity interviewing Netanyahu,

and that was an interesting interview, Netanyahu pleading with the American people through Hannity that they are the good guys and the Iranians. Iranians are the bad guys. And finally, Alexandra, and I will pass it off to you. We had a disastrous press conference to, from Rubio. If you want to call it a press conference, he was taking questions from reporters. And Rubio tried to try to explain why the United States is at war. And we have this constant gas lighting from Trump officials saying that some are saying, some are saying, that this is not a war. Some are saying that this was, or trying to go with the line that this was some sort of an preemptive strike because Iran was going to strike Israel once Israel was going to strike Iran and they can't get their messaging straight on any of this. So anyway, all right, Alexander, that's kind of the roundup. Your thoughts. Well, I get to say straight away, I followed all of these interviews. And my overwhelming impression of them is that they're making it up as they're

going along now. They did not expect to be here. There is one thing that was said over the course of yesterday, which I do believe is true. And that is that the attack on Harmony and the killing of all of those officials, all of who were lured together and brought into one place, which was Khamenei's residence, that was for the Americans and for the Israelis an unexpected bonus. And here again, one has to talk about Iran and one has to talk about the major false and problems they have in the way they arrange and go about things. Because we could see that an attack is coming. I pointed out on my channel that my previous video, the video that we published of mine,

a couple of hours before the attack happened, spoke about an imminent attack and an attack coming. But Chaminet apparently still gets messages from the Amani mediators. He calls together a meeting in his residence. He brings the defense minister, the chief of the general staff, the head of the high RGC, the chief of intelligence. They're all together in this meeting. The Israelis, as is well known, have hacked all the CCTV cameras, the ones on the roads in Tehran, monitoring the road traffic in Tehran. They know exactly who is in that meeting. We know about the fact that they hacked the cameras.

cameras because it's all over the financial times yesterday. So all of these people come together. They make the perfect target. And boom, the Israelis and the Americans who have a very, very well-known record by now of extreme duplicity in these sort of things, took advantage of it and conducted the attack when they did. Now, again, I find this extraordinary. I find it bizarre that the Iranians, that Hamanae,

would set this whole situation up like that. I don't believe, in light of this information, by the way, that this was Harmony himself, choosing martyrdom. I've no doubt at all that he was ready to die. Again, that same article in the Financial Times, the one that I spoke about, the one that appears yesterday,

says as much that he indicated to all of his people, that he did not expect to survive this war, that he was in fact looking forward to martyrdom. But this was not what happened when the attack took place last Saturday. So again, it's extraordinary, baffling that the Iranians would do such a thing. In every other respect,

this operation so far, so far is going wrong. Things are not turning out the way expected. There are no protests on the streets. People are not seizing buildings. There was reports yesterday that Trump is now talking to the Kurdish leaders. Not Kurdish leaders in Iran, by the way, Kurdish leaders in Iraq to try to get them to join the war against Iran. This is just a short time after the United States basically betrays the Kurdish, the Kurds in Syria, by the way. But anyway, who knows whether that will succeed. But they're trying to find ways. of putting pressure on Iran because contrary to all their expectations and I have no doubt about

this the Iranians are still standing so here we have Trump we're not short of unitions but actually we are Lou Rubio unable to come up with a coherent explanation of why the attack has happened HECS, yes, we're going to go as long as we're going to do it as long as we have to, as long as it takes. Remember that? Remember that from the Biden era about how they said that about Ukraine? So now they're saying it all over again about Iran. And now they're talking about boots on the ground, which is not going to be popular in the United States, to put it mildly. And it won't be popular with the US military.

and if they do anything like that, I think it would be complete political suicide for this administration and for this president. But they're now talking about this because they don't want to give the impression that Iran can indeed outlast them, but then they're weaving and they're ducking on these questions.

And of course we have at Netanyahu coming along talking to Hannity, a sympathetic journalist, if ever the worst one, doing exactly what you said, pleading with the American people. Actually, we're the good guys, the Iranians are the bad guys, as if ultimately that explains anything or helps to see this thing through. In the meantime, the Americans saying the Straits of Hormuz is not closed,

the Iranians saying it is closed, ships not traveling through the Straits of Hormuz. Reports this morning in the financial time, not reports, commentary that the U.S. Navy can keep the Straits of Hormuz open. But that, of course, means positioning American warships in one place where they would be vulnerable to attack by Iranian drones and missiles. So I don't think it is going to happen. And energy prices continuing to edge upwards, especially in Europe. I read somewhere that 25 days, it will take 25 days for the rising energy costs to begin to have a serious impact on the global economy, and I suspect that's about right. So other than that first attack on Saturday, which was the result of an unbelievable lapse,

on the part of the Iranians themselves, but one which I have to say is completely consistent with all of the many mistakes of this kind that the Iranians have made. This operation so far, so far, is not going well. And last but not least, three US fighter jets shot down over Kuwait, almost certainly.

I shot down because the Kuwaiti air defense shot them down But Jim Webb is pointing out and others are pointing out now, but he was the first one, that in fact, the Pentagon report spoke about offensive action being taken by the Iranian Air Force, which suggests that there are some Iranian fighter jets in the skies and that there is armed combat of some kind taking place. Yeah, you also didn't mention the attacks on U.S. embassies in the U. region. Oh, absolutely. The unraveling of Bahrain. Bahrain looks like it's in big trouble that people are rising up against the government. It's not looking good in Bahrain. You also have Pakistan as well. Yes. Things are unraveling there. In Dubai, big problems. All of these leaders called up Putin. Yes. UAE. The Gulf, many Gulf leaders called up Putin. All of them after another. NBS. NBS. MBS as well.

Yeah, so this is not good for any of the countries in the region. No. Dubai is getting hammered. Bahrain might collapse. Yes. Your thoughts there? Well, absolutely. And that's, of course, the big American base in the Persian Gulf.

So, I mean, they have that problem as well. The Gulf states, some of them apparently were advising against this operation. NBS playing a completely duplicitous game, saying to Trump, go ahead and do it, even as publicly he was saying the opposite. Now he is caught. The Gulf states have been telling everybody for years, look, you see, we don't get involved in these wars. We are prosperous, economic, successful, stable countries, unlike Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, or Iraq. all of these other places, look at the difference between how we manage things and how they manage things, except, of course, what they have done is because they didn't come out forcefully and categorically,

and so do the Americans, under no circumstances, do this thing. They are now reaping the whirlwind. They sowed the storm, and they're reaping the whirlwind, and they might drown in it. Now, the other person I must mention is our beloved prime. Minister Kirstama here in Britain. He's both for the operation and he's against the operation. He's helping to counter the Iranian attacks on Israel and other states, but he won't join in the offensive. You can see how he is affected by the specter of Tony Blair and Iraq. He knows this is going to be massively unpopular with the British people.

if Britain joins. But the result is, of course, that he's now under enormous pressure himself and he's quarreling with Donald Trump. So there it is. You know, a lot of this reminds me of of the early days of Project Ukraine, of the conflict in Ukraine, at least the Gulf states and the Europeans. Biden told the Europeans, give it three months. Yes. We'll place massive sanctions on Russia. The economy is going to crumble. Putin's going to fall. And then, we can go in there and pillage and plunder and everything will be fine. And so all the European countries, they all bought into it. And I said, okay, we'll go along with you, Biden.

We'll go along with sending weapons. We'll support the conflict. We'll place sanctions on Russia. And they thought that in three months, Putin was going to collapse. He was going to be toppled. Yes. Didn't happen. I'm not saying this is not going to happen in this instance.

