The Duran Podcast - Trump on the brink of Iran war w/ Brian Berletic (Live)

Episode Date: June 17, 2025

Trump on the brink of Iran war w/ Brian Berletic (Live)

Okay. We are live with Alexander Mercuris in London, and we are joined once again on the Duran, Mr. Brian, how you doing? I'm doing well. Thank you so much for having me back at as we were talking about before the show. I am. I apologize. I am exhausted. I don't sleep well at times like this, but I will try to do my best. All right. It's great to have you on, Brian. And before we get started, Brian, where can people find you? If you search the new Atlas on YouTube in the video, description of every video are all the other places you can find and follow me. I'm on Telegram X and also Rumble. All of my videos go up on all of these platforms. I have a link to Brian's channel in the description box down below to all those platforms.

And I will add it as a pinned comment as well when the live stream. is over. So before we get started, just a quick hello to everyone that's watching us on Odyssey and Rockfin Rumble and YouTube and a big shout out to our locals community. How is everyone doing on locals? The derand.locals.com and a thank you to our moderators in the chat as well. Peter, how goes it, Peter and who else is moderating? Peter is an only you. All right. Peter and Brett. Brett is also moderating as well. All right. Peter, Brett, and Alex and me. We will be moderating the chat. Alexander, Brian, we know what the topic is. So let's just jump into it. Well, let's go straight into it. And let's just say straight away that

there's been a huge amount of muddle, chaos, argument, which revolves around the personality of Donald Trump and what his role has been, which ultimately is completely irrelevant, in my opinion, in any understanding of the situation at this time. What has happened is that an attack on Iran, which has been in preparation for a very long time and which has been discussed at many levels within the Israeli and American governments has now taken place. And if you've been following events over the last year,

you can see the steady buildup to this attack. And of course, this attack on Iran has been one that administration after administration has considered, come close to launching, pulled back from, all kinds of reasons, but eventually, perhaps inevitably, was going to come. So that is the first thing I would like to say.

The second thing to say, and it is a very important thing, and it needs to be emphasized and stressed, and I noticed that many people are not saying it, but I've been getting some advice from a friend of mine who is an international lawyer, by the way, just to say, is that by any definition of what constitutes aggression, what we have seen play out over the last four days is an act of unprovoked aggression on a country at peace. Now, that may not be what you read in the media across the West, but there was no imminent threat of attack by Iran.

against Israel. The US intelligence community reported apparently to the president as recently as March that there was no sign that Iran was in the process of developing nuclear weapons, that if Iran were to decide to deploy nuclear weapons, it would take them at least three years to have such a weapon ready. And that is on the assumption that, one, they wanted to to do that and two that they were able to do that and nobody noticed or interfered. And thirdly, we had on Sunday, Sunday the 15th of June, a arrangement for negotiations to take place mediated by the government of Oman with all of the indications given before that the negotiations, those negotiations were proceeding no normal.

and going well. So an attack was launched without any cause, without any prior warning being given to Iran, any demands made of Iran immediately before that attack. There was no referral to the UN Security Council, as there absolutely should be in a situation of this kind. In this kind of situation, we can only describe what has happened as an act of unprovoked aggression.

And I should say that outside the bubble that we find ourselves in, in the collective West, in the media world, that media landscape that we all have to put up with, this is very widely and generally understood. It's understood across the Arab and Muslim world. It is understood right across the global south. people always say that these things are unimportant, but I believe in the end that they do have consequences. Now, we have extraordinary acts of violence, and I'm also going to say the third

thing I wanted to say, which is that after following, with growing horror, the events of yesterday, I expected fully that by the time we did this live stream today, we would be in a situation where the United States had joined directly the attack on Iran. I seem to me that that was exactly where all the events were taking us to. So I wanted to say those three things. Now, I'm going to hand over to Ryan, and I'm going to ask him to comment about those three things and to say whether or not he has anything to disagree with or add to or take further.

Well, well, Alexander, I agree. completely. This was inevitable. It was inevitable. And it was something that has been planned out for at least the entirety of the 21st century, the last 25 years plus. The U.S. has been preparing the battlefield for this very war. And you're correct, it has gone from one administration to the next, to the next, including all four years of the first Trump administration, preparing the ground for this eventual war. And we have to ask ourselves, why now? And I believe, the reason why, and I think we have all taken turns talking about this, the U.S. is trying to reassert unipolar hegemony over the planet, and we see an emerging multipolar world. They know

time is working against them. They know that one year from now, five years from now, 10 years from now, all of these nations, the U.S. is trying to encircle and contain. They will be stronger, and the U.S. will be weaker relative to them. So they picked a time where things lined up as well as they could, and now they've pulled the trigger. And the interesting thing is, and I have warned about this since probably almost as soon as the paper was published all the way back in 2009, which passed the Persia from the Brookings Institution. They talked about how they would use negotiations as cover to distance themselves from an attack by Israel. The U.S. would fully enable. It really is a U.S. attack carried out through Israel.

of weapons and tactics and strategies used by Israel would only be possible with the complete involvement of the United States. They would have Israel carry this out on America's behalf. And then the plan was always to wade in afterwards, having attempted to do negotiations and then claim to the world, well, we tried diplomacy. We were left with no choice. Israel is our ally and we have to defend our ally. We could see that playing out in real time right now.

The interesting thing is that this was playing out under the Obama administration, the original Iran nuclear deal. That was the whole point of that. And as you say, Alexander, this was pushed many times and the circumstances just weren't right. And it was President Trump who unilaterally withdrew from that during his first term in office. He killed Iranian general Kasim Soleimani. He applied maximum pressure. He continued the dismemberment of Syria. which was a prerequisite for this war.

As soon as they destroyed Syria and its integrated air defense systems, they immediately began exploiting that corridor directly to Iran, northern Iraq, and Iran. And then they had President Trump restart the negotiations despite unilaterally sabotaging them, abandoning them during his first term. So it's one of these things where they're so out of time, there's so much in a rush, they don't really even care about the option. and I see people in the comment section mentioning a recent development that I just saw before we went live. President Trump was asked flat out about the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard,

her assessment that there are no nuclear weapon. Iran has no nuclear weapons. They will not have nuclear weapons anytime soon. He says he doesn't care. And you don't care about intelligence from your own director of national intelligence because you have decided to go to war. But it's not President Trump. it's not his administration. This was always going to happen.

He just happens to be the, I say he's more or less a puppet sitting in the chair as this all plays out. And it would have happened whether it was him or Kamala Harris or anyone else. Well, absolutely agree with the second. On the negotiation issue, I just go to say something.

Whatever the intention, whether to use the negotiations as a cover or not, I think it's actually played against them because the negotiations were visibly making progress. Third parties like Oman, the Gulf states, Russia were all involved in them. And I think that far from it providing justification and cover for this, I think on the contrary, it's made a terrible impression that this attack was launched before the negotiations were given an opportunity to take their course. but it's academic now because we are in a war and the United States. And I think Israel are now discovering something which, this is my own view,

they hadn't expected, which is that Iran is proving a rather tougher adversary than they expected that it would be. And certainly Israel cannot defeat Iran by itself. And that, I think, is something which, a lot of people in Britain, especially, are surprised about or saying that's surprised about. Do you agree with me, Brian, that Israel cannot defeat Iran by itself? Well, I hate to keep going back to the 2009 paper, but in that paper, they specifically laid out. There was no possible way. Israel, on its own, could even destroy all of Iran's nuclear program,

even back then at that time, before it was even better defended, let alone topple the Iranian government. So what we're watching right now, and this was, again, this was always the plan. They are using Israel, just like they're using Ukraine, to take responsibility for this, absorb as much of Iran's retaliation as possible before the U.S. wades in when they believe Iran will be in a weakened state. Its air defenses depleted or destroyed, its launchers are. supposedly being targeted, and then it's launching ballistic missiles, depleting its supply of these munitions, and then the U.S. is planning on stepping in when they feel that it's most

advantageous for them, when the time is just right. I just want to go back. One last thing about the most recent negotiations. If President Trump did not want this war with Iran, he should not even have brought this topic up at all. It's none of America's business. This program in Iran, this is a matter of international law. The United States is not a unilateral arbiter of international law. They should not even have ever brought it up. And they brought it up specifically to use it as a pretext for this war. They were planning to launch no matter what Iran did.

If Iran capitulated to every demand, they literally called it the Libyan model, they still would have accused them of violating it. And just as we hear President Trump now say, I don't care what our own intelligence says, they would have just dismissed it. They would have accused Iran of violating it anyway. Again, that was always the plan. And they would have went with this anyway. It would just be a matter of going through the motions to create the proper narrative.

Now, to the point about Iran, its ballistic missiles, we already saw limited retaliations by Iran during the last two Israeli strikes on Iran. And they have been very gauged and measured with the way they're retaliating. And they may be being very measured with their retaliation now, or maybe their stockpiles are depleted, or their launchers have actually been taken out. We don't know. We have no way of knowing this early in the conflict.

