The Duran Podcast - Trump foreign policy disaster with Iran

Episode Date: June 16, 2025

Trump foreign policy disaster with Iran

All right, Alexander, let's talk about what is happening in the Middle East with the conflict between Iran and Israel. Alexander, your thoughts were four days into this now? We're entering the fourth day or four days into this. What are your thoughts on what's been happening? If you go back and look at our various programs, I mean, we were discussing the fact that this was plainly a regime change operation. I mean, that was its major purpose. And we also said, and this is, you know, what we've been consistently saying in our various programs. Actually, if I can interrupt you, real quick, you said two days before the strikes, the Israeli strikes, you said they're going to, Israel is going to launch decapitation strikes.

Decaptation strikes. Exactly. How did you know about that? How did you guess? How did you guess about that is a better question. How did I guess? Oh, because it's what the Israelis have been doing. I mean, it has been their consistent practice in the last year in their various conflicts around the Middle East.

They did this in Lebanon, as we saw on a big scale. They've done this with Hamas. They've tried to do this not so far up with great success with the Houthis. So it was logical that they would try to do this with Iran. Because that is the only way, if we're talking about Iran specifically, that is the only way that they could achieve quickly. the result that they wanted, which was regime change in Iran. Because it's clear that Israel does not have the capacity to attack and destroy Iran's nuclear facilities in Fawdor and Isfahan and the rest, which are buried deep underground inside mountains.

So it was logical that they would go for decapitation strikes. And that's exactly what they've tried to do. And there's been all kinds of discussion about how successful they've been, and they have been successful up to a certain point. They've killed a lot of nuclear scientists, some say up to 14. They've killed a fair number of very senior military officers, as we have discussed in many programs. And this was before, by the way, this conflict began.

Hezbollah and Iran have a catastrophically bad security and counterintelligence situation. I mean, they seem to be infiltrated to an extreme degree to the point where Iran is not only able to launch drones. Israel is not only able to launch drones to attack targets inside Iran from within Iran itself on a continuing scale. We've seen car bomb attacks. We've got reports that officials and scientists have actually been killed by assassins over the course of this operation. Clearly, Israel has been operating sleeper cells inside Iran and has been able to use them to deadly effect. And it is incredible and astonishing that Iran has not been able to get on top of this and that they haven't managed to succeed in combating it.

Israel has also proved very effective, especially in the first few hours in its cyber attacks against Iran. They were able to lock down the entire air defense system of Iran for apparently eight hours. And again, it's extraordinary, given that Iran has been subjected to cyber attacks by Israel in the past. and given that Iran is now on good terms with two superpowers, Russia and China, that have particular skill in dealing with cyber attacks, that Iran again was caught, you know, exposed to these attacks. But, and this is an important, we now have to use that word but,

but the Israelis have not so far managed to achieve their objective. There were reports in the US media yesterday that the Israelis had the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Hamenei in their sights that the United States, Donald Trump, vetoed the attack on him. It's important to stress that all of this information is coming from Israeli sources. Netanyahu himself is going out and pretending to contradict this information. It could be. And I'm just throwing out guesses here that the Israelis weren't able to reach Hamernei. and are blaming the failure on Trump, which would not surprise me, or it could be the Trump for whatever reason decided

that he really would put the stop to an assassination attempt on Chaminet, presumably because he still hopes at some point to do some kind of deal with the Iranians. But anyway, the key thing is that the regime, and I use that word regime, because what we are talking about is regime change, an attempt at regime change. the regime, the government of Iran, is still standing. They've been able to replace all their military officials,

and they've been able to hit back, and they've been able to hit and destroy targets inside Israel. We don't have a full picture of the damage that Iran has been able to do, but impressions, and all we have are impressions, impressions are that it is extensive, not just damage in Tel Aviv, the downtown in Tel Aviv and in Haifa, but that actual military bases have been hit and that the Israeli air defense system has become overstretched. And the point that we made in certain programs that we have done since the start of this began, is that if Israel cannot achieve a regime change quickly,

the risk it runs is that it will find itself in a long-term war of attrition against a country, Iran, which is many, many times bigger than itself, 10 times the population, far more in terms of landmass, with a significant industrial and science base, and therefore with resources, which will start to weigh in the balance over the course, the long-term course of a prolonged war. And we are starting to get more and more people, including some people in mainstream media, and many more, by the way, in independent and social media who are starting to say the same thing.