We're still very early. We're on day four. Yes. In all of this. Yes. But it does appear as if the Gulf states were told or encouraged to go along with this by the United States in the anticipation that this would be a weekend operation. Yes. And then Iran would crumble.

The government would crumble and that would be it. Exactly. And now they're looking at their cities, the U.S. military bases in their countries. They're looking at their cities, getting completely hammered by Iranian missiles. And we come to the question of munitions, Alexander. Yes. Trump is saying unlimited, but not really unlimited. That was the message.

We are getting reports that the Gulf states, the countries in the region, have maybe two to four days left of air defense and interceptor missiles. We're getting reports. And I believe these reports that the United States is now going to go to South Korea to get that. to get that and to bring it to the to the region yes what is south korea going to say about that what is north korea going to say about that yeah so uh so what do you uh what do you think is going on here well i again a trump assuring once again we have to say is trump in a truth social post so you know he's reading all of this he's seeing the criticism he's seeing the reports yes he's taking note of everything and so what does he do he puts out a true social post saying

we can go forever unlimited. We have unlimited stockpiles, and they're the greatest weapons and the greatest stockpiles in the world. Yes. But because of Biden, because of Biden, and P.T. Barnum, Zelensky, he calls Zelenskyy, P.T. Barnum of Ukraine,

and Biden giving all the weapons to Ukraine, well, we have to kind of go around the world and look for interceptors in air defense. That was his message on true social. Exactly. I mean, you can actually see the stress. And by the way, you know, people notice the sort of red patch. on his neck. I've seen this sort of thing many times, by the way.

Despite what you hear, I do think these are stress signs. I mean, obviously, I'm not able to diagnose them, but this is what it looks like to me. There is no unlimited supply of missiles. We've been hearing all about the situation with missiles and about production of missiles for years now. The most extraordinary thing is that despite the special military operation having been ongoing for four years,

the United States has not been able to significantly increase the production of munitions. And we discussed in many places the difficulties in the industrial system, which makes this even more difficult. So they are going to have to hunt around the world for weapons. They are going to have to take THAAD missiles from South Korea.

They are going to have to do all of these things. because they have no choice if they're going to continue this war. And to stop at this point with the government in Iran intact and refusing to negotiate because that is the other thing we didn't mention, that Trump and the US have apparently made serious efforts to try to get negotiations going and to get some kind of ceasefire in place. but to resume negotiations. Why would the Iranians agree?

But anyway, that's another question. Given that if they stop, without having achieved any of the great objectives that they set out, it would be a political disaster for the administration, for Trump himself. I mean, it would be an enormous crisis. He's doubling down as Biden doubled down repeatedly over Ukraine. he can't stop and so he's doing what we said he's plundering resources from all over the world

to try to keep this war going for as long as possible in the hope that something in Iran turns out now we've discussed this already we said that the major way forward the way regime change would work in Iran would be firstly if there's big protests on the streets there have not been big protests on the streets. Secondly, if the military, there were defections from the military, we've had, I think it's three nights now. There's been no visible defections by any part of the military. There's no sign of any military units moving into Tehran or of any crisis there. They're now trying to get the Kurds involved. We will see whether the Kurds want to get involved in all of this. I've also heard ISIS as well. Have you heard that as well?

Oh, absolutely. To move ISIS in as well. Absolutely. But then ISIS, of course, is a Sunni organization. It's not supportive, supported, wildly supported, amongst the Iranian population. So anyway, we'll see. All of these things they're going to try and do.

But the fact that they're talking about doing all of these things tells you that they are in a crisis and they don't really know what to do. In some ways, the most indicative statements yesterday yesterday were those by Rubio. Rubio is the slickest of operators. The fact that as you rightly said, his press conference was a total washout, a disaster. How completely unprepared for this situation the administration actually was. So what's the big wave attack that's coming, Alexander? They're going to just pound Iran, Tehran via the air and through missile.

Is that the plan? Well, for the moment, yes. What happens? For the moment, yes. I mean, I have to say, I thought the big wave was going to happen last night. But, you know, last night we had more of the same. I gather that half of US air power is now committed to this operation. So there isn't a huge amount in reserve that they can probably deploy now.

because remember the other half is also doing things. I mean, it has to be in Europe. It has to be in South Korea. It has to be in East Asia, those things. Half the US Air Force, 40% of the deployable US Navy. I mean, I'm not sure quite what more they can do over and above and beyond what they have already done. And the Israelis, of course, have been very active as well. We shall see.

All I will say is that this, at the moment, this operation is not succeeding. I sent you yesterday a headline from National Review, William Buckley's former outfit, near Concentral, even they're starting to have doubts. So I don't know what they do. Probably keep their fingers crossed and try to create trouble. with the Kurds, with ISIS, with the Balukis, further to the east. We'll see whether any of that makes a difference.

Now, I'll tell you what I do think is going to happen, and by the way, this is where the Gulf states are all involved, is that, of course, they're in a critical situation. As you rightly said, they're running out of weapons systems very fast. We've already had one Saudi commentator complaining that all the help is going to Israel and that they're being abandoned. And I suspect this is a widespread view. They're all now talking to Putin.

They had a whole succession of the king of Bahrain, who, as you rightly said, is now in real danger of being toppled, the Emir of Qatar, the president of the UAE and MBS, one after the other. They all spoke to Putin. And the theme from all of them was that they wanted immediate ceasefire. So they're asking, and MBS, specifically seem to be asking Putin to try to arrange it.

We'll see what happens. Yeah, the embassy was hit yesterday, the U.S. embassy in Riyadh. Yes. They're going to put boots on the ground, aren't they? Well, I mean, if the Kurds and ISIS do not come in. I've also read reports, which claimed that the United States was trying to, the Trump administration was trying to do something through Afghanistan as well. but the Taliban told them to buzz off.

Yes. That they weren't going to open the border up. So the boots on the ground, the first thought, now that the protests haven't happened and we haven't seen the Iranians, at least for the moment, rise up to topple the government, which is what they thought. The next stage, at least from their point of view, is to try and get those boots on the ground, but to have those boots be the Kurds, perhaps ISIS. maybe some other other balukia the balukies yeah some yeah some other factions if that doesn't work

and the kurds just might do it the Kurds might do it but i also wonder what what what these reactions going to be to all of this quite yeah absolutely what is erdogan going to say if he starts to see the Kurds moving in but but the Kurds might and isis of course you know is is their their hired gun right yeah but but if that doesn't come through Does Trump go with U.S. boots? Well, maybe a small force. Maybe they think that they can degrade the internal security of Iran. That's why they're going after all the police stations and all of these facilities.

Well, maybe, who knows? The trouble is when people are in, as deep in a hole as these people now are, it's very, very difficult to pull back and the temptation to escalate relentlessly gross and that's the risk that they will start thinking about boots on the ground and they will try and find some way

to persuade enough people in the US to support that to make it happen. They do have some supporting Congress for the moment. Most of the Republican party in Congress continues to back this thing. Apparently there's a group of centrist Democrats who are also backing this thing. So one should not think that this is not going to happen massively unpopular with the American people that it is going to be.

Despite that, despite that, I think it's a real possibility now. If in a month's time, this fighting. is still continuing, then I think that we might start to see movements of troops from the United States, the Middle East. Of course, if they are professional troops, part of the regular US Army, that will be politically very difficult if it is the National Guard, which is what Bush and Cheney used to supplement the regular forces in the campaign against Iraq in 2003. But if it's the National Guard, well, I'm just all better off politically. We could start to see not just opinion polls turning sour,

but we could start to see huge protests and demonstrations and all that kind of thing in the United States. We're not there yet, but we're heading there fast. Yeah, did you catch Gavin Newsom's press conference? No, I didn't. He already started going after Trump. I mean, he's positioning him as the Democrat candidate. The other thing I wanted to say is that, of course, we're hearing the stories now circulating, and we had to do it because the Israelis were going to do it all by themselves.