But if they are measuring their response very carefully, it's because they're trying to raise the costs for Israel, for the U.S. They understand there's a much larger picture here. Whatever the U.S. expends in the Middle East against Iran, they're not going to have to continue transferring to Ukraine. That is a conflict that continues. And the buildup in the Asia-Pacific region, which U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Higset in Singapore last month said,

that is the priority. We're pivoting there, and we're going to build up our military there. What they do in the Middle East vis-a-vis Iran is going to. to affect their ability to pursue, continue pursuing these encirclement and payment policies towards Russia and China. I ought to say this. I have been in contact with various people who have connections with Iran. I haven't been able to speak to anybody in Iran itself, but I've also been following the Iranian media.

My impression was that on Friday and Saturday, there's massive disorganization, absolute panic. there was a very successful cyber attack, key people were killed, but gradually, in fact, they seem to be regaining their confidence, that the command systems have been gradually brought back under control, that they're starting to make decisions that substitute headquarters that had been created are now starting to function, and that, you know, the whole thing, the whole situation, in Iran itself seems to be stabilizing

and that they are preparing for a long haul. That is what I get the sense of. Now that brings me to the next question. Let's put aside Israel. I think everybody who studied this, there's been an big article about this in the Financial Times today. They accept that Israel by itself cannot sustain a long conflict. against Iran? Can the United States, or rather, can I rephrase that, can the United States

sustain a long conflict? I mean, that is the question, isn't it? Israel definitely cannot. They, they, they, they, they, everything that they have right now was stockpiled specifically for this operation. The US has been doing for this specific operation at least for a year or more. So this started under the Biden administration and it was picked up right where, or, was left off by the Trump administration. We have talked about this in relation to the ongoing proxy war against Russia and Ukraine. Air defenses, these are depleted across the entire West. They have a finite supply of these.

They're incapable of manufacturing faster than they're using them. That is a reality. Long-range precision-guided weapons that Israel most likely is using these standoff attacks on targets inside Iran with their warplains. And if the U.S. is involved, these are munitions they would like. like to use. They are incapable of manufacturing these faster than they will need to, to then pivot to China and pose any sort of credible threat to China, again, right off their own shores, even within their own borders, considering the island province of Taiwan. So they have, you know,

this is, this is where we are right now. It's, it's the United States has to pick and choose where it commits its resources. And they have, they have to do this very carefully. They themselves have said, this is about a division of labor. We need all of our proxies in Europe, in the Middle East, in the Asia Pacific region to do their part. They need to increase military industrial production. They need to pick up the slack. They need to take public money and divert it to advance our foreign policy. But also we need to apply strategic sequencing. We cannot take all of these countries on at the same time. We need to do it in a very specific order. And events on the ground are going to determine which order that is. Maybe they wanted to

knock out Russia first, and they couldn't. Now they need to go to China very quickly, but they think, and actually now they have openly said, taking out Iran is going to be a way to undermine China and put it in a more precarious situation when they focus on China specifically. I was just watching a clip from, I believe it's Steve Bannon's program with former U.S. General Flynn on it. And he openly said this is all about we, if we wipe out Iran, we'll dominate the Middle East, we will establish U.S. dominance over the world. He said U.S. dominance over the world. That is what this is all about.

And he said ultimately this is about China, which is what we have all been warning people about for years, years and years now. That is what's playing out. In fact, according to the media, some media reports, which I tend to believe, by the way, the only argument, the big argument in the administration. And in fact, I've been saying this for some time, is not between hawks and doves, moderates and not moderate. It's between the China firsters and those who say that we've got to proceed

through this complex chess game that the neocons and people like them have been advocating. There is a view that there's been so much resources, please, in the United States. This is a view that is, I mean, the person everybody talks about is Elbridge Coldby, but he's not apparently the only one or even the main one. And in fact, I should say whilst I was in Georgia, I actually met with some people who were from the United States,

and he would say this as well, that the priority for the United States should be to try to strengthen its positions in the Pacific and that all of these conflicts in Ukraine and in the Middle East, ultimately what they do is that they never achieve their objectives, their geostrategic objectives, they just further drain what is already depleting American power. So I've heard this argument made, and I suspect it's being argued over in Washington now at this. particular time. But anyway, let's get back to the situation in Iran. What does the United States do? And I don't think this is something that we are looking too far ahead on, by the way. What does the

United States do if Iran holds together, if Iran remains in the fight, if the United States attacks it and it remains, you know, a force. If the government holds and it's clear to me that the objective of this whole operation is to achieve regime change in Iran, if the government holds and even strengthens, does the United States invade Iran? Did they understand what an enormously complex and difficult operation that would be. 92 million people, country, vast territory, mountainous territory as well. Do they invade Iran or do they do something even more radical?

I mean, is this a war that the United States can afford to lose? From their perspective, no, because if they cannot sufficiently destroy Iran, maybe they don't really care if there's regime change or not, What they definitely want to do is completely destroy its economy, completely destroy its military industrial base and leave it a failed, devastated destitute state. That's what they, that's, you know, at the very least, that's what they would like to achieve before pivoting onward to China. And Israel has already struck an Iranian oil refinery. How is that going to impact the hydrocarbons that are actually going from Iran to China? The U.S. openly said they wanted to stop.

And now surprise, Israel has struck it. What I'm worried about is the U.S. has not gotten involved yet. And Israel has a large number of so many people believe nuclear weapons. And they will create a narrative where Israel is on the back foot. The U.S. isn't helping, even though this is essentially a U.S. war being fought through Israel. And Israel has no choice but to use nuclear weapons on Iran to achieve this, to destroy their economy, to eliminate them as any sort of functional, productive partner for either Russia or China, to remove it from the game board, if you will. That's my biggest fear. The U.S.

could use its long-range weapons, its strategic bombers to take out its economic structures, its infrastructure, its military industrial facilities. It could do that. And then it could be a very fluid situation, maybe depending on how successful or unsuccessful Israel is, this will gauge what they decide to do. This is the whole reason they had is, this is the whole reason the U.S. has proxies all around the world, is to get them to do the hard work and suffer the full blowback of everything that they do, and then weighed in carefully with as many options as they have and to see in which direction things are going. That is an advantage now that they have on their side because they have this proxy that was able to go fight Iran for them.

I have to say that is my absolute fear. Now, I'm going to make a few quick observations about the economics of this, because this is something which I have some experience of. I've been an industrial lawyer, as I've discussed in the past. I think that it is consistently underestimated by many people, especially in the West, how resilient and resistant to, aerial attack, devastation, any of that kind of thing, industrial facilities, even oil and gas facilities actually are. You can repair them incredibly fast, provided you have the personnel to do so.

I mean, machines can be repaired, even if you just, you know, damage machine tools. And machine tools are very, very heavy duty things. They are resistant to bomb. damage and other sorts of things. Economists have repeatedly shown that they can absorb a huge amount of that kind of damage and keep going unless the political system around it collapses or unless the bombing campaign is sustained all but indefinitely. And I very, very much doubt that the United States currently has the ability to sustain a bombing campaign against a country as big as Iran in that sort of way.

But if the objectives are not being achieved, given the kind of rhetoric that is coming out about Israel and for some people in the United States, I am absolutely unsure where the endline stops. If you're talking about an existential threat to Israel from Iran, if you're talking about about Iran acquiring nuclear weapons and being prepared to use them, then you're talking yourself into a situation where you can justify to yourself preempting that by using nuclear weapons yourself. I think we're far closer to that point than people understand. I absolutely agree. And something that we've all talked about and tried to warn the public about, again, for years, is that

As this progresses, the U.S. becomes increasingly desperate, and as it becomes increasingly desperate, it becomes increasingly dangerous. When you listen to people in Washington at these three-hour-long Senate hearings talk about China and its rise, you can sense the fear and the anxiety that they have over this. They cannot accept it, but there's very little they can do about it. And they do. They explore options that sound completely insane to, to North human beings. And we see them exercising these options all around the globe vis-vis Russia. How dangerous was it this attack on Russia's strategic bombers, almost certainly aided and abetted by the U.S. and its European allies? The U.S. has for years been attacking and killing Chinese

citizens in Pakistan and in Myanmar attacking and destroying Belt and vote initiative infrastructure. in many ways, they're already at war with China by proxy. And so they're going to just keep ramping this up. And as they feel time is running out, they are going to take bigger and bigger risks. I believe this attack on Iran is a huge, huge risk, extremely reckless. I listened to Alexander, your previous programs over the last couple of days, and you, Alex, and I agree 100% how utterly reckless this all is and how dangerous. all of this is, there was something else I was going to say, but I forgot. So please continue.

Reckless in every sense, because, I mean, you mentioned international. I've stopped hearing American officials ever talk about international law, by the way, or the UN or its charter or anything of that kind. And people say, well, that isn't important. I don't agree as it happens. But, I mean, the very fact that they don't talk about international law. They don't even try and pretend that what they're doing is consistent with international law. It itself speaks of its own recklessness, or so it seems to me. But anyway, is there anything that others can do here? Now, the Russians, I personally think, have handled the whole crisis of the special military operation

with great intelligence and great skill. I mean, they've calibrated their response. I know, you know, I get criticism. I'm sure you get the same comments all the time. I'm all sorts of people who say that the Russians should have been much faster and acted far more radically and done all kinds of astonishing and terrifying things. I think on the contrary, that the approach the Russians have taken

was the correct one for the situation that they were presented. with in Ukraine. What about Iran? Because Iran is not as powerful a country as Russia, not remotely. What will the other countries do? Will they do anything? Will Russia, China, those countries sit back, as many people assume, and simply let this thing play out, or will they start to take action? I have my own views about this, but I'd be interested to know what yours are. Well, we watched Russia attempt to intervene in this whole process. They could very clearly see the U.S. preparing the battlefield for this war years and years and years ago. This is why they got involved in Syria in the first place.