And you can start to get a sense that maybe, just possibly, Israel is starting to run out of air defense missiles so that more Iranian missiles are able to get through and strike targets. And that the Israeli Air Force itself, which is not adapted to prolonged, sustained combat over months, is also starting to show signs of getting worn down. So that now brings us to the key point because I think what I've just said is the emerging consensus. We predicted it on these programs, but it is now the emerging consensus that Israel is facing a war of attrition. So what are they doing? And it's exactly what you would expect them to do and exactly what we said would happen and why the Americans, Donald Trump, especially was absolutely reckless in letting this thing take the shape that it has. What they're now

doing is they're turning to the United States and the same to the United States. Help us. We can't do this ourselves. We can't destroy the nuclear facilities in Fordor, especially. We've tried, but we failed. We need you to come in and attack with your big bombers and your, you know, your bunker of busting bombs and all of that. We need you to help us defeat Iran because if we don't defeat Iran, this will be a catastrophe for you because Iran will emerge far stronger.

And already when I're starting to see Lindsay Graham, the president, the acting press, foreign policy president of the United States, as you have correctly called him. He is now doing the television. He's going from one day, channeled to another and he's banging the table and he's demanding that the United States should join the war against Iran. So that I think is where we're heading. We're now looking

at a situation where Donald Trump, whatever role he has played in this is caught between escalating the war and the United States joining in, which will upset his base and nobody should be under any doubt about this, we've had information about what the various members of his base, the key people of his base, are saying. The Federalist, for example, which is perhaps, you know, the intellectual wing of the Amaga movement, I mean, they've maintained a stony silence over this affair. They've not published a single article about the conflict with Iran. they've never said a single thing

supportive of what Trump, the United States or Israel, are doing. So I mean, that gives you a sense of how they feel about this. They're not published any articles at all, in fact. It's as if it wasn't happening. But others are starting to become

more outspoken. So if he attacks Iran, he is infuriating his base. He is propelling the United States into what could easily turn into a long-term conflict with Iran. which would be for him personally a political catastrophe and for the United States,

potentially a geopolitical catastrophe depending on how strong Iran is inwithstanding the blow. And if he doesn't, if he doesn't intervene, he risks having Israel visibly defeated in a way that can again only rebound on him. So he's put himself and the United States in an impossibly bad situation. It doesn't look as if Israel's decapitation strikes are going to succeed. And it's not clear at all what he's going to try to do.

We've had an interesting telephone call between Putin and Trump. You did a program about this yesterday, in which you said that Putin is offering Trump. a way out. You said it was an angry call. I've had conversations about this with Ray McGovern, who obviously is much more familiar with Russian readouts than me. But Ray McGuven doesn't think it was an angry call. He thinks I'm misunderstanding the meaning of one word in Usherkhov's state,

which is sincere. he thinks that on the contrary, the word sincere is a mollient, not angry. But if you look at some of the things that Putin is saying, I mean, they do come across as very angry. I mean, he's talking about, you know, an absolutely unacceptable act of, you know, actions by Israel. He's talking about the fact that the attack took place three days before talks began. He's making absolutely clear that as far as he's concerned,

that makes it aggression, which it is, I think. under international law. But there is now talk out there of Russia acting as a mediator between Israel and Iran. Now, what that would mean, by the way, is that the United States presumably would take a step back. It would end the process of trying to negotiate between itself and Iran a new nuclear deal.