And we couldn't believe the Israelis by themselves. And who knows what these terrible people, rather not terrible, our friends, the Israelis might have done if we had left them to do it all by themselves. I don't believe that story at all. I've got the clear sense all along that Trump was aching to take out Iran. But anyway, that's one thing. And of course, the other thing which we must all prepare for is it isn't working. It's Putin's fault.

The Russians are to blame. There's already been, I think, pictures, photos circulating of supposedly Russian kit on a Iranian drone. I understand that is fake. But you can see that this is coming. Yeah. Rubio, he described the thinking behind the conflict as proactively in a defensive way, acting proactively in a defensive way. Yes.

Because Israel was going to attack Iran and Iran was going to retaliate against Israel. The U.S. acted proactively in a defensive way. Yeah. I mean, as I said, I did buy that story. I don't think anybody should. I mean, the movements of troops and ships and all of the aircraft and all of that over many months makes that obvious. I mean, to repeat again, a point that we have made in program after program ever since the June war stopped. That was clearly a pause. It was obvious that the operation was going to resume again.

All right. So before we get to the questions, Alexander, I have one final question. The Trump administration just continues to hit at Iran for the next month. What happens? Do you get a regime change like that? Everyone, all the experts, they've all been saying it's impossible to get regime changed with just an air campaign. But what happens if you do see, let's say a rerun of, say, NATO's attack against Serbia, say, you know, 74 days and nights of just relentless air campaign bombing of Iran.

I think Iran is a very different society from Serbia. So you remember with Serbia, the regime changed it didn't happen during the bombing war, but it happened a year later. Yeah. And one of the reasons it happened, by the way, was because Milosevic backed down. I mean, he was looking for an exit himself. The story, by the way, that it was the Russians who persuaded him to back. down isn't true despite the fact that, you know, we're talking about awful people in Russia,

like Chenomedein and Yeltsin, the people of that kind. But it was, Milosevic himself made that decision that he wanted to find a diplomatic exit. And of course, that opened the way to regime change. I don't believe that this is going to happen in Iran. Even in a month's time, the government of Iran, the political system there is still intact, that we have a massive crisis. And, of course, We haven't discussed the other aspect of this. Wang Yi, the Chinese foreign minister, spoke yesterday. Firstly, well, he spoke with Lavrov, but he also spoke with Arakshi. And Wang Yi said that China backs Iran.

I mean, they support Iran in its struggle to defend its sovereignty. I mean, very, very strong language. So what happens if or rather when China starts stopping exports of rare earths to the United States, which at some point in this conflict, they will. Well, what happens? Well, the United States can't be. Trump is supposed to be in China next month. Well, indeed.

I mean, well, that's the big thing. I mean, if this thing is continuing over, you know, for the next couple of weeks, if it looks like a long war, will he even be able to go to China? Will the Chinese receive him? Will he want to go and face Xi Jinping a loser? And could it also be, as I said, that the Chinese before then, will start to take retaliatory action of their own? I say retaliatory because you can see all over the media now,

More of more reports that part of the purpose of this operation is to deny China access to oil. China imports two-thirds of its oil. You stop the oil flows from Venezuela. You're going to try and stop the oil flows from Iran. The Chinese see this. They watch this. They know all about this. They can always receive oil.

they will receive oil from Russia. It's not, it's, I mean, they'll have problems, but they will not be catastrophic problems. But they, by contrast, are in a position to block exports of rare earths. And the United States cannot, cannot find alternative supplies to them. Because though there are rare earths all over the world,

it is the ability to refine them that matters, and only China can do this with some. of them, some of the critical ones of them. It's amazing that China has not done it already. Well, for all we know, there probably are. I mean, the way the Chinese like to work is that they don't announce things, but they gradually slow the exports down. We will probably start to hear reports about this in a week or two.

Okay, so the EU in a month's time is going through a massive crisis. They can't get gas. The entire EU is unraveling. Do they go to Putin? Do they go to Russia and say, turn on Nord Stream? Please. Does Russia do it? I'm not saying this is going to happen. I think this is a long shot. I actually think that the EU is going to probably sanction Russia more in a month. That is exactly correct. For the record, I think the Russians will probably say at that point, look, we don't have the gas. We're exporting gas now to China. We simply don't have the gas, the available gas, to supply, to send it through Nord Stream. It's not just that we are

supplying gas to China. We are going through a major gasification process within our own country. We're connecting more and more parts of our huge country to the gas supply, which has been a major operation, by the way, that the Russians have been undertaking. Western Russia mostly was already connected to the gas system. But Eastern Russia was not. And that's our priority now. If you want our gas, lift all the sanctions. The chat is saying, yet if I was Putin, I'd tell them to shove it.

Yeah. Well, they probably will. They're going to sanction Russia is what they're going to do. Oh, of course they are. They're not going to do that. I mean, we'll be having, bear in mind, we have a critical shortage of power,

energy across Europe already. We've discussed the de-industrial. that's taking place in German. In Britain, by the way, it's even worse. But of course, never, ever, ever say that it is because of our original sanctions that we are in this mess. So lifting those sanctions in order to get gas from Russia

would be an admission that it was what we did in the first place that caused the problem. And bear in mind that, you know, with Nord Stream pipelines, we don't know what kind of condition it is in, because it hasn't been working for, what, four years now. And pipelines do deteriorate if they're not maintained and they're not used. But the other two pipelines, the Drujwa pipeline, goes through Ukraine.

So that was getting Zelensky to agree to open it. And the other one, the Yamal pipeline, goes through Poland. And they've also closed it. So, you know, getting all of these people to reverse, to open up these pipelines might not be that easy. Just saying. Harry says if Putin even answers the phone, he'll probably say, sorry, wrong number. Well, the Kremlin isn't answering calls from France. Yeah.

I mean, that was crazy. That was incredible. Yeah. Oh, boy. Zoran says the EU will sanction Russia. into giving them the gas. Seriously. That's right.

That's right. Let's get to the questions, Alexander. Nico says, I managed to talk with a friend in Iran. He told me that even Peseshkian, the mildest man in Iran, wants blood. There's no way Iran will capitulate. I've been hearing the same thing. I should say, I have a particularly close friend who lives in London, who's in Iranian. He, by the way, is very, very strongly opposed to the government.

He's absolutely furious about what's happening. And he's been in contact with his family in Tabriz, not in Tehran. And he tells me that in Tabriz things are calm and peaceful and stable, and that he expects Iran to continue to fight and to fight on. Iranian Qura says somewhat disappointed that some commentators repeatedly make unsubstantiated claims without any evidence, relying on other sources about certain friendly countries, allegedly army Iran. All kinds of claims of this kind.