And they understand the implications of Iran collapsing, which is why they got involved in Syria in the first place. They understand this is going to have a cascade effect that will eventually lead to a more isolated Russia that has a bigger threat to deal with in the future. This is why they attempted to intervene in Syria. Again, according to U.S. policy papers, the plan was always to try to overextend Russia to stretch it thin so that it wouldn't be able to effectively operate in any one of these places they're applying pressure. And Russia made the decision instead of allowing themselves to be overextended, they would prioritize Ukraine, and that is where they have focused all of their attention.

There was nothing else that they could do for Syria without compromising their focus on Ukraine. People say Russia should have done this, that, or the other thing. regarding Ukraine. Russia is not all powerful. They are doing absolutely everything they can. A lot of people will point out, you know, the cope on the on the pro-Ukrainian side, but there's a degree of it on the other side as well where people will say, well, Russia could have taken Ukraine in three days. No, they couldn't. They launched a special military operation when they did, when they felt that they were more or less ready, but we all know, and we've documented this over the last three plus years, they are still building up capabilities they need to actually fight and win this conflict in Ukraine.

China also, people always talk about where is China? Why don't they send troops and aircraft to help Iran? It doesn't work that way. People take for granted America's ability to project military power all around the globe. The U.S. has built up a network of military bases, logistical hubs, infrastructure to facilitate the movement of military force all around the planet. And they've done this over the course of 100 years. You can't just do that overnight. You can't decide to send military forces to Iran and then just do it.

It takes a lot of resources just to get the troops and the equipment there. And also to sustain it in combat. I think Russia and China, perhaps even Pakistan, there's all these rumors. I think they're doing everything they absolutely can. But I don't know if they'll be able to do enough. as I said earlier, everybody is operating at the very edge of what is possible. The U.S. is really pushing it. They're stretching themselves thin.

If they overcommit in any one of these areas, they will be overextended and they will fail. And the same goes for Russia and China and also Iran for that matter. Iran was also involved in protecting the Syrian government and it wasn't able to because it was overstretched. I mean, that is just a reality. People have to. The art of war. It says know yourself and know your enemy. You have to accept reality for whatever it is,

but better how uncomfortable it is. And then you can start devising strategies to overcome whatever adversity you face. And sometimes there's just nothing you can do except wait for a better opportunity sometime in the future. So it all remains to be seen. We're still very early in this conflict between the U.S., Israel and Iran. We just have to wait to see how it plays out. Remember, just everyone think. back to February 2022. How many predictions everybody was making, what we might have thought was going to happen,

and then what has actually happened, and how the two really might not have lined up so well. I think that's where we are right now at this time. I actually was in Russia just about three weeks ago, first time in many years, by the way. And oddly enough, I was attending a legal forum. And very, very strangely, and I now wonder whether it was quite that strange. The subject, the topic of Iran did actually come up, not in a forum, but in various conversations I had with people. And the things that people were saying then, and I can't obviously say too much because these were private conversations, was that the Russians had found Iran a rather difficult country to help, that Iran has fought very strongly for its independence and sovereignty over the last 100 years, that it's not had an easy relationship

with Russia also, that there's a certain amount of suspicion in Iran of Russia, and that economic and security agreements, which could have been made 10 years ago, had been unreasonably delayed by all of this. So now, I'm not saying any of this is true. I'm just saying that they're that that was what some people in Russia was saying at that time. And I also got the impression that the Russians had made a decision that Iran is important and should be assisted if things really do begin to go badly wrong. And I don't think it'll be in the form of Russian troops being sent to Iran

or anything of that kind. But I think there's quite a lot that the Russians can do in terms of economic support, for example, and intelligence and keeping communications open and supplying food and energy. Russia is now exporting energy to Iran, which is a surprising thing for many people. They actually export gas to Iran. So I think there's quite a lot that they can do and what the Russians can do, the Chinese can do multiple times over. So I don't think they're going to abandon Iran, provided,

Iran is able to help itself. And that, I think, is the key here. I think that if Iran collapses and the way that Syria collapsed some months ago, then there's really nothing anybody can do to help Iran. So it really depends on Iran now. Yes, and I remember what the other point I wanted to make. It was about ongoing regime change operations

taking place within Iran. And again, we've all talked about this for many years. This is something that spans every administration. The U.S. backs fake opposition groups, literal terrorist groups, groups that were listed on the U.S. State Department's list of foreign terrorist organizations. And they are backing networks of them, both inside Iran and all along Iran's periphery. The militants in Balochistan, which attack Pakistani, Chinese joint infrastructure projects. They also go into Iran and attack government troops.

and facilities there. And so like you say, Alexander, this is about Iran. Are they able to weather this? Are they able to maintain stability within their borders against all of this? It's not just bombing or drones or Mossad and CIA and whoever else running around inside. It's also all of these regime change operations. The U.S. has been cultivating for years and years and years. And we remember the protests breaking out in Iran on many occasions.

And the U.S. openly talking about how it was behind it and how they were using the NED and USAID and all of these other regime change mechanisms to facilitate all of that. And even though a lot of people believe the Trump administration defunded and dismantled these organizations, we know USAID is still operating, it's been consolidated under the State Department, and the NED, this website is still up. And one of the most recent posts was about their duty to care policy where they admit they're no longer going to make disclosures about who they're funding and where, which is exactly why the NED was created in the first place was create the illusion of transparency. Well, now they have

revoked that, and now they're doing this covertly. So I believe it's actually much more dangerous now than it was before, because it will be more difficult for independent analysts like ourselves to dig into the information and find it. It was so much easier when it was on the NED's official website. And even then, it was hard to convince people that this was going on. Now it's going to be much more difficult. So the U.S. is becoming more dangerous as it becomes more desperate. And they're working on narratives to try to convince as many American people as possible to go along with it. And unfortunately, at least from what I can judge on social media, which maybe isn't a good means of judgment. But it seems to be working, at least for some people.

Yeah. I mean, I would say this about Iran. And it has never ever really got on top. or gained control of these people within Iran who conduct this kind of agenda. I was talking, I remember talking some months ago to Professor Marandi, who, you know, we all know who he is, he's up, but he was talking about the enormous number of radio stations that are run ultimately by the United States. And Britain, by the way, just to say, Britain is very also very active about this, which are constantly feeding information into Iran. And the Iranians have never ever at any time really worked out any proper countermeasures against this.

And inevitably, the sheer volume of this material that pours into Iran has its effect inside the country. It is bound to, even if only one person in a thousand pays any attention to it. and even if they only believe 5% of what they hear, cumulatively, it grows. So the Iranians have never really done that. They've never really got a grip on the situation inside their borders as China. And now, finally, Russia have done. And this is something that, again, has surprised me, given that apparently Iran was more a target of this. than pretty much any other country.

There was more of this going on, it seems. There were more radio stations and leafleting campaigns and that sort of thing, operating against Iran than even against Russia itself, which seems astonishing. Absolutely. That is my conclusion as well. As a matter of fact, I think people will be shocked by the number of nations out there

that not only haven't addressed this very serious threat to the national security, considering how many nations the U.S. has actually destroyed through just this process alone, not even resorting to direct military force. A lot of nations don't take it serious as a threat, and they're not sufficiently addressing it. And I've always advocated. You have bricks, you have the Shanghai Cooperation Organization. There needs to be networks of nations working together to secure their information space to treat it as a domain of national security. And so many people just simply don't.

I don't know if it's because a lot of the people in the senior ranks of the military, they're kind of old and they don't get the Internet, and they don't get how invasive it is and how you need to control it. Because if you don't, someone else will, and they will turn people against you. And it does work. And like you said, Alexander, over the years, it accumulates. It's not something that happens overnight, but the U.S. has been doing this for years before there even was an Internet, as you say, with radio.

but now with the internet, it works its way in more thoroughly, and it's more difficult to uproot and address if you don't go at it at the root of the problem. One thing I want to, I don't know if we'll get to this point or not, but to address the war propaganda, the U.S. and Israel are resorting to, especially this claim that Israel hates Jews, and this is all about Holocaust 2.0, and I'm listening to Israeli officials, make these claims, and I'm watching people online repeat these claims,

adjusted by Israeli and U.S. aggression against Iran. People don't know this. They should look this up. Iran has the largest Jewish community in the Middle East outside of Israel. And I was just reading an article from the Jerusalem Post, Israeli media, pro-Israeli media, where they talked about the Iranian Jewish community and their opposition to Israel's aggression against Iran

and supporting Iran's right to read. retaliate and defend itself. So people need to go look that up, and then they need to go online and counter this war propaganda, because this is a key selling point. The U.S. is going to use the justify. It's involved, it's wider, I should say, involvement in this war. Oh, absolutely. This propaganda is pervasive, and it is very aggressively promoted.

It's promoted in Britain every single conceivable day. And I'm not going to say that no one at all in Iran has some of these ideas. But overall, as you're absolutely right, you said, the Jewish community in Iran considers itself Iranian. And there is an Iranian, they are represented in the Iranian parliament and many things of this kind. And of course, Iran has, of all the nations in the Middle East, perhaps the longest interactions with the Jewish, people with Israel. It was a Persian king who ordered the reconstruction of the temple, just to say. So this is a history that barely anybody knows, which has no real connection either, by the way.