And the negotiation would be handled by the Russia who would presumably be negotiating as third parties, no longer between the United States and Iran, which is what the Imani's have been doing, but between Israel itself and Iran. And that might very well be the way out if a way out is possible. And over his last couple of comments, you can see that Trump is trying to run with this idea, whether Netanyahu is interested, whether the Iranians. Indians are interested is a completely different question. Yeah.

What happens when the U.S., or how will the U.S. get involved if Trump does not take Putin's off-ramp? Because you are getting reports that the U.S. is starting to move significant military assets into the Middle East. Now, there are reports that a lot of fuel depots were hit in Israel by Iranian missiles. and a lot of the assets may be connected to those fuel depots being hit. We don't know, but there's a lot of movement and it does look like the U.S. is preparing for something. Yes.

Will they attack Iran? Is this some sort of show of strength from Trump? There are reports that maybe these assets are going elsewhere because there's going to be some sort of military training operations I believe in in Finland or something like that. So, I mean, there's, there are reports that this could be in preparation for a strike or this could be something else. But it does look like Trump's preparing for something or at least posturing to prepare for something. So my question is, if Trump decides to not take Putin's off ramp, which would be a very stupid thing to do.

but Lindsay Graham has caught on to this that Putin is thinking of mediating and Lindsay Graham sent the message to Trump pretty much don't you dare how does a US involvement look well indeed just a few things to say before we get to that absolutely key point

one thing I think one has to say is this that we've been hearing an awful lot about the effectiveness of the Israeli air defense system I'm sure you remember when we were in Hungary a few months ago we spoke to Hungarian military official who said that as between Russia and Israel, Israel's air defense system was far better than Russia's and was far and away the best in the world. We can see that that is not true. I mean, however many missiles, Iranian missiles and drones, Israel has been able to

shoot down, it seems that Iran is launching fewer missiles and drones against Israel. than Russia is launching against Ukraine. And yet a significant number of those missiles and drones are getting through. And that's why things like fuel depots, the Wiseman Institute, apparently an important Israeli air base have all been struck and the significant damage has been done. So I think this is an important thing to say, because it comes back to the question that you're posing

about what the United States might do. It does look as if Iran does have a potent missile strike capability. The Israelis also tried to knock it out, and clearly they have failed to do so. There's lots of talk that many of the missile launches that Israel thought it was destroying are actually decoys, and that, in fact, most of the missiles that Iran, is launching against Israel are actually being launched from underground silos. So it's a completely different picture it looks as if from the one that maybe the Israelis and the Americans assumed that the Americans and the Israelis assumed that Israel's air defense

system would be able to absorb the blow. It turns out that they can't. So that now brings us to the question of what all of these massive military deployments are all of about. I have to say that when I see their scale, two US Navy carriers, a British carrier, the what actual help that will provide is another matter. Huge numbers of troop movements. Plus we have US bombers apparently, stealth bombers deployed in Diego Garcia and they've been there for some time. I can't help but think that this looks to me like the United States preparing to enter the conflict directly against Iran. In other words, that they are at least considering,

or some people in the Pentagon and the National Security Council are considering an actual commitment by the United States against Iran, strikes against Fordall and things of that kind. The risk that runs is that the Iranians will take countermeasures. If their missiles are able to penetrate Israeli air defences, they may be able. In fact, I suspect they can strike at American bases across the Middle East. So the United States is going to be involved in a very, very long, potentially and very, very dangerous war with Iran, with unpredictable results. I am not sure that everybody in Washington

they've had a debt to you for an absolute fat. Most people in Washington I get the sense. Don't fully understand that. And as for Trump himself, I suspect that he's just all over the place. I mean, this is, I don't think he knows exactly what he's going to do.

He's probably had people like Pete Hegsuth and others come along and tell him, look, we've got to start deploying these vast forces to the Middle East. because if we don't, it looks as if we're leaving Israel to hang by itself. And that is a disaster for us. And it is a disaster politically for you. And you have Lindsay Graham on your back and all of that.