I mean, let me stress again, the picture that's been circulating of the Shahid drone with some kind of, you know, Russian kit is fake. It's not fake. It's an actual fit picture, but it's a, it's a Shahid drone that was, a Gerand drone that was shot down in Ukraine. It's got no connection to the situation in Iran. Yeah, Zaryel says,

Nutt and Yahoo fled to Germany on Saturday on the Wigs of Zion, his plane, such as this is a despicable person. Aeneer will indeed, quite true. Eurasianist says two guest suggestions, get Pravdin Sakhwane on your show, in my opinion, by far the best Indian geopolitical analyst, and Carl Zah, who would be a great guest

for a wide-ranging discussion on all topics. Absolutely. Absolutely, Aja would be a brilliant one. And somebody's also suggested Professor Pape, who would be a brilliant guest also, in my opinion. Nico says, I saw live streams from Trump supporters cheering this. You have the media and commentators trying to whitewash it,

and they are succeeding in the West. Well, they're up to a point succeeding. My sense in Britain is that the mood is not too sympathetic to this. I was over the weekend. I had to go into the central London. and we were I was coming back in a cab and the cab driver was absolutely seething with rage over it I won't repeat what he said but anyway so I don't get the sense that the mood is at all friendly to this in the US I think yes there are the usual crowd of supporters some of whom are Trump supporters

But again, the opinion polls show little support for this operation overall. Iranian-Kato says there are no verified photos of deliveries or official statements. Today, Chinese foreign minister denied any military support, but some commentators unfortunately still persist in repeating these claims to fit their narrative. Well, we have to be careful. I mean, I think China is providing help, and we could see this visibly. one of the things that the Chinese have been doing over the last couple of weeks

and this is indisputable is that they've been publishing photos of all of these bases, satellite photos, which is a kind of free intelligence gift. There may be more things going on that we don't know. But, well, rumours, as you say, there's been a lot of these rumours.

We'll see what is actually taking place. Oji Wall says good day Gents Chili Pepper says lots of rumors Israel is preparing a nuke for Iran insanity Well that would be insanity But I have to say this also

I've been listening to some people And I do think that some people Have taken completely their senses Yeah Nico says how dare They demand them to stop After all of these atrocities

As an ex-Marine said I want Iran to respond With everything they got on Israel It's Nikos Chunky Monkey says, is Iran's strategy compatible with Klushovitz? Yes, I'd say so. The Iranians have a military strategy, which is to survive, to keep going, to make this a long war.

This is what they said they would do before the war. This is what Larijani, who is obviously the person who's an overall charge at the moment, also said they rejected offers of negotiations. What they have not done up to now, up to this moment, is set out their own political demands. Just saying. Zoran says, you mentioned YouTube doesn't suggest your content, and many people can only find you through searches. Good luck on people randomly, deliberately searching for Alexander Mercodos and Alex Christopher. Thank you for that.

Nico says, why am I supposed to sympathize with Israel, U.S. and Ukrainian people? I'm sick and tired of excusing them. They are responsible for their decisions. Yes. Zaryel says, is Elensky crying as he's not the number one anymore? Ukraine's going to be in big trouble. Very, very big trouble. All of this.

Yes. I mean, weapons, stockpiles, interceptors, air defense. Yes. It's going to be a crisis. And of course, the longer this drags on, the more difficult it becomes for him and for for the Ukrainian military altogether. Chunky monkey says, doesn't Trump have a perverse incentive

to allow missiles, et cetera, to be depleted? How could neocons be upset at pulling out if there is no way to fight? Well, they will nonetheless find ways to blame him. And given that Trump has been telling us all the time about how the United States is the most powerful military in the world so much stronger, for him to admit that the,

the U.S. is out of weapons would be a profound humiliation and a massive blow to his own vanity, which I don't think he would want. He's already blaming. I mean, he's blaming Biden for the weapons, of which he's got a point. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, absolutely. Biden, Biden, the bonehead Biden gave a ton of weapons to Ukraine. But Trump gives a lot of weapons to Ukraine, but he sells, he sells the weapons to NATO.

Yes. He sells the weapons to the United States. And then they sent it to Ukraine. but he also blamed Obama for the JCPOA. Yes. Gratioities. I mean, absolutely. Claims that Iran would have had a nuclear weapon three to four years ago

if the JCPOA had been in place, a claim which has no evidence behind it at all. Raynor says that in Yahoo could blackmail Trump into sending boots on the ground or Samson will take over. Foszibald says Bennett has suggested that Turkey is next Yes I know

I saw that which I wonder what Erdogan would make of that one Niko says We can criticize Putin for being too patient But he did what a good leader should do in this situation

prioritizing the safety Of his people First What did Trump and Bibi Prioritize after unleashing This unprecedented destruction I'm worried about Tehran it's being hammered by the Israelis.

Well, indeed, absolutely. And one should be very worried about terror. It's a huge place, by the way. So, I mean, can absorb an awful lot of damage. But nonetheless, the damage that has been done is terrible. Now, as for this, this issue, I mean, you know, we, the point, it's a point I've made before, but I'm going to make it again. Russia's ability to keep going for a long, long time, basically for indefinitely, I mean, that they can fight a war. for four years, without any weapons shortages,

without any manpower shortages, without any sign of fracturing within their society. That is a sign of strength, whereas today we're all talking about possible American weapons shortages. I mean, to my mind, that tells you who is really prepared for war and who is not. Elliot, the TZP says, Hamine was so careless that I'm just glad that he wasn't sudden.

bathing on his porch and live tweeting about it. Well, he's not the kind of person who would have done that. I find it all very difficult to understand, but I have to also say it is not out of, I mean, it's not out of the pattern. The Iranians have been incredibly reckless with issues of security. And this has been going back years. You know, you can make the same argument to a certain extent. I'm stretching it a bit with Russia as well.

You know, Putin traveled to Anchorage. Absolutely, yes. Well, more to the point. They had meetings in Geneva. What about all of these Russian soldiers who get killed in Moscow without proper security for them? I mean, again, you know, I would agree it's nowhere near as bad as in Iran, but it's extraordinary that such things are allowed to happen. Mars attacks says thank you for your integrity, gentlemen. Thank you, Mars attacks.

Raul Pinto says, what will be the impact of Middle East escalation on long-term U.S. support for Ukraine? How long before we see a collapse of Ukraine? Well, that's, as I said, I think if this war in the Middle East continues, if the war with Iran continues, it's going to be a catastrophe. Zelensky and Ukraine. I mean, without a constant.

flow of weapons in the United States. The Israel, Ukraine, would have collapsed years ago. Haruko, thank you for the two super chats. Jettano Manas says, could Israel use nukes or send ground troops?

I, well, they've sent ground troops apparently into Lebanon. Lebanon, yeah, that's not quite the same. Yeah, that's not quite the same. As to Israel using nukes, I would like to believe and I still want to believe that before Israel could do that, it would need to get the US's agreement and that the US has some kind of kill switch over it as they do over Britain's use of its nuclear weapon. If not, then it would be grossly negligent of the US not to have

done that. And in the case of Israel, again, I come back to what I said. I've been. listening and reading some of the things that some people in Israel are saying. And the way that they talk, I'm afraid I don't think there's anything that these people might not do. Nico says, by the way, Russia is already helping Iran against Europe. Yesterday, they struck a French base in Abu Dhabi. Who do you think gave them the data for Russia? Well, I think a lot of that is coming from Russia and China as well.

Jungal Jinn says possible conditions to be set by Iran for ceasefire. U.S. out of the Middle East, Israel verifiably back to 1948 borders and dismantling of nuclear missiles. Well, if we have those kind of demands, then as I said, that is the collapse of the Middle East, as we have known it, it would be the end of American dominance in the Middle East. It's difficult to imagine some of the Gulf states surviving a revolution of that kind. Perhaps for the US it would be a good outcome, just to say. But I cannot imagine any American president agreeing to that at the moment. Nico says we also found Russian technology and drones that hit Cyprus.

China is providing data. They are in. They know this is a chance for them to hurt the US. I've already said it seems that Russian technology, that photo of the Russian technology in the drone, is fake. The photo is a fake. It's been circulating around. I don't know whether the Cypriot authorities themselves have been involved, but the photo is an old photo.