This narrative, there's no connection either to the Islamic nature of the state, which is actually very different from what many people believe. I'm not going to get into that topic too deep in this program because we've only got a limited amount of time. But I do want to stress again that you're absolutely correct. This narrative is being used to justify that which, as I discussed, as I said at the start of the program, is a straightforward, unprovoked act of aggression against a country which, was at peace. And I think that's something that people need to understand and put all this nonsense to one side. So where are we going from here? I mean, are we going to see any real counter voices starting to appear in the United States? There are people in the United States who are

deeply unhappy and opposed to this. I don't mean, you know, the people in the Pentagon, the Elbridge Colby's people of that kind. But it does seem to me that, especially amongst those people who did vote for Donald Trump, they don't want the United States to be involved in further wars. There are compelling reasons why they would not want the United States to be involved in further wars. They haven't turned out well for the American people. The American economy is overextended. The European economies are very overextended.

We live here, we know. So is there going to be a breaking point in the United States when enough people say stop? And what do you think is going to happen? Or are we just going to go on seeing these endless forever wars being launched again and again until perhaps some kind of major. apocalyptic crisis comes.

Unfortunately, that last option does seem the most likely American people will be unhappy about this. A lot of people are going to be opposed to this. They're upset. They feel betrayed by the Trump administration and they should be. And these people did nothing wrong, hoping that all of this would change at the hands of someone who promised them he would change it. They did nothing wrong by hoping that now that they see, now that they see what the administration is actually, doing and why I think for these people to openly and almost immediately become upset with the Trump administration and condemn it. That is very important. It's very important for people to do that. But what can they realistically do? We saw huge, huge protests ahead of the invasion of Iraq.

Did nothing to stop it. And the war, there's U.S. troops still in Iraq to this day. They never left. And so that gives me very little hope that the American people have the ability to affect any sort of change in the U.S. Unfortunately, this isn't being determined in Washington's, being determined in these think tanks funded by these corporations. Americans take almost their whole paycheck and pay into every single month. And if you live in America, and I am an American from America, you really don't have that many alternatives. and I've always encouraged people to try to make or find alternatives, but if you live in the U.S., that's unfortunate. There's very limited options that you have.

People should speak up. It's going to be up to the multipolar world, though. It's going to be up to the multipolar world to continue doing what it is doing. It is creating the alternatives. Millions and millions of people around the world are paying into and dissipating the overall influence the U.S. has worldwide, relative to the emerging and growing multipolar world. It'll be up to them to manage this transition as smoothly as possible,

despite the U.S. and its attempts to burn everything down in the process of trying to reassert control. So that is something that is very dangerous. The U.S. is definitely going to do everything in its power to collapse Iran and then pivot to China. Absolutely everything, regardless of the rhetoric, Everything that they have done over the last, again, 25 years, has been preparing for the sequence of events. Everything is being put in place. If you're listening to the Senate hearings and watching the videos on these think tanks' websites, I mean, it's all public and reading their papers, you can see all of these policies being put into effect.

Even things people might not even notice that are right out in the open. NASCAR is really big among some Americans, especially in the deep south. NASCAR is car racing for people that don't know. And they have a NASCAR that actually says build submarines.com. And this is in response to, and we've talked about this on previous programs, the US desperately needing to expand its military industrial base and build submarines so they can wage war with China. And so that's how they're trying to promote it to the American people.

And they just, I did it too. When I was a kid, I absorbed it. That's why I joined the Marines out of high school because I fell for that very tactic. So it's a huge problem. It's getting worse. It's going to be up to the multipolar world to stop it. I'm going to finish on a positive note, which is there's an exodus

by a man called Wolfgang, much out, complicated name. But anyway, German economists, very, very good German economists. He used to write for the Financial Times, but he's not welcome there anymore, let's say. Anyway, he's written a very fine thing about how the United States,

has completely misjudged the realities of the modern world. It is pursuing a kind of complex geopolitical strategy to try to preserve its position, which on the contrary is provoking reactions that are in fact leading, accelerating the building of that very multipolar world that you were talking about. And, I mean, he made a very interesting, point, for example, about new BRICs payment systems, that the US convinced itself that BRICS was all about

creating an alternative currency to the dollar. Well, it was never about that. It was creating an alternative payment system, which would not have to use the dollar. And it explains how it was done, and who designed it, and it was a team at St. Petersburg University, as it turns out, and the The United States was caught completely by surprise and doesn't, in fact, to this day, know how to respond to it. And it also talked about what China is doing and what other countries are doing. So this multipolar world is forming, and I'm going to also say something else, if this operation in Iran miscarries, which I rather think it probably will, actually, like the operation

in Ukraine has. miscarried. Like an earlier operation in Georgia, I've just been to Georgia as well in the caucuses, and they went through the whole regime change, NGO state period, and they're coming out of it, and there's an enormously powerful reaction in Georgia against it. Anyway, all of this accelerates the ending of this very dangerous period that we are going through at the moment and builds the, creates the building blocks for the multipolar world, which I think is bound to come. Anyway, this is where I finish today. Ryan, as always, it's been a great pleasure to speak with you.

I think Alex almost certainly has got some questions from our viewers. And I appreciate you're very tired. But I wonder whether you could just stay with us for a little while and we can talk about them. And then we'll take it from there. Yes, absolutely. I'm okay. I can continue. One thing I will say, though, if Iran were to collapse, what this means is the margins for success and failure, they get much, much thinner for the multipolar side of this equation. So it's not as if it's over. No. And I don't know what the Congress, like we

always say, no one is calling us and telling us what's going on in the Kremlin or in Beijing. Maybe they have war game this and they maybe they have a plan in case this goes really bad for for peace and prosperity and stability in the world. Brian, you got 15, 20 minutes for some questions? Yes, absolutely. All right, let's get started. From Jason S. Is Putin going to let the U.S. put an anti-Russian regime in Iran. Doesn't bode well for Russian power.

It doesn't. But what can they realistically do to stop it? That is the question. You could ask the same question about Syria. And America's ability to collapse Syria has led to this operation against Iran, and Russia was not able to stop it because they're tied up in Ukraine, which was the plan all along. And so this is a critical problem for Russia and its allies to solve.

From Sangeva, it's a two-part. I think the USA and Israel has got drunk on their own Kool-Aid. Who do they think will replace the current Iranian regime? It certainly won't be a pro-Israel one. Iranians might dislike the current regime, but their anti-imperialist and sovereignist sentiments are strong. It will be someone like Mossadegh who will have people's favor. Then what is Israel going to do?

Iranians will never accept being a vassal. You would hope so. The U.S. might settle for just a failed state with no government at all. Again, look at who they managed to put into power in Syria. It is this creation, this ISIS-Al-Qaeda creation that the U.S. created to overthrow Syria in the first place. And now that is what's running the government, which means de facto the U.S. is essentially running the Syrian government. This is a three, three part question, Brian and Alexander. Nikos, from Nikos.

Brian, I don't know if you remember me, but I criticized you in the previous Duran videos for not having faith in Trump. After four months, I can now say you were right. I was wrong. I am truly sorry. Part two more. Okay. Okay. Did you see Pierce Morgan bullying Professor Muhammad Miranda and justifying Israeli's actions yesterday?

This guy, he is the definition of a British POS. And I love the fact that we are being lectured by the British about democracy, like the country that systematically used camps after the Boer War in Africa. The Spanish were first in Cuba. Yes. Well, people... Any comments on the peers? Go ahead, Brian? Well, I mean, it's okay to be wrong about something

as long as you realize what is actually going on. I don't want anybody's apology. I just want people to understand what is going on. And if you understand what is going on right now, that makes me infinitely happy regarding Pierce Morgan, just one of many propagandists that have been greasing the wheels of this war machine for decades and decades and decades.

And maybe Alexander can talk about British democracy. Pierce Morgan is hardly taken seriously here in the UK, I should say. I mean, he's somebody who is much, much more noticed outside Britain than he is in Britain. I'm going to say bluntly,

I think we have some far more effective and dangerous and clever propagandists here in London than Pierce Morgan. ever was and yes he does they do wheel him out and he does take on people like professor maranti but as i said here in britain he has very little traction uh tone base thank you for that awesome super chat awesome to see brian back on the channel please have him back more often and from uh truth scares them uh trump now is going after tucco carlson shows how out of touch the

people surrounding trump are this is biden The Deep State are Master Puppeteers. Brian, Alexander, your thoughts on Trump going after Tucker? Well, I'm going to say politically, just for domestic politics, this is a disastrous misstep. I mean, it's the end of his administration in the sense that he will now indeed become a puppet. Just as Brian said, of the various people who he said he opposed, but who will now control him. It's the last person he should be criticizing if he really wanted to have proper control of the administration. I was reading his true social post yesterday, and they were becoming more and more aggressively,

passive aggressive as the day was proceeding. And he was constantly writing in capitalised letters, Iran mustn't have a nuclear weapon. But that isn't even the issue, because his own intelligence can. have told him that Iran doesn't have a nuclear weapon and he's not going to have one for three years. But he harps on this point as if it mattered. Then he doesn't, you know, when he's asked, when he's told, do you know what your own intelligence people are saying? He says, I don't care. Brown, do you have anything to?