So, I mean, it could be that, you know, he's dithering. It could be that he's decided to support Iran, which would be going with the Washington establishment against his base. Well, one way or the other, this is looking to me like a massive debacle in the making. Unless, of course, regime change in Iran is indeed achieved at some point over the next few weeks. And we still can't fully discount that possibility. But unless it is achieved at some point within the next few weeks, in which case it's quite likely that we're going to have going down the line massive further

problems because nobody knows what regime change in Iran will lead to. And those who assume that it's going to lead to some pro-Western liberal outcome might be massively disappointed again. But if it does happen, then at least for some weeks and months, it will take the heat off Trump, just to say. But unless that happens and it's starting to look less and less likely, then, as I said, Trump has no good options in this. Accepting Putin's offer of mediation seems to me to be the best of the available bad options. Obviously, Lindsay Graham is going to be absolutely furious if it happens. But bear him something in mind.

if the Israelis agree, what can Lindsay Graham do? Can Lindsay Graham seriously be more royalist than the king? Can he take a harder line than Israel would itself be taking? I don't know. But this is the position that Trump has put himself in, and no president of the United States should ever have let himself be put in this kind of situation. And I say that without your... you know, going into the whole massive topic,

which people are getting so worried and exercised about, which is, in my opinion, anyway, a diversion from a real examination of the underlying facts, which is what Trump's actual role in bringing this whole situation about has been. The key thing is that as of today, Iran stands, the government in Iran stands, and it is able to hit back. It doesn't look as if there's a huge, huge uprising of people across Iran determined to overthrow the government. It looks as if it has

solid popular support, at least during the period of the war. In other words, the Iranian society is closing around it. And it looks as if Iran is able to hit back, hit back at targets within Israel itself, and potentially hit back against American targets across the Middle East. The problem with what you said about Lindsay Graham and trying to get, and what would Lindsay Graham say if Israel agreed to accept the Putin off-ramp to allow Russia to mediate, which makes complete sense. I mean, Russia is the only country that I can see that has positioned itself to mediate this. Yes. So the problem with Trump is. is that if you want to send a message to Israel, Netanyahu and tell them, look, we're not going to support you anymore.

We got to end this. So that puts pressure on Netanyahu because, as you said, the consensus is without a doubt that Israel cannot do this by themselves. They've admitted it. Yes. They've admitted that if this continues, with the support that they currently have with the U.S., I don't want to say by themselves.

With the current support that they have from the U.S., it's not enough. And Israel has admitted as much. So the message that you want to send to Netanyahu, if you want to de-escalate, is we're not going to ramp up any more support. We're actually going to scale down the support. Therefore, Netanyahu, you have to mediate with Putin. There is no other option for Netanyahu.

Then there is no other. It's either face complete military, defeat or allow Putin to mediate the JCPOA revised agreement, which is what we're really talking about, right? The problem is that Trump is sending the wrong message by sending all these military assets to the Middle East. He's sending the message, I'm going to support you, Netanyahu, which tells me once again that Trump is making all the wrong decisions.

Now, there is a small chance that he's sending. all these assets because Trump has this obsession with looking strong. He has this obsession with trying to be the negotiator. He has this massive ego and he doesn't want to make it seem as if he's backing off in any way. And in his mind, he's saying, you know, I'm not going to allow the United States to strike Iran, but the United States has to be strong. Peace through strength. Peace through strength. We have to show peace through strength. So how do we show peace through strength. Well, Pete Tegseth, let's send all of these Russian, all of these U.S. tankers and military assets and all of these aircraft. Let's send it to the Middle East.

But I'll try to get this Putin off ramp going. But it's sending the wrong message. And Netanyahu's going to look at all the assets moving to the Middle East. And he's going to say, Trump, what are you talking about to mediate with Putin? You have all of these assets right now in the Middle East. Let's use them. And Lindsay Graham's going to say that. And Ted Cruz is going to, all the senators are jumping on and they're saying let's use the assets that we have to hit Iran. So I mean, Trump is once, Trump once again is playing this all wrong because he's stuck in in this piece through strength narrative that he can't get himself out of. No.