Some people have found it of a grand drone in Ukraine itself, or at least of some kind of drone that was used there. So, as I said, I don't think we should look at this. I think the Russians are providing intelligence assistance. And I have heard, and this has come from information. from within Russia, that the Russians have provided some technology to make Iranian missiles more accurate. But that's as far as I know, all that's been done. I haven't seen any photos from Cyprus to Cyprus, the Cypriot media claiming that Russia has helped with the drones.

Well, there we go. None of that is circulating around here from the media, which is very pro-West, super-pro-West. They're not running with that yet. Exactly. I mean, On the side, on the Russians, we know that the Russians have provided helicopter gunships to Iran, MI28 helicopters, I believe eight of them. There's been photos. So I don't think there's any doubt about this. They provided Yak 30 trainers. And there's been rumors that they supplied Iran with May 29th. But Iran obtained some former Iraqi Miq 29s because Saddam Hussein had them flown to Iran before the 1991 more. So it could be that these are legacy weapons in that period. Jungle Jin says either that or a one unitary state solution.

Fuzzy Ball says America's concubines in the Middle East found out. Zoran says, we say Iran has a lot of mountains, unpenetrable bunkers, etc. It's okay. Khamenei had that meeting, but I personally expected that it'd be somewhere 1,000 meters below a mountain. What the heck were they doing in their residences? Well, who tell, I mean, you know, it baffles me, and I'm not going to try to provide an explanation for it. It suggests yet again that the Iranians were very, very complacent, or at least Hamanay himself was very, very complacent about this.

I have to say this, but my impression of Jaminé is incredibly clever man, very, very clever man, very, very erudite. He, you know, he was somebody very familiar with Western literature. He was apparently something of a poet, a man of deep culture. But also, in some ways, disconnected from some of the realities of the modern world. and far too willing to accept, you know, the negotiations ongoing, the Amani's come along and say that they've had this excellent message

from the Americans of leaping, you know, going for that, not wanting to consider the possibility that this was a trick, a trap, and insisting that all of these important people come and see him. Paluza, thank you for that super sticker. Gio Stone says, Alex, you mentioned a few months ago that you got detailed insight of the Iran government

and its complex way it operates. Appreciate some insight. Thanks. Well, I have had some information, but I mean, it's not a political system that is very easy for outsiders to understand.

Basically, there is the supreme leader who is, or was, the religious leader, the person who is an overall charge of foreign policy and who was running the legal and judicial system. Then there is the security establishment, which is basically headed by Larijani, who was given basically total control over it back in January. So the military industrial security apparatus was it was operated, was operating. independently of Harmony.

And there was Peziscan, who is supposedly in charge of the economy. And these various parts of the system don't apparently mesh very well. And this has been a problem. So, for example, the central bank, and I've said this many times, I can say it again, they had a credit default swap with the Chinese central bank. They could have asked for help from China to stabilize the currency. They didn't do it. They are now gradually moving towards closer economic integration with the bricks, but it's been very slow. The military security apparatus has been more effectively organized since the June war.

Iran and Kido says, even if the military were mobilized, I would love to know how it'd be done through an amphibious assault in the Persian Gulf or by finding narrow passages in the Zagros Mountains like Alexander did. Well, I am not going to start throwing up plans and military plans of that kind. I mean, it's absolutely outside my area of knowledge. Alexander, the only person, the only military to defeat the Persians.

Is that true, Alexander? Well, the Arabs also... The Greeks, the Greeks, Alex. Alexander the Great. The Greeks, Alexander the Great, and then the Arabs also, during the period of the Arab conquest, the collapse of the Sasanid Empire in the seventh century. So I mean, and that's it, exactly. And can I just say, the US military might be, you know, very, very good in many ways, but they don't have a military genius like Alexander the Great or a religious genius like Muhammad leading. Elliot TZP says, was the Saudi oil facilities even a false flag by the Saudis themselves as an excuse to go in?

No, I don't believe so. I think that for the Saudis to draw attention in that way to their own vulnerability. Remember, I mean, oil is the thing that keeps Saudi Arabia afloat. I don't think the Israelis would do something like that. I think the Saudis are in absolute shock. I think all of these Gulf states are in charge. shock. I think just as the Europeans believed that all the all the Biden needed to do was to flick the switch and this would cause the entire Russian House of Cards tumbling down. I think they thought exactly the same about the US military and the Israeli military that all it needed to do was to hit Iran and Iran would come tumbling down and they would be well. Dubai built their entire their entire

entire story, the entire Dubai story, the whole narrative is built on safety and security. Exactly. All of it. All of it. The business, the real estate, the tourism, emirates. It's all built on this safety of Dubai and the UAE. And that's just all come crashing down. Absolutely.

Kremlin, thank you for that super-stick. DeRanisa, thank you for that. Super chat. Nikos says, and on top of all of that, shit show Macron comes out and says he'll increase his nuclear arsenal and give nukes to other European nations. Unbelievable. I know, absolutely unbelievable. I mean, I think Macron, who has never been the most stable individual, as his presidency ends, is becoming more and more. reckless. Valeria is a new member to the Dran community. Iranian Kido says, by the way, Tehran is basically a fortress surrounded by Albor's Mountain,

Caspian, and thick forests in the north and desert in the south. Well, indeed. I think anybody who wants to invade Iran has taken completely with their senses, if I may say so. But, I mean, I come back to what I've been saying.

I've been reading commentaries that ultimately originate from Israel, but some also from the US. And some people have taken leave of their senses. Nico says, don't underestimate France. Duran, they've stolen enough nuclear material from Africa to do it. You have to accept that nations in Europe will get nukes. Oh, I don't exclude any possibilities now, unfortunately.

My M2X says, good morning to you both. Understandably, no one wants to talk about it. but can you please discuss the possibility that potential outcomes if Israel and US opt for the Samson option? Well, I don't really want to discuss that because I can't really imagine what the world will look like after that. I think there would be an enormous sense of revulsion against Israel and the United States around the world to say the least. I mean, I think we would be in a completely different place. I think there would be massive fear. there would be a huge search in nuclear production,

nuclear weapons production around the world, which, by the way, would be a disaster for the United States, because one of the things the US needs in order to remain powerful is for it to restrict as far as possible the spread of nuclear weapons, because how does the United States dominate countries, ultimately, if they all have nuclear weapons. But we would be in a completely different world. The idea of nuclear war would have become normalized.

I don't want to even think about what the effect of that would be. Unfortunately, we might actually start having to think about it. But as of today, I don't want to. Jujitsas Silla says, does, do you think Trump can cancel the midterms and assert himself to prolong the war? Congress is a rotting swamp husk as much as Trump. I don't think it's constitutionally possible. I mean, it's never been done.

The United States held elections during the American Civil War and during both world wars. So I don't think it can be done. It held elections during the Vietnam War when half a million American troops were fighting. We don't have that situation yet. So I don't know. I don't think it can be done. I think that if an attempt were made to do it, the Supreme Court would intervene to stop it.

But who knows, I mean, we are in a very, very unstable situation. And I agree. I mean, where is Congress in all of this? What is Congress doing? I mean, a war, the United States is going to war without any authorization from Congress whatsoever. No discussion. No discussion. There was no discussion in Congress about any of this.

Absolutely. I mean, there was all kinds of discussion and debate. The UN, nowhere. No way. Trump didn't go to the UN. He didn't even put a Colin Powell-like figure to show the anthrax or whatever. Colin Powell was showing back. Exactly. Or Lyndon Johnson with, you know, the Gulf of Tompkin resolution and all of that.

We've had nothing. And Congress is not pushing back. I mean, they're going along with all of this. I think Congress is a complete husk, as somebody said. I still think it would be very difficult thing to do, to cancel or postpone the midterms. Elliot TCP says, in all fairness, people are not on the streets because Trump and Palavi told them not yet. Neil Mehta says, did Modi make a mistake visiting Beebe at this time? Yes.