Oh, well, yeah, I mean, I thought it was absolutely predictable. He will turn on everyone who supported him to do the exact things he said he was going to do. this is what he did during his first four years in office. He said he was going to end everything that Obama had done. He continued all of it. He tried to provoke a war with Iran then. And then he would go after people who would bring this up. And these people, you could say whatever you want about people who place their hope in Trump,

but they did it for the right reasons. And if they're still bravely speaking up against what the Trump administration is now portraying, they're in the right. The Trump administration is in the wrong. and the American people and everyone around the world should support people. At least I don't agree with everything Tucker Carlson says and does. But in this case, he's absolutely right. People should support.

And people need to stop supporting personalities and political parties and stand for principles and stand for them all the time, always. And if someone is saying something that resonates with your principles, then support them when they're saying it. Yeah. Alexander, when going off of what you said about Trump rights, Iran must not get nuclear weapons. It's the same thing as MAGA.

It's the same thing as peace through strength. This is what Trump does very well. He's riding this constantly, and he's putting it in caps for a reason. This is like marketing, mind control kind of stuff that Trump is employing. That's all he's doing. No, I agree.

It's a slogan, which when you break it down, what is the meeting behind it? It doesn't even really have any real need. Ron must not get nuclear weapons. When, how went in a year, and a day. I mean, it doesn't, this is what he's good at, though, just like peace through strength. Yes, but like, I'm going to say,

this is where this is being misjudged because all of those other things worked. But this is a different situation because the United States could find itself in a war. And that changes the intention. entire political dynamic at that point, especially if that war starts to go wrong. From GL1416, Brian and Alexander, how do you guys argue against the neocom talking point of military

interventions to free the people from the tyrannical regime they live under? I'm going to leave that to Brian. Well, look, everyone is always trying to argue that the U.S. is promoting democracy worldwide, but what does democracy actually mean? It means self-determination. So if some movement, the U.S. is backing, depends entirely on Washington and everything about it is being determined in Washington. That is not promoting democracy. That is just outright political interference. Look at what the United States has done over the last whole century even. Tell me where they have actually promoted democracy and improve the lives of people living in

any of the countries they've targeted, undermined, destabilized, and burned to the ground. Nowhere. And you even have the same people making that argument complaining about all the people fleeing out of these countries, the U.S. and its allies have burned to the ground. So, no, it's an utterly absurd narrative. So is the narrative of Iran not being allowed to have nuclear weapons. Why not? The U.S. has invaded the region, invaded the nations east and west of Iran, have openly and repeatedly

warned Iran, they will be next. And they have destabilized and destroyed the whole region. And Iran wanting some means to defend themselves against this, that makes Iran the bad guy. Do people even hear themselves when they say these things? And Iran had these ballistic missiles all along, huge numbers of them. They could have launched them at Israel at any time of their choosing. They only launched them when Israel struck first. And even in these policy papers written by these neo-con warmongers. They admit that Iran, even if they had nuclear weapons, it would only be for deterrents. Everyone knows that if they launched a nuclear weapon at Israel, they would be nuked in return and the whole surface of Iran would be scorched. So they would never do that.

And they admit it in their policy papers, they would never do that. But for public consumption, they scare people into believing otherwise. Can I just add to something? I've just been to a small country, which is Georgia in the Caucasus, where they had the benefits, if that's the right word, of American democracy promotion. And what happened was, basically, that the United States engineered a revolution. They called it the Rose Revolution in the early 2000s, which overthrew a deeply corrupt and very unpopular government in Georgia. It's a very bad situation then. And this new democratic government, so-called, took. a bad situation and made it infinitely worse. And it was very clear, very quickly, that it was not

democratic at all. And it was not even run by people in Georgia, because the ministers of the government were all drawn from NGOs and continued to receive salaries from the NGOs, which were much bigger than their governmental salaries. And of course, all of those salaries were ultimately paid by the United States. And Georgia, through great difficulty, has come out of this process, which people there see as an absolute nightmare. And if you really believe that democracy promotion brings democracy, I would advise you to go there and speak to people there.

And I don't just mean people, you know, in government and in the elites. I mean people in the streets. And you'll see what they have to say. From Mark Esposito, if Iran is winning, why are they asking for ceasefire? Does Israel own the airspace over Tehran? No, nobody knows at this point. Nobody could possibly know except Iran themselves and Israel, if even, and of course the U.S. and their intelligence. The thing is, own the airspace over Iran.

What type of attacks are being carried out? Are they standoff strikes? Are these drones that are operating inside Iran, like the recent attack on Russian strategic bombers? Again, there's a fog of war. There's information coming out. There's disinformation coming out. There's genuine confusion coming out from both sides.

So we just have to wait and see. Maybe you can gauge. And by the way, Iran never wanted war, and they're launching these missiles to raise the cost for Israel and the United States of this conflict. And they're also going to pursue diplomacy. If there's a way to buy time or stretch this out, they're going to do it because they never wanted the war in the first place.

And they obviously don't have the ability to destroy all of Israel by shooting ballistic missiles, and they have no way of destroying the United States. Maybe they can increase the cost of a military operation in the region. they cannot destroy the United States. They're in a position where if the diplomacy is an option, they will take. It's just like the Vietnam War. Alexander, you have gone over this many, many times comparing the conflict in Ukraine to the war in Vietnam. And even when the Vietnamese were obviously winning, they were still going to the negotiation table to talk.

Absolutely. I would quickly add to this. This is a force, this is a good example of why we must be very careful. careful in our use of words. What demand is, what Iran is demanding is not a ceasefire. That's the way it's being reported in, you know, the Wall Street Journal and those places. What Iran is demanding or not asking for, demanding is an attack, an end of the attack on itself. They're saying, we are under attack. We want that to stop. And they say if this attack stops, then obviously we will have no further need and will cease ourselves to take military reprisals of our own. That's not a demand for a ceasefire.

That is a demand for an end to hostilities and an end of the aggression that is currently being carried out against Iran. Now, of course, we don't talk about it. We don't represent it in that way in the media in the West. We in the West talk about Iran asking for a ceasefire. We should not let ourselves be led into thinking certain things by this extraordinary manipulation of language that always goes on. From Vincent. Brian, I know the world is on fire right now, but what, if anything, gives you reason to be optimistic. Thanks. Well, I think, you know, we can see multipolarism taking shape.

We can see the vast majority of the world is behind that and invested in it. We can see attempts by the – and what is the U.S. actually doing right now with this war on Iran? They are trying to scare everyone back into line because they don't actually have the power to outright force everyone back into line. So they're trying to make an example out of Iran, and they're trying to isolate and contain Russia. and China through an extremely reckless rush decision to go to war. As Alexander said earlier in the program, at many junctures, they wanted to go ahead with this, but they never felt the time was right. Now they have no more time left, and so they just went ahead and did it.

So in that sense, maybe it gives me a little bit of hope. But again, desperation makes the U.S. very dangerous, and so it's kind of 50-50 there. Can I just add to that? As many of you know, I mean, my first subject was history. This is the subject that I studied and which has always remained closest to me. There is a very famous statement by a very, very great historian, French historian, Ferdinand Braudel. And he said, in the end, the long term always wins. It's the long-term trends that ultimately always prevent.

you can people can do all sorts of things that try to shift the direction of events but it's the building up of social and economic forces in a particular part of the world for example he was an expert on discussing the situation in the Mediterranean his famous book was about the Mediterranean world but ultimately whatever you do, however you try, however reckless and dangerous you become, it is the long term, it is the rise of other powers, of other wealthy places, the demographic, the economic, the social trends that ultimately win through. From Sparky, Brian, I notice your continuity of agenda theory always turns out to be correct.

Using Occam's razor, I deduce you have a crystal ball. Where can I get one? It's easy. than reading think tank papers. It actually is just the think tank papers. And the reason why it works this way is because something as big as empire requires a huge amount of consensus among all the very powerful special interests involved in benefiting from it. That is why these corporations, you will see all of these corporations funding multiple think tanks and overlapping consensus across all of them. If you read, because someone in the comments section asked,

what about the Council on Foreign Relations? What are they saying? They say what the Brookings Institution says, which is what the Rand Corporation, The corporation says the reason they created all of these is to create this sense of consensus. And then they have armies of lawyers transform it into bills and policies. It's brought to Washington with armies of lobbyists who get people on both sides to sign off on it. If you listen to the think tank experts talking, again, on their public YouTube channels, and you listen to what they're saying today, you know what they will be doing next week, next month, next year.

I mean, it's just that is the crystal ball. I wish it was as easy as just looking into a crystal ball would save me half to three 700-page policy papers. But, I mean, that is the closest we'll get to a crystal ball. Sparky says, Brian, is supporting bricks one of the best things regular people around the world can do at this point to resist Western hegemonic militarism? Yes, absolutely. Support alternative. Support alternative media. support alternative companies, institutions, systems outside of the collective West.

This is why multipolarism is on the rise because more of the world's population is paying into these alternatives than to these previously uncontested monopolies across the West. And we see it's no coincidence the U.S. is attacking companies like Huawei in China because they can see that that is an alternative and that is uprooting their monopolies. And they're doing it to many, many. And then China in general, they want to get rid of China in general because that's where all these alternatives are coming from. And the same goes for Russia. And the same goes for even here in Thailand.