Yeah. This is the thing because he's saying he gives this impression in some of his true social comments. And by the way, he should stop using truth social. Yeah, he's got to start. Yeah, this is stupid. It's a disaster. It is an absolute disaster, especially in a crisis of this guy. He's giving far too many interviews.

He's talking about accepting Putin's idea of mediation, that he's absolutely happy if mediation between Israel and Iran is indeed undertaken by Russia. He's talking about that. So, of one level, he's giving the impression that he's, absolutely relaxed and if anything keen that the Russians should do what they are offering or trying to do at the same time and you can exactly see how this could happen you know this put aside whether you know this is Trump actually making the decision anyway because he supports this operation and has done all along of moving all these forces to the Middle East much more likely scenario in my

opinion is that war starts Israel is attacked Israel cannot absorb the blows. That, by the way, disintegrates the entire cover story that they were putting out previously. You know, Marker Rubio putting out statements. This is a unilateral operation by Israel. It's got nothing to do with the United States. We're not involved. It's entirely the Israelis.

You know, we're just by standards. But, of course, Israel is now under attack. Hegseth comes along. Others come along. Lindsay Graham, they say, you know, we can't. just leave Israel to go down in flames. So we've got to move all of these huge forces to the Middle East. We've got to give ourselves the option of striking at Iran. But then of course you do that. You move all of these huge forces, the aircraft carriers, the refueling tankers, the military

forces to the Middle East. And then of course, when they're all there, people like Netany Netanyahu, Lindsay Graham, for all I know, Pete Hegg-Seth says, we can't keep these forces there indefinitely. We can't just stay there with all these forces where they are. We need them in all kinds of other places too. We need them in China to fight China in the Pacific. This war, if we move, if we, you know, go away, it's not ending. So we've got to attack.

because that's the only way we can release our forces and resolve this crisis. If you move huge numbers of troops and ships and aircraft carriers and refueling aircraft and all of that into position, the pressure on you to use them is going to be enormous. And that is exactly the dynamic that we're seeing play out now. Again, in some respects, it almost does. It doesn't matter what Trump himself intends, because to me, I'm going to say this, it looks as if he's losing control of the whole situation. Yeah.

That's why I say Lindsey Graham, foreign policy president. Trump has lost complete control of his entire foreign policy. Complete control. The US, and it does look like the US is preparing for a strike. That's how it looks. And I don't know who's making the decision. I wonder if Trump is making the decision for the US to strike around. It really does not seem like it.

Well, what happened? Can I just unpack that? Because you're quite likely right. I mean, you know, we always assume that all the people in the Pentagon and all of the rest are only talking to the White House. But they might be talking to other people too. It's quite plausible that people on the Joint Chiefs of Staff, for example, are talking to people in the Senate, to people like Lindsay Graham.

I mean, we don't know to what it. extent Trump himself has control over the situation. Washington is an incredibly complicated place. They could all be making decisions circumventing the old man who's still talking about getting the Russians to mediate. Nobody in Washington takes that seriously to the extent that they take it seriously. They're horrified by the idea. So they all go out of their way to just make sure that that never happens. And that's possible. I'm not saying it's true because, of course, we, don't know. Or it could be the Trump in his own mind has already decided that he's being advised by Lindsey Graham, he's been spoken to by Pete Hakeseth, he's taking advice from Mark Levin, which is a

disastrous thing, by the way. I mean, anybody who reads Mark Levins' comments would know how completely off peace this man is in terms of supporting Israel and wanting to attack and destroy Iran. But anyway, he could be taking advice from all of these people, and it could be that these are people are running his foreign policy. But none of this suggests a president to me who is in control. If Donald Trump had really wanted to conduct an operation against Iran, the best way to have done it, and I say this straightforwardly now, is to have had that meeting in Oman on Sunday,

come out and say that the Iranians were not being cooperative and then start the whole machinery towards an attack on Iran. That was not what he did. And everything suggests a president who simply doesn't control his own administration or his own foreign policy and has ceded control of it to all of the people around him or some of the people around him. No, what happened is that the White House started making it. excuses again, just like the Russian airfield incident. Yeah.