Nico says, you made a video about Putin being silent about the SMO, but he is not isolated. here Medvedev talk the same way and I don't see dissent. He agreed. I think this is probably right. I mean, I think there has been a significant harmony in Russian rhetoric over the last few weeks since the Valdai attack. I think Putin has only really broken out and made two public statements. One was when he met with the ambassadors in the beginning of January. And then the other was when he met with Witkoff and Kushner in Moscow. And they failed to bring with them the document about security guarantees. And apparently the meeting didn't go well.

But since then, he's been silent and he continues to be. And I noticed that he's not mentioning Trump at all anymore. And I'm barely sure that Trump has tried to speak with him. But there's no sign that Putin is interested. Kemp Sheikhs says, are there any U.S. warships in the Persian Gulf? I believe not, actually. I think they're all in the Arabian Sea. I don't think so.

Yeah, Nico says, I think the debate is over in Russia. You don't see the disagreements of December and after Iran. There's no choice to trust anymore, only victory. Well, I mean, there's still Demetri of time to time. But overall, I would agree. Yenka, thank you for that. Super chat. Alaska says with the Pentagon and other officials stating U.S. attack was unprovoked,

this illegal unconventional action, how likely is it the MIC Pentagon leadership wouldn't follow orders for boots on the ground? Well, they have followed orders up to now. And I think that to expect American military to disobey an order, direct order from the commander in chief, who is, of course, the president, would be an extraordinarily unusual situation. I mean, I've never had heard of it happening before. But if there is a crisis, if there are protests and people say, where was the authorization from Congress, then you might start to see some sections of the military waiver. Niko says, you know, my nightmare scenario, Trump is done and he is leaving a Democratic president eager to use the nuclear armed Europe against Russia. Well, maybe. I mean,

You know, we have, we do have these possibilities too. Vladislav says, greetings from Bulgaria on our national holiday, the day of our liberation at the end of a Russo-O Ottoman war. Sadly today, we have ganged against our liberators with those who opposed our liberation. Very true. Very, very true. And congratulations on your national day. Absolutely. One in Bulgaria.

Mark says, what if the goal is not quick victory, but to crash our existing system with intent, the great. reset can be ushered in by crashing the old system well a lot of people talk about this i cannot imagine that donald trump himself thinks in this way and he is the ultimate decision maker we mustn't give him a pass uh alexandron says other proposed war beyond israel's regional gain oh i mean they're already talking about turkey so i mean you know keep keep the uh regime change caravan going i mean bolton has been trying to overthrow erdog one for years now mama alaska says she meant unconstitutional but we understood we got the question good question thank you for that yeah mama alaska um imeta says will it be cheaper for

china to use iran as a proxy than fight the u.s in the sea of china if china does not support iran it's going to be a huge mistake well i think china is supporting iran i think it's providing quite a lot of intelligence through Iran. They apparently, and again, I have this on fairly good authority that they did suggest to Iran that Iran might one day be interested in buying service to air missiles.

And there was reports in Reuters saying that China was prepared to sell and in fact had agreed to sell. There's actually a contract that China would supply Iran with anti-ship missiles. subsonic anti-ship missiles. The problem is this has been slow.

It should have been all sorted out four or five years ago, but it wasn't done. Arguably, Iran could have been alert to the dangers, certainly from the time that Trump walked out of the JCPOA, but even more so after the crisis on the 7th of October. that sooner or later Iran would be blamed and Iran would be attacked. And they didn't take the action that they should have taken there. But that's in the past.

We are where we are. For the moment, they seem to be doing as well as they can. Alexander G. says Ayatollah chose Martyrdom to galvanize all Shia in the region in support. Yes, as I said, I know that that is the view. And I think that in his own mind, he was prepared to embrace martyrdom. And I mean, there's recordings of him saying this. So I don't think there's any doubt about this. But on that specific meeting, on Saturday, that doesn't appear to be how it happened.

Nico says, Alex, please don't risk yourself Greece is further away from Cyprus. Come to the Greek mainland. I'll stay in Cyprus for a little bit more. Let's see here. Thank you for that. Nikos Rada and Kido says there are no active Kurdish militia inside Iran that are fighting against the government. There are groups in Iraq that sometimes get into a clash with Iran's security forces in the border towns. This is exactly what I've heard.

And I've also heard that there's no real sentiment amongst the Kurds in Iran that they want to rebel against the government either. They're very, very closely integrated in Iranian society. Kurdish is an Iranian language, not identical to Farsi, but nonetheless, that there is, I mean, this has all been a single nation for a very, very long time. And people who expect those kind of fractures are engaging in wishful thinking. But this seems to be what the Americans at the moment are to do. Matthew says is a nuclear exchange likely? Well, in nuclear exchange, assumes that Iran has nuclear weapons. I don't know, it clearly doesn't.

So, no, if there's going to be use of nuclear weapons, there will be one side, Israel and the United States, against another side, Iran, which doesn't have them. Jeffrey Brown says, I do history, as I'm sure many in the community do. I have to say, a fall imperial capital, a pale attempt at being Rome, does not a Roman empire make, nor does a military that has never had an absolute victory against a pure enemy ever. Not Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan were defeated without Soviet's annihilation of greater forces than the Allies faced.

Apart from that, the early emperors were men of intellect and talent. You don't start with half-wits. They came before the fall. Well, I mean, fundamentally, I'm not pushing back on any of that. You know your Roman history very well. Sir Mug's game says, are Russia and China playing the role of geopolitics? political referees. They curate the amount of damage to Israel and ensure Iran doesn't end up like Libya. I think the thing to understand is that the Russians and the Chinese are reacting. Their response is

reactive. They're not proactively controlling this situation. At this moment in time, their primary objective will be to try to prevent this situation escalating completely out of control in ways that might be dangerous for them. They will also want to make sure that their own economic positions are secure. The fact that ships carrying Russian oil went to China to build up the stockpiles there, that kind of thing. The Russians are talking to the various Arabs States, I'm sure the Chinese are, they will try to control it this way. If the war continues, if we start getting into a situation where this war continues for weeks, months, whatever, then of course the calculus starts to change. If it becomes clear to the Russians and the Chinese

that Iran is standing, that it's going to be able to sustain a long war, then the Chinese and the Russians may say to themselves, it is in our interests to help Iran. It is our interest to help to start taking more practical action to help Iran. Because we don't need to worry that we're going to send weapons to Iran and then Iran will simply implode and then we will be embarrassed because the Americans will go in and get all those weapons and will be humiliated. And then it starts to look like Vietnam in the 1960s, which after it showed that it, it had the ability to defend itself, started to receive more and more aid from both China and Russia. And then the Chinese and the Russians, exactly as you would expect, started to use that

in order to gain leverage over the United States. And the result was Nixon in China, Nixon and Beijing, and the United States opening to China. China and the detente period with the Soviet Union. So this is the kind of way that these countries think and work. And I don't think it's any different today. Sabinator says thoughts on silver going down when it should be going to the moon. I'm not going to discuss that. These are absolutely outside my range of understanding and knowledge.

Perhaps more interestingly, no huge rush to buy treasuries, apparently. according to the financial times anyway. And that is unusual because in times of stress and prices, the thing that people do is that they go off and buy treasuries because that's the safe haven. Gas prices are going to the mood. Absolutely. If that helps.