They attack state-owned enterprises, making pharmaceuticals and everything else that threatens their monopoly. So yes, taking your money away from those monopolies and putting it elsewhere, that is definitely going to help. It's not going to happen overnight, but then we have to remind ourselves, this problem wasn't created overnight. It's going to take a long time to shift everything. Elza says, Brian, will the support for Ukraine end if the U.S. joins the Iran war? Trump didn't stay at the G7 meeting to talk to the Green Goblin. Zelensky. Thanks.

I mean, again, this is what we were talking about throughout this program. The U.S. is out of weapons to send to everybody. If they had enough weapons, they would keep sending them to Ukraine and also Israel, and they would continue stockpiling all kinds of weapons in Taiwan, the Philippines, Japan, and South Korea. The problem is, and they've admitted this, and this is demonstrably true, they can't. They can't, and so they have to pick and choose. And so, again, this is why Secretary Hegesa back in February talked about Europe, taking public money and redirecting it into aid for Ukraine, because the U.S. simply cannot do it on their own.

They're overstretched. So again, this is multipolarism maybe. They're being overstretched by the U.S. and all the fires that it's lighting. But the U.S. is overstretching itself while lighting all these fires. Russell Hall says, I vehemently disagree that Israel is being used to fight a proxy war for the U.S. Israel has wanted to draw America into a war with Iran for decades. Because the argument is Israel controls the United States. If Israel is the master and the U.S. is the proxy, Israel would have their proxy, attack Iran,

unilaterally, absorb all responsibility and retaliation. It would be Americans catching ballistic missiles morning, noon and night, not the Israelis. The U.S. use the Israelis, just like they're using the Ukrainians, just like they plan on using the Philippines and Taiwan. It is so obvious. You know, so many people become obsessed with one particular conflict. They don't zoom out and look the big picture and what the U.S. is doing everywhere else. But by the same argument, you could say Ukraine controls the United States. And Ukraine is trying to drag the U.S. into the war with Russia. When it's a U.S. war to begin with, they overthrew the government in Ukraine in 2014

to do this in the first place. And they've done the exact same thing with Israel in the Middle East. Don't let lobbying. People always talk about APEC. You go do the math. It's all available, publicly available information. Add up what APEC spends. Add up with just Lockheed Martin.

Boeing and Raytheon spend. It's way more. And then you have to think big pharma, big oil, big banks, auto manufacturers, big tech, all of these other interests are spending even more. So it's a numbers game. It's called follow the money. People need to get in the habit of doing that. Dalmatian says, Brian and the Duran, are you aware of ProtectEU security strategy

proposal to ban encryption apps for private messaging? Thank you and keep up the great work. Absolutely, I am. And we're going to see a lot more of that because we're duplicating all of that in Britain. And we're taking that even further. This isn't just about encryption apps. There has been a massive increase in police, essentially police powers, taking place across Europe and Britain. Again, because the political system here feels extremely. insecure. Brian, you have any comments? No, no, I, I wasn't, I haven't particularly seen that, but it doesn't surprise me. And I agree with Alexander. I mean, this is, this has been the trend, the NSA spying on Americans, Europe spying on their citizens, America spying on European citizens. So, I mean, it's just part of this growing trend. I mean, can I just make a quick observation? I mean, one of the justifications that's used for this is that people supposedly use these apps.

in order to organise protests and riots. And it was specifically used in Britain in connection with all those riots that took place in the summer. The riots, which if you remember at the time, I said as far as I could see that they were on no bigger scale than the usual levels of rioting we always have in England in the summer. There's actually been reports on the police about this recently.

And they're exactly, confirm exactly, what I said and the fact that most of the people who were arrested for rioting at that time who were young people were apolitical just say the progressive lefty says all three of you do a great great work I try and watch everything you put out and that and uh ralph Steiner says what if Israel gets wrecked like Ukraine is for the USA Oh, the United States walks away. I mean, I suppose that's probably what we'll have. It won't be that easy because Israel is so pivotal to the U.S. position in the Middle East.

But that is ultimately always the American advantage, which is that they're remote from the rest of the world. And so they can retreat if they choose to, as I think they're probably doing at the moment from Ukraine. Yes. Ross Steiner says Brian's been a guiding light for years now thanks a lot of questions about Tulsi Gabbard dog Garnett says

why have Tulsi in that position if she's not listened to if she's not listened to Maga is not happy with this decision it will tear us apart I totally disagree with this why not ask Donald Trump that question why ask us

we don't know I mean if he's not listening to his own director of national intelligence, that's Donald Trump's problem. I would have thought that if he was the president of the United States, he should be paying attention to what his own intelligence community are telling him. But as I said, it's a question for Donald Trump. Don't address it to us. I don't know.

Although I would venture a guess and say that it was a bait in switch. And I know at the very beginning, remember when President Trump was about to pick his cabinet And there were rumors that it was going to be Marco Rubio as Secretary of State. And people didn't even believe it because it was so absurd. Why would he pick him if he was trying to change everything in the United States and take on the deep state? But then when he did, you know, then people had to start asking themselves questions. Well, why did he do this?

I mean, if people were extending the benefit of the doubt to him. But ultimately, I believe it was people like Tulsi Gatter were the sugar coating to choke down this poison pill. That's what I believe it was. And now he's openly discarding his own director of national intelligence. It's unbelievable. And people should be angry. And they should hold the administration accountable. I wouldn't be surprised if she goes, if she resigns.

I think we said that in a video last week. That wouldn't be surprised. And we still have, we still don't have a replacement for Watts. Keep that in mind as well. No. And another question is, has Waltz actually gone? to the to the UN? Well, yes, Ruby are supposed to be running the security.

Is Waltz at the meetings? I mean, has much of the security council meetings? I haven't seen them. According to the Russians, he's not. I mean, they don't know what's happened to. Peter Liu, Brian, Russia, China, and Pakistan should help Iran as it's an SCO and BRICS member. China can easily transfer economic military aid to Iran via Pakistan.

that they can but only to a certain degree and there's a lead time that that aid is going to happen before it helps translate into anything on or above the battlefield people have to remember russia china pakistan they all have the exact same problem nato has in arming continuously arming ukraine if you're going to send a weapon system that they're not already using they have to be trained on it you have to build the infrastructure to support it that the teams of people required to support it and maintain it, the spare parts, the supply chains. It becomes very complicated when you start listing all of the actual things required to implement this.

So I think it sounds good in theory, but in practice, it's much more difficult. Can they send something? I think they can. I think they probably already are. The question is, is it enough? And only time will tell. Sparky says, Brian, was President Trump's lame Army birthday parade, which had an afterthought thrown together feel to it a reflection of how bad the state of readiness of the hollowed out

u.s military i think i think so i mean i saw soldiers i couldn't march that's unbelievable and then i saw people making excuses claiming well they don't march because they have real jobs unlike soldiers in the russian or chinese military i was in the u.s marines we were taught first and foremost how to march it's about discipline cohesion and organization you literally have to know how to do your morning formations for your NCOs or senior officers to address you. You march almost everywhere you go on base together as a unit. And so this notion that they don't need to know how to march, the fact that they're not marching in a parade, I think it does speak volumes.

And we have seen the shortcomings of the military, its personnel, and it's even admitted they're out of sailors for their warships. They're not recruiting enough people. The quality of the recruits are plummeting. They're lowering standards to try to compensate for this. So it's not us imagining this looking at the parade. This is the parade as a manifestation. All of these things, the US has already admitted is happening.

We'll do a couple of more address to Brian. American rebel, Brian Duran, voice of reason. God bless, Jets. Thank you for that. Ralph Steiner said, says, Brian, choose orange, orange pill or red, white and blue pill? I don't know. I'm trying not to have to take any pills, maybe blood pressure pills.

From Nikos, Brian Dharad. Tell me your thoughts. Perhaps to survive the Iranian regime can make reforms and transition to a semi-presidential theocracy where the president has the main power and Khamene is like the king. I'm going to make a guess that the last thing you want to do is to start experimenting with long, complicated constitutional reforms in the last. the middle of a war. I think at this moment in time, the most important thing to do is to maintain internal cohesion within the system. My understanding is I got a report from somebody who I trust,

who said that even before the conflict started, around 76% of people in Iran were making clear in opinion polls. And these were Western-run opinion polls, that they basically supported the present political system. already has a substantial body of support within Iran, a majority body of support within Iran. I suspect the conflict will have consolidated that still further, and I would leave it alone and focus instead on doing the important things, keeping the supplies moving, keeping the military functioning, keeping the state functioning, those kind of things. Sparky says, Brian, do you remember pro wrestling's The Iron Sheik?

He was from Iran, but instead of complaining about ignorant Americans thinking Iranians are Arabs, he leaned into it and owned it. I do it. Yeah, it's funny to bring up professional wrestling because President Trump actually participated in professional wrestling. And he is very, you know, some, if you go look it up on YouTube and you look it up on YouTube and you look at his performance there and what he's doing now, maybe you can see some interesting parallels. And Sparky says if Iran is regime change, maybe the U.S. could have appointed the Iron Sheik as Iran's leader. But he died two years ago.