Right? You're three days away from a negotiation. The sixth, six negotiations that have taken place. Negotiations which by all accounts were going well. Yeah, we're going well. That is what makes it so. The easiest agreement you could ever put together in all of foreign policy, everyone is on the same page.

Exactly. A three-year-old could have put this agreement together for Iran. Correct. Correct. And you have the White House once again making excuses. Trump knew. Trump didn't know. It was a ruse.

They were fooling Iran. Just dumb, childish, ridiculous, stupid excuses. A real president would have fired his entire communications team. His entire communications team. And then fire everyone else in the freaking cabinet, honestly, because they're all doing a terrible job. Exactly. Everyone. I agree.

I agree. Yeah. And why is you not listening to Tulsi Gap? Where is Tulsi Gabbard? Why is he not listening to her? Well, exactly. Two months ago, she said that Iran is not enriching uranium. We've seen everything. Yes. Now she's disappeared. Yes. Where is she? Well, she's probably not... She's probably been frozen out of the discussions, I'm guessing. Frozen out? Okay, so you're listening to Kellogg and you're listening to Lindsey Graham.

Is this who the American people voted for? Well, exactly. These lunatics? Well, exactly. And Trump's ego will never, ever, ever allow him to give up the, the, the, the, the mediation to Putin. It will never, ever allow him to do it. And everyone around him knows it. Your thoughts on what I said. Am I final question? Am I my final question so you can wrap up the video? I agree. Can you comment on China and Russia getting involved? Yeah, yeah, because this is the other thing. Because at the moment, and I think this is a point to say, we don't know whether Iran has asked for any help from China and Russia. They should have asked for that help long ago, by the way. I mean, getting on top of their cyber issues, definitely they needed to

speak to their Chinese and Russian friends. I mean, it's incredible that their entire communication system was caught flat-footed. It's incredible that their entire security system broke down so completely. Both the Chinese and especially the Russians now, because the Russians have had experience of having to deal with infiltrators. And by the way, I'm we could have guessed the Ukrainians are able to pull off things from time to time, like the attacks on the bases, the drone attacks on the bases.

But one gets the sense overall that they've not been able to achieve anywhere near as much as they've been trying to do. And certainly we don't have a situation where people are simply being assassinated in does, across the capital with car bombs exploding and that kind of thing. The Iranians ought to have become involved and they ought to sort help from their friends long ago

and it's clear that they didn't do this. Now, the situation then becomes this. If Iran is finally pushed and they start asking China and Russia for help, what will China and Russia do? Now, you know, a lot of people say that they will do nothing. I do not agree. I think both China and Russia in this kind of situation, where both the Chinese and the Russians are saying openly that Iran is the victim of aggression.

And this is where we come back to the fact that this attack was conducted three days before negotiations were due to begin. I do think people have grasped what a catastrophe in the fact that. diplomatic terms, that was when the Russians launched the special military operation, they were very careful first to meet with the Ukrainians in Berlin, and they'd been putting forward treaties to the United States and to NATO. They went through a whole diplomatic process. They only acted when it became clear that that diplomatic process was exhausted. And that's one of the reasons why support for them across the global south has basically remained solid. The United

States, either by default or intentionally, and Israel absolutely intentionally, acted whilst negotiations, good faith negotiations on the part of the Iranians were actually underway. So the Russians and the Chinese see that. They have already said that Iran is the victim of aggression. Iran is a member of Bricks. Russia has a security agreement, which again, Iran apparently has not yet ratified. It has not yet put through its parliament or all its various committees. It's still therefore not fully in operation. But if the Iranians come to the Russians and to the Chinese and request military assistance in this kind of scenario, I think they will get it. and probably they're already getting some.