Edward Bernay says Europe and America are displaying all the signs of a true cacistocracy government by least qualified, most insecure, unscrupulous, men and women. Well, absolutely. And a complete collapse in the, you know, the well-established legal, constitutional and and administrative procedures set up in the United States, going all the way back to the Constitution, intended to ensure that bad decisions were not made.

that if decisions were made, they were made carefully after proper debate and thought. But we see all of that thrown out of the window. Zelensky-Wan says, after Iran, which Middle Eastern countries may be next on the unfavorable nation list and may be targeted for submission to the powers that be? Seems to be a pattern here. Well, I mean, they're talking about Turkey. I find that incredible. And I wonder why they worry, because, I mean, Erdogan, ultimately, is never going to cause them any real problems.

but the rhetoric is all about Turkey. Nico says, what is your take on Modi? He is taking massive heat in India. I understand you are anti-Muslim, but bro. Read the room. I bet he regrets his trip. No, I mean, I'm sure he does regret his trip. I'm not anti-Muslim at all, by the way.

I think people are speaking about Modi. Oh, Modi. Yeah, yeah, Modi is. No, he is. I mean, I think he did make a big mistake. I think he's made many. I mean, by the way, Modi does make mistakes. I mean, he got much, he went, he made a very unwise trip to Kiev and met Zelensky there.

And he got a lot of stick in India for that. He did this again with Netanyahu. And I think this is a major mistake for him too. Rob 1 says with a loss, even if only perceived, I doubt the US will return to a similar level of influence. in the region, a total loss, a total US loss might equal their expulsion from many countries. Your thoughts? Well, yes, absolutely. When I said that no president, I can imagine would agree to a total US pullout from the Middle East. The reason they wouldn't agree with it is because it would be

an admission of defeat. I mean, it took a decade of war in Vietnam before the United States accepted a full pullout. We're just a few days in. to this. Attenam says, has Kayakalas blamed the war on Putin yet? Oh, absolutely. Coming. It's coming. It's coming.

He's the mastermind behind it all. You know, what we really ought to do in this situation is, you know, we're running out of gas. It's exactly what Alex said. We need to increase our sanctions on Russia even more. We need to stop. We take even more decisive action to stop Russian oil exports. That's what Gales is going to say.

That's called energy freedom. Exactly. Matthew says, will this escalate to an all-out global conflict? No, I think this is, again, going back to what I was saying, that the Russians and the Chinese will try to keep this under control. They do not want it to escalate in that way. The Chinese are saying to themselves, the Americans are depleting their resources,

even as we're building up ours, The longer this war goes on, the stronger we get, but we don't want Iran to collapse. So they will be modulating their response in that kind of way. They will provide Iran with whatever help they can. At the moment, it will be mostly intelligence. There'll be some level of economic support, eventually weapons, if the war drags on. But they will not want it to escalate out of control. The Russians will be making exactly the same calculations.

From their point of view, the Americans are also depleting their weapons. Stockpiles, that helps the Russians in Ukraine. So that's the kind of very tough-minded calculations that these countries are making. But they do not want a global war. Obviously not. Why would they, in World War III? There is rationality, tough-minded, cold-blooded rationality on one side. It's the other side that worries me.

Samuel Moroni says, what if a U.S. tactical nuke is dropped in Iran? Well, again, I mean, these are horrendous possibilities. The United States considered using a tactical nuke during the Vietnam War, but they decided against it and they decided that it would create more problems than it would solve, even in military terms. I hope that there are those realist people. in the U.S. military itself, the uniform military

who would push back against these disastrous ideas. Vladislav says the U.S. is using Sofia Airport as a military base. Air tankers constantly landing and taking off using Luke oil fuel to bomb Iran. After pushing the euro down our throats, our Comprador elite are prepared to push a war on us. Well, possibly.

I mean, Luke oil, maybe Luke. but don't imagine that the United States can't find aviation fuel for its aircraft. Sir Muggeem says it's funny under Biden, no talks, situation bad under Trump, nonstop yacking situation really bad. I think Uncle Vlad misses the Biden days. I wouldn't be surprised.

Jamila says Netanyahu creates war, but he is running away. Yeah. Flying Boar says Ladinjani needs to do is get rid of Peseshkian. The guy is a dufus. I think that Peschian has whatever illusions he might have had

have completely gone now. As far as I can see, he is a team player at the moment. Sticky Mark says, thanks lads, the Duran community and both of you are knocking it out of the park, love and peace from the Nana Weirdo

in Yorkshire. Thank you for that, Sticky marks. Thank you very much for that. Matthew says, what is the fallout, no pun if nukes are used? Well, we've said this already.

I mean, it's suffice to say, if nukes are used, the day after, it's a completely different world. A very dangerous one, a far more dangerous one. But it would be an act of such enormity that it's very difficult ahead of it to imagine what the world would be like. Sir Muzgame says launching nukes can't be kosher, I assume. Edward Bernays says Europe and America are displaying all of the signs of a true Cactosocracy government by least qualified most unscrupulous men and women Yeah thank you for that Flying Boar says possession want wants good relationship with guys his country

Bombarded is being bombarded by well he did I just said I'm not sure that he does that anymore By the way one of the really mysterious things that I could see is why this quest to kill Ahmadinejad. I mean, I'm not sure, by the way, whether he's alive or dead, whether they killed him or whether they did. There's some reports saying he's alive now. I've seen that.

I've seen that. But he hasn't been a central figure in Iranian politics for years. I mean, this is unbelievably vindictive. Nugmart, thank you for that super sticker. Zareel says, guys, watch my chat with Larry on locals from yesterday. Yes. The durand.com.

You can find that video. Nick Mastilovich, thank you for that super sticker. Jamila says, thank you, Duran, for your great reports. We actually shouldn't accept these leaders to make war because they don't die or their children. Thank you for that, Jamila. Nico says, you know I learned two years ago about this symbolic cancer, which is the relationship of the U.S. and Israel, but all of this done for Bibi, why? Well, I mean, this is an enormous question, which one day I think many people in the United States are going to demand an answer to.

The Haki Goli says, could Russia, China see this as a now or never in terms of crippling the U.S. the longer this goes on. At best, the U.S. can expect Shia insurgencies for years to come. This is my fear. The Russians of the Chinese at the moment, as I said, they want to. try to keep this thing under control. They do not want it to escalate completely out of control. They don't want an massively destabilized Middle East. They do not want a possibility of a war that might threaten their own economic well-being and interests.

But neither do they want to see Iran fall. So they will balance these things and they're good at this. Over time, they will take advantage of it. From Ms. Texas G. Question, according to Grak, India is asking for a temporary waiver from buying Russian oil because of the closing of the strait. Was India planning to ask for a waiver in any case? Obviously. I'm sure they were.

I've never heard that they actually stopped buying it Russian oil. Yeah. Iranian Kido says Iran has its own satellites and there were reports a few years. years ago about the launch of spy satellites as well. Yes, I've heard that. I mean, they do get many of their satellites launched by Russia, however. Just to say. Derek Domino says, what do you make of Iran and Tucker Carlson,

both saying attack on Saudi oil field was Israeli false flag? Well, again, there's so much going on that I'm not going to claim that I'm on top of everything. So it might have been, it might not have been, I just don't know. Omic wavewriter says, Cosmic Wavewriter says MBS developed relations with Iran to balance regional strategy. Petro dollar contract expired. The IDF and USA are on a resource war and messianic agenda.