He lived near Atlanta. Rest in peace, Iron Sheik. And let's see, one or two more for Brian, address to Brian. Here we go from Soberano, Brazil. Do you think they will bomb the nuclear facilities? These people cannot move backwards. They are already backwards. Only think about power and money.

They have. They already have bombed the nuclear facilities. And again, in the policy papers, they admitted that it was unlikely that enough damage would be done by an Israeli strike. And they feared even by a joint U.S. Israeli strike. That would not be enough to sufficiently destroy them. And again, people should look it up. It's free to download from the Brooking Institution's official website. You can read it in its entirety.

And they talk about all of the options, regime change, sponsoring terrorism inside Iran, crushing its economy. They even also talk about an all-out invasion although they say how unfeasible that is. And if it was unfeasible back in 2009, I think it's much, much less possible now. But the U.S. is rushing these warships to the Middle East. Who's to say they're not going to provoke a conflict and put a ship in a position to be sunk, to stir up Americans in the same way they stirred up Americans on 9-11 and look at what the U.S. was able to, you know,

ring out of all of that fervor and, I would say, false patriotism because they were all illegal wars of aggression built on lies, and that's what they're trying to justify and get support for now. Just got to quickly add one thing to that, which is that in my opinion, there's too much emphasis given to this nuclear. these nuclear sites, it's a red herring, I think. The purpose is regime change.

If you listen to the rhetoric that's coming out, especially now from Israel, it's absolutely clear. They're moving the goalposts. Sorry. They're moving the goalpost, Alex. I mean, even Netanyahu is talking less about the nuclear stuff. I mean, he still says it, but he's not moving clearly towards. Absolutely. He's saying it out right.

Yeah, they're moving the goalpost. Yeah, it's about regime. You know, about it. And Israel struck an Iranian media center. And the reason you strike an enemy's communications is to topple the government. It's not the disarm its nuclear program. They're openly talking about taking out the Supreme Leader. I mean, they're openly talking about it.

Yes, yes, yes. Keep in mind, this is, you know, they criticize Russia and the war in Ukraine. Russia did none of these things. No. Russia was never talking about these things. No. ever. So, you know, this is about regime.

No, no doubt about it. Russell Hall, final one for Brian. Russell Hall says, Russia and China should get ahead of what seems a likely outcome and make clear that any use of a nuclear weapon will bring immediate nuclear reprisal. Something is going to have to be done. And again, if you look at history, look at what was going on before World War II, broke out in its entirety. How much was being done, how many countries were being invaded, how many wars and proxy wars were taking place before everyone collectively decided to draw a line

and say this far, no further, and then to collectively act. To say, again, you have to understand that multipolarism, they're trying to build something. They don't want it burned down in a war. And the United States, from their point of view, they want to, like, all of Eurasia on fire. They're on the other side of the planet. I mean, look at a globe. They're on the other side of the planet, there are two oceans on either side of their continent. They're not, they know that they'll come out in a position of advantage on the other side of burning Eurasia doubts. They're trying to disarm this and keep everything from being burned to the ground in a cataclysmic conflict, which I don't know if that's even possible, but that's what they're trying

to do. Brian from Sparky, one fight a one. When I was, when I was in the U.S. Army decades ago, marching in sync was among the first, if not the first thing we learned. Typical soldiers back could march with the precision, back then could march with the precision of a professional drill team. I could go and march right now. I have no desire or inclination to do so, but I could because that's how ingrained it was as a skill. And it was something that helped your NCOs and officers organize you physically.

out in the fields. You had to know how to march. So it has always historically been a basic skill. And if there are soldiers not able to march, that is a serious sign of things in trouble. And from Burkino Matata says Brian stands out as a top analyst ATM, top analyst ATM. I suggest he find ways to complement his deep dives into U.S. policy papers with equally rigorous analysis of Russia and Chinese policy documents. Yes, well, I mean, they do have policy papers, but they're usually not as, as, I mean, the U.S. is openly laying all of this out. Russia and China don't really talk about that. They talk about defending themselves from what the U.S. is doing. So that is the big difference.

And I think what they're saying in their policy papers reflects almost exactly what they're saying in public, whereas in the U.S., what they're saying in public is completely detached from the reality that is being laid out in these policy papers. because they know that if people in America knew that they were doing what is in the policy papers, they would never accept it, which is why they need this propaganda component to push it forward. So there's that to consider. I do read Russian policy papers, and I can absolutely confirm that what Brian just said is absolutely correct. There is no comparison in Russia, certainly in Russia, with the vast think-town community you have in the United States. There's nothing like that there. And what Russian think tanks such as they are and foreign ministries and people of that kind,

academics say and what the debate that takes place in Moscow is completely different. And what the Russians say in public and what they say in private is pretty much always the same. We got two more back from Jeff Rock. Sure, no problem. Iran, what percent of those? From Jeff Rock, Iran, what percent of those pushing for direct U.S. involvement do you think are true believers and what percent actors playing a role? True believers in what sense? What percent of those pushing for direct U.S. involvement in Iran do you think are true believers and what percent are actors playing a role?

Well, I think all of them know that this is about establishing American dominance over the planet. General Flynn openly said this to Steve Bannon in public. He said it. And that's what is written all throughout these policy papers and the corporations funding, the think tanks writing these policy papers are the same people putting all of these people into public office, Republican or Democrat. Funding campaigns, Trump or Harris, doesn't matter. So they're all on the same page. And I believe the vast majority of them know that they're pushing this agenda and deliberately lying. And probably only a very tiny percentage. I can't rule it out that there aren't people dim-witted enough to believe that Iran has nuclear

weapons and they shouldn't have them. And they have no reason to be worried about their national security in a region. The U.S. has burned out over the last 25-plus years. And we'll end it with Banos. We'll let Brian go with this very nice super chat from Banos. Gentlemen, brilliant, as always, highly recommend the three-part documentary on YouTube, Iran and the West, for anyone who hasn't seen it. As an aside, I'm coming back to Greece next week. Love your work, guys. Brian, brilliant as always. That's for Bonas. Thank you.

Brian, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. And as I said, for staying at one and a half hours and answering all the questions, both from us and from the viewers. So we still have some more Alexander. We've got plenty of. Brian is our guest and he's been an astonishing, exemplary guest as always. And as I said, we absolutely do want you back. And I'm afraid we will probably have to have you back because the way things are going, we're going to need your insights more and more as events progress. I'm happy to do it. Thank you again for having me on. And thank you everyone who tuned in to listen and support us.

Brian, before you go, where can people find you? Again, just look up the new Atlas on YouTube and in the video descriptions under every video will be all the other places you can find and follow my work, including Telegram X and Rumble. I upload all of my videos to these platforms and, of course, all the options to support my work. If you have the ability to do so, and if not, no worries. Just share this work. People need to know this is happening. That is the whole reason I do this.

I have those all linked up. All those links are in the description box down below. Brian, thank you so much for joining us. Thank you. Take care. Bye. Bye. Okay.

Alexander, you want to go through the remaining questions? Absolutely. One second. Let me find my place here because I jumped around a bit. All right, let's go to Nikos, who's, says the problem in the West is they think they are superior in everything like the British people just look at some British YouTubers who go to Russia they treat it like it's North Korea also I said I take a break but they pull me back in thank you because Alexander I'm

afraid about the first point you're absolutely correct I mean I having just been to Russia recently and having returned to London from St. Petersburg I can say that the comparison is not in our favor, but many, many people in Britain will never accept that. And just for the reason that you say. Paruko, thank you for that super chat. Game of Chair says Iran is the product of Western interference in the 50s. It was probably one of the most democratic and secular countries in the region at the time. It's true. Absolutely. Yeah. Raid says I think you are wrong about Russia and China.

If Russia and China continue to let the friendly nation be threatened, overthrown and attack, i.e. Solomon Islands, Panama, Syria, Serbia, Ukraine, and now Iran. I think that when you're talking about the earlier places, I mean, there was nothing very much that Russia could do about Panama, if you're talking about the Noriega business, which was back in the 80s. I mean, far outside, even the Soviet Union's ability, at that time to intervene there. But I think that on the contrary,

with every year that passes, their ability and capacity to interfere and involve themselves in increases. But let me repeat again. Ultimately, whether Iran stands or falls does not depend on Russia and China. It depends on Iran. If the system there is so fragile

that it collapses under these admittedly very powerful, blows. There is nothing that Russia and China can do. They cannot prop it up in place of its own people and government. And that is, I think, something that people struggle always to understand. I believe that the system in Iran is much more resilient and much more strongly supported than people imagine. And I think it will come through this. But I don't pretend. I know the situation. in Iran very well and I'll just have to just have to wait and see that's no different than Russia and Ukraine right Alexander I mean it's the same tactic no one was coming to to Russia's aid in the in the beginning when they leveled the 16,000 sanctions and all of these things

I mean everyone was standing by to see will Russia make it will they be able to stand and they did and then and then everything started to change including much of the the media now as well the alternative media narrative at least in our in our space in the beginning there was no one there was no one you know I mean we were reporting on it yeah so it's gonna be the same situation with Iran with you know from from fractured fractured 0 1 then there is the Iranian supreme leaders fatwa against nukes Trump knows it's all the show well I'm getting to make my own, obviously, I'm going to be critical of Iran here, or at least at least of

harmonie, because I have never understood this policy that he has. On the one hand, he has supported enrichment of uranium up to a 60% level, which has provided all sorts of grounds for all sorts of people who are very hostile to Iran to say, look, the Iranians are heading towards acquiring a nuclear weapon, which has given them an excuse to do what they're doing now. But he never takes that 60% enrichment to the further level of actually acquiring nuclear weapons. I'm glad he doesn't, but then why go for 60% nuclear enrichment at all? This is, by the way, exactly the discussion that I had in in Petersburg about Iran that I was talking about. The Russians were baffled by this. People in Iran are baffled by this. They're asking, why are we enriching uranium to this level if we're not

going to go further and acquire nuclear weapons? What I think Iran should have done is forget about negotiations with the United States. They were never going to lead anywhere very far. focus on getting into the bricks and let the sanctions play out as they have. But I think Hamané never saw that. He thought that he could gain leverage over the Americans by enriching uranium to the level that he did. And I think that it was an over-clever strategy, which hasn't ultimately worked out very well. That's my own view. Marduko G.K. OB says Solomon the Wise, Alexander the Great.

trumples the clown. People are going to be saying that more and more. I mean, his behavior yesterday was astonishing. I mean, it was all over the place. It was terrible, some of the things that he was rising. Yeah, and some of the things he's saying. I was saying, exactly, yeah. Yeah, I don't care what Tulsi Gabbard has to say.