They're probably already getting some degree of intelligence support. But I think the Russians and the Chinese will start to move and start to take help, take steps to help Iran. They will probably supply weapons. They will probably supply replacements for any missiles. They may start supplying components and those kind of things. And in the case of Russia, what does the United States do? Does it sanctions Russia?

Does it give more weapons to Ukraine? What does it do? So, you know, this is where I think, again, people in Washington are not working this through. Because the longer this continues, the more the United States and Israel get drawn into a long-term war over tuition with the big Eurasian states, almost certain. to start taking steps of this kind, especially if their offers of mediation are rejected. The balance is gradually going to shift again slowly, back in favour of Iran, even if the United States decides to become directly involved. It will depend again on the stability of the government, I was going to say the regime, in Iran itself. Of course, if it collapses,

as happened in Syria, there's nothing the Russians and the Chinese can do to rescue a government that is so fragile that it collapses under these sort of blows. But if, on the contrary, it endures, the balance slowly, steadily, but not so slowly, steadily, and probably quite quickly, will start to move in favour of Iran. Can you just explain the differences between Syria and Iran? Because I was thinking about this yesterday. And I believe in one of your videos, you mentioned how Netanyahu probably got overconfident and boldened by the fact that Syria fell so quickly.

And Netanyahu and the neocons probably thought, okay, what we did in Syria, we can just copy and paste it over to Iran. But, you know, I was thinking these are, these were two very different, these are two very different countries, obviously, but two very different situations, two different governments and leadership. In essence, Syria, to me, was a successful coup. Yes. It was a coup and you were dealing with the leader who just was, he was, he didn't have the

strength to keep everything together. I mean, it's a very different situation. situation what happened in Syria and I think once again the West and Israel the West, the neo-cons, the U.S., they're once again making a mistake by taking what happened in Syria and believing that that's going to be easy to replicate in Iran. Absolutely. There was actually very little fighting in Syria last year. And I think this is a point which again, many, many people have missed because what basically happened was that the entire military leadership, the Syrian army, the Syrian generals, simply turned their back on Bashar al-Assad.

Probably they started to take brides from various Western governments, but it was exactly what you said. It was a coup. It was not a successful military campaign. The entire Syrian military and political leadership at some point lost confidence in the leadership of Bashar al-Assad and they abandoned him. Now, the situation in Iran is completely different. The very fact that the Israelis are trying to assassinate these Iranian military people

suggests that the Iranian military security services, however disorganized they are, continue to remain loyal to the government of Iran. So there aren't the same ingredients for the kind of coup we saw carried out in Syria in Iran at this particular time. So this is not a House of Guards that's going to collapse in the way that Syria collapsed because the government, the political administrative structure appears to be solid. It is more like Syria 2015 than Syria 2024. In 2015, the Syrian army, the Syrian generals, the Syrian intelligence services, the Syrian diplomatic corps continued to be loyal to Bashar al-Assad. They continued to see him as the legitimate president of Syria.

They remain loyal to him, even as the jihadis, were, within a few kilometers of his presidential palace. They continued to fight. They continued to resist in places like Aleppo and Derizor, you know, Derizzo cut off from the rest of Syria and isolated garrison in the eastern deserts. And that meant that the Russians and the Chinese, the Russians especially, of course, were able to come to the rescue in November, October, November, December, December, 24, That was no longer the case.

However it came about, whatever it was that Assad did or failed to do, confidence in his leadership had gone, and that created conditions for a coup, which is what basically took place. The forces that Jolani commanded, allegedly, I've heard, that the total number of those forces numbered around 6,000 men, against a Syrian army that in theory numbered in the hundreds of thousands. Yeah, two very different situations. But with the neocons, they believe that, yeah,

that they could easily get a regime change in Iran. Yeah, okay. We'll end the video there. The durand.locals.com. We are on Rumble and Odyssey and X and go to the Duran shop. Pick up some merch. Link is the description box down below. Take care.