Yes, but again, MBS, who is far from a stupid man, by the way, I mean, that's quite clear. He is also very volatile, and he's very, very easily he throws himself into things and he doesn't think things through and as I said being as duplicitous as he has

been and I don't think I'd be any doubt about this telling everybody that he was opposed to an attack on Iran and egging Trump on to attack Iran was a terrible mistake yeah Sir Maz game says reality doesn't cease to exist just because

you start believing in it It's stubborn like that, and there's nothing more sobering than a Russian reality. The facts are stubborn things, absolutely true. Ryan and Kito says there are reports that Greece may send its navy and jets to protect Cyprus. Is Erdogan the serial opportunist likely to seize the opportunity to show more aggression towards Cyprus? I don't think so. I think that the Americans at this particular point in time will not want another crisis life. that in the eastern mediterranean so i don't think it's going to happen kane says at least nine

hospitals and headquarters of turan emergency unit was attacked well uh christine says the cradle is reporting a hundred and plus 110 plus complaints by soldiers of of u.s officers calling trump anointed by god to bring in armageddon oh my goodness Karayani's thank you for that super sticker. Flying Boar says Greece is sending Navy fleet to Cyprus. Erdogan is not going to like that. No, he's not going to like that, but I don't expect a war at the eastern Mediterranean at the moment.

I think that the Americans will tell Erdogan don't do it. The Russians will tell Erdogan, don't do it. I don't think there's anything for Erdogan to gain at this time by starting it. Sir Mug's game says, Alex, it's more dangerous crossing roads in Athens, avoiding missiles is a piece of cake. Crossing roads in Athens is dangerous. It's extremely dangerous. And by the way, and by the way, some of the pavements are dangerous as well.

Yes. They're sort of vertical. Yeah. And they're not an easy walking city. So, I mean, they're very, very slippery and very, very dangerous. Flying Boar says former Israeli PM Bennett said Turkey and Erdogan are a threat. So basically after Iran, Turkey is next. Erdogan better get his act together and stop provoking Putin because he is going to regret.

it. Well, yes, I agree with that. Huff Puff Duff says, how did the U.S. bombers' stealth aircraft get in despite Chinese radars? Also, what would be the consequence if Israel does use nukes? Well, I've heard the nukes. I think we've discussed this exhaustively. I'm asked to

whether Israeli and American aircraft have flown into Iran, putting a the question of Chinese radars, which I believe do exist, by the way. Let me say that I don't myself think there's been any clear evidence up to now that any Israeli or American aircraft have been actually operating inside Iranian airspace. As far as I can tell, all of the attacks up to now have been carried out by long-range missiles

launched from outside Iranian airspace. Deranissa says any thoughts on Melania chairing the UNSC yesterday? Modern Caligula sends his horse to the Senate to distract the plebs. Talk about cacistocracy. Well, absolutely. I mean, I think it's just a foolish idea. But the UN also picked Annalina Bearball to help the chair to be the president of the Channel the same thing. I can't wait until she's Secretary General, Alexander.

Absolutely. She's obviously next in luck. Yeah. Gleb Purch says, sorry if this is off topic. Alexander, would you recommend attending law school? Did you enjoy being lawyer? I hated law school to say it straightforward. I thought the quality of legal education I got there was extremely poor and very, very canned.

It was canned law basically very much intended to prepare. you for working inside big, very big law firms where they simply want to formulate answers to every problem. If you want to study law, my strong advice is to do a proper law degree at a real university where they will teach you how to think and to think legally rather than to just go to a law school. As for my time as a lawyer, there were incredibly exciting and wonderful times. But there was also a lot of very, very hard work. And overtime for work, I'm afraid, became so hard

that the pleasure began to subside. But at the beginning, especially, it was marvelous. Willem Basij, thank you for that super sticker. Sir Muzgames says, I just think Israel is holding three aces, the US, Russia and China, all three will protect it. US is the ace of spades, of course. Well, I think that we shouldn't make this overcomplicate. I think I've explained what the Russian-Chinese strategies will be.

If you wanted to see, as I said, the Vietnam War provides the entire history and explanation. You will see how they conducted their diplomacy at that time. And I don't think it's going to be very different. Iranian Kido says, Turks yet to apologize for destroying Parthenon's roof by using it as storage. Well, it's a long time ago.

Matthew says, do you think Iran will survive this? Yes. Sir Mug's game says, regardless of the outcomes, thanks to the USS Gerald Ford, I now know why there's a poop deck on ships. Well, they used to do anyway.

That's a very interesting point, actually. Well, now I know too. Flying Boar says, Trump making the same mistake in Iran as a as a lens key is making in Ukraine yeah true uh trump by then Danielle says what is the future of the UN Melania sharing the Security Council well the UN is in crisis I mean the United States doesn't basically ignores it now the the Russians of the Chinese still try to pretend that it's it's a functioning thing the Russians of the Chinese talking about it

international law. One superpower, the United States, the most powerful of the superpowers, ignores it. I think the UN system is on life support. Arctic Lord says United States will send in special forces to arm and to organize the general population to take over the bombs stop falling. What's the bomb? I think that is, I think that was, that's the plan, but it doesn't look as if it can be executed for the moment, at least. Iranian kiddo says Galistan Palace where the kings lived

and the only UNESCO World Heritage Site in Iran has been targeted. I wonder if they really intend to pursue that path as Iran could do the same. I've heard the same story and I think it's shocking. Matthew says how do you think it all ends? How do

I think it ends? It will take a long, long time. I think Iran will still be there. I think the political system in Iran will probably survive this. I think that we could have major protests if there's a decision to deploy ground forces, in which case,

at the end of this, we will see huge changes in the world. The big unanswered question at the moment remains, firstly, how stable Iran is. I mean, they've come through four days, but it's only four days. And secondly, if they do come through, what are their political objectives? What is their idea of the end game?

Because they haven't provided it. Flying Boris says MBS tried to be like Erdogan by trying to play double game with Iran and the US. Now he is finding out. Yeah, exactly. He's not as clever at this kind of thing as Erdogan is. Sir Muggan says Erdo's boss. the British have requested assistance from Greece, so Erdo will perch and rotate.

I don't think Erdo One is run by the British. Just to say, I don't think he likes the British. Madeline Takam says Brent Crude at $85 and going up. Yes. Been out this morning to fill up for 456M fuel tank, backseat, and boot. Yes, I know. It's good to start having an impact. Simbley wrote up yesterday.

I think it was one of the big banks that 25 days before we get a real, we're in a real oil crisis situation. Iran and Kiro says, sorry, I meant the only UNESCO site in Tehran. Oh, I think, right, okay. I was going to say, I mean, there's Isfahan, there's the Sepulis, there's all of these places. Flying Boar says, remember Melania writing a letter to Putin about Donbass's children kidnapping? Where is she on the 150 girls killed in the U.S. and Israelis? strikes. Well, that's a very, very good point.

Inga Pezner, thank you for that super sticker. Man for today says, well, thank God. Farage or Kemi are not in power. Yeah. I mean, they, by the way, want to join the war, just as soon. Tsunami Bambam says, serial opportunist is not enough to describe Erdogan. He's an eternal opportunist. He sees his entire life as one

big opportunity. Yes, true enough. True. All right, Alexander. Well, that's everything. That's it. Well, we'll be doing more of these. We're trying to keep up with these events. They're moving all the time. But for the moment, at least, we're in a bombing war. There will be some escalation on the American side.

They're not going to give up now. They can't afford to. And that's what makes this so dangerous. Yep. We'll try to be on tomorrow evening, most likely afternoon evening. We'll see. Yes, yes. In order to keep up with the news. So, all right, we'll end it there. Thank you to everyone that joined us on Odyssey, on Rumble and YouTube, as well as the durand.com.

And thank you to our moderators for helping out in the chat. And we will see everyone very soon. take care oh one more one more Alexander one more from irani and kiddo Modi and Anderwan are very much alike yeah true and Zaharia says

can Europe even even get back to Russia anymore well many Russians would not want it to I mean there there is a very very strong feelings about Europe in Russia today

all right take care everyone