I don't care. Yeah, I don't care, exactly. Your own director of national intelligence. I mean, in some countries, she would be resigning now. She might even be doing that. Petro says, it's baffling to me how some Christians can be Zionists. As a Greek Orthodox, many of us know Orthodox, Palestinians, Jordanians, Lebanese, etc. Who know the horror to live under Zionists?

Well, I happen to also know an awful lot of palis. I know some Palestinians are not an awful lot. I know some Palestinians who are Christians. There's a large Christian community there. And it's against strains that this fact never gets noticed. The Christian communities of the Middle East have been smashed over the last 30 years. Just saying. Petro says, are soon to hear to the last American.

American foreign policy is a shame and disaster. Lord have mercy. Ralph Steiner said, could, says, could Massad use a mushroom divide? in New York and claim that Saddam Hussein flew it into 9-11 like last time to spark off a global conflict. Now, well, I mean, I let's not, let's not start speculating about these disastrous ideas. I think it's a starkest. Yeah, I know.

I understand. Yeah, I understand it. Nick, thank you for that super sticker. Sparky says, I think we answered this one. Brian, is it possible for the U.S. to successfully regime change Iran? I don't know. Did we? Brian, is it possible?

the US successfully regime changes Iran, but Israel is completely destroyed in the process. Israel disappears while puppet Iran appears. I don't think we answered. No, we did. But I think that is a very, very, I mean, there's all kinds of possible scenarios. One can imagine coming out of this. But, I mean, that can only be one of many alternatives. I do think it's very likely.

I mean, I don't myself think that Israel is going to disappear. tomorrow or next month or in a year's time out of this. And I don't think Iran is going to disappear either, just say. Deuce Abscondis says, what are the chances that Netanyahu has damning and embarrassing compromise over Trump via Epstein, think the likelihood is very high. The Zionists have captured the US administration,

but you don't hear much about it. I'm going to say this. What I have heard is that Trump did not get on with Epstein at all, that he threw him out of Mar-a-Lago. and that they had no real contact with each other. And I think, I mean, I've never heard anything else from anybody who has any real information about that investigation. And I don't really, I can't help the think that if that compromise existed, we would have heard about it by now. Wilma Thomas, thank you for that super chat.

D.F. says drones hit northern Iran, presumably from Azerbaijan. Will Azerbaijan participate on Israel, U.S. are they eyeing the Azeri-Iranian provinces? The Azeris have said categorically that they will not involve themselves in an attack on Iran and that they will not allow their territory to be used in that way. Now, Azerbaijan has had a long relationship with Israel, partly because of the Armenia thing. Supposedly, they are starting to distance themselves in Israel. There are apparently some or existing Israeli bases in Azerbaijan.

But the indications that apparently the Azeris have told the Iranians that they're going to close them down. Istanbul MPW Capital says we all, including myself, have to come clean to Brian and say you were right, we were wrong. Thought that Trump was different and doubted Brian's crystal clear Washington never changes stripes. Well, I think that Trump was somebody who generally and sincerely did criticize last year the regime change wars. I mean, I think this is very much his own perspective. But he runs an absolutely chaotic administration. He's completely unable to get in control of it. And we see the result.

Now, you know, that's my difference. I think that I don't think that Trump was always part of this operation. I just think he's completely easy to manipulate by a deep state that remains very much in control, which doesn't like him, by the way. Serrahan says, why can no one at the UN say the US is desperate to drop a nuclear weapon on Iran using its Middle East proxy? The proxy has not signed any treaty and has 500 nukes. Iran has signed, it doesn't have anything. Well, because nobody wants to stop putting that idea out in case it creates any ideas.

That's basically the reason, I think. I mean, nobody wants to see that outcome. And so for that reason, nobody wants to talk about it. I am very, very much afraid that if things go very, very badly wrong in this war, that is the outcome we could see. because the rhetoric that has been coming out of Israel especially would suggest that that is the only option. If you really believe that the survival of Israel

depends on the destruction of the regime in Iran and you really believe or talk yourself into believing that that is true and the regime in Iran survives, then I can very easily see. you have that kind of capability that you will want to use it. Ralph Steiner says, is this like when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? The Germans bombed Pearl Harbor. Should I understand that one?

From Stephen. I do think that there is a comparison here, a valid comparison here, if it be made with Pearl Harbor, not because, as I said, the Iranians should have been caught by surprise by this attack, because as I said, it was clear for days that it was coming. But the way it was done was every bit as dishonorable and contrary to international law as the Pearl Harbor attack was. Stephen Hightower says, when will Tulsi step down?

This is the worst administration. Well, I would not be surprised if she steps down over the next few hours. I mean, I think that Trump's comment, by the way, I'm going to say, I think it almost sounds like he wants her to step down. Sticky Marks says, hi, thanks, bye, in Yorkshire. Thank you, Sticky Marks. Gorbachev's forehead says, off topic, Alexander, if I send you a statement of claim, would you provide me with feedback?

I'm not in the UK, and it's an Australian tort law case. I can certainly look at it, but I'm not in a position to be a lawyer I mean, I haven't done legal work. That kind of legal work since I think it was 2006. So it's a long time now. But, you know, you all have to send it to me. I will certainly look at it, yes. Marcus Bezito, thank you for that super chat.

Sparky says, victory has many fathers, but defeat is an orphan. Orphan President Trump wanted to be one of those fathers fooled by Israel's perceived initial success. He impulsively jumped on the bandwagon. I think so. But, I mean, I think he's now trapped. And this is the point.

point, it doesn't matter anymore now. But whatever he thinks and says or thought and thought before, he might have assumed that this was all going to end really well. The fact is he's trapped. I mean, he's now in a situation where I suspect he's only going to be able to move forward towards greater and greater escalation. And I'm going to predict he's going to fall out with his own vice president who didn't like the attack on the Houthis and is going to dislike this attack on Iran even more.

and he's probably going to lose Tulsi Gabbard at some point over the next couple of days and he's going to alienate people like Taka and others and eventually he's going to become completely isolated and end up being controlled by Mitch McConnell and all of those people who will continue to hate him what what if the reverse happens Alexander what if the government in Iran doesn't hold up I mean, the U.S., the U.S., I imagine the U.S. is going to, if they go ahead with this.

Yeah. They're going to bomb. They're going to bomb. They're going to, the way the U.S. does war is they don't do war like the Russians do war. No. They're going to bomb everything. It includes sewage, water, all of it, bridges. Yeah.

And I like the Russians, they're going to level whatever the parliament buildings, government buildings. they're going to let them whatever they can. Exactly, exactly. What if the government does not hold up? Then Trump comes out and he says, I did it, right? Oh, well, absolutely. Then, as I said, he will get a huge boost and he will claim that it was his great master plan all along

because that's what he always does. And he will be applauded by everybody, though not, I suspect, by Tucker Carlson and people like this. I still think a lot of them will remain very, very angry. And ultimately, before long, all the inevitable problems that flow from that will continue. So, yes, I agree. That is probably the way the war is going to play out. Remember, they did the same in Iraq in 1991, and Saddam Hussein's regime survived. And that was an isolated regime.

If they can destroy sewage works and factories and things of that kind, they can do the same things that they did to Vietnam in the 1960s. But Vietnam survived. Serbia too. But, you know, I'm talking about Vietnam because it was a prolonged war. And Vietnam survived and eventually it grew stronger because it had friends. And they were strong friends. And if Iran survives and absorbs those kind of blows,

then over time it will get stronger too, and its friends will come to its help, and they will make sure that the food and the water and the things that it needs to keep going will continue to be provided. You always get this argument. You get this argument now, so I'm guessing you are fine with the Iranian government yelling death to America. This is the reason to start a war with Iran and a lot of people. And Pierce Morgan said this yesterday, nonstop, with the Morandi interview because it's going viral. you're fine with with iran saying death to america no i'm not professor mirandi that's that's that's the argument now that's being used to to go ahead with this war because

because iran tradition iran says death to america yeah no so so rhetoric uh rhetoric or entitles you to launch an unprovoked war of aggression. I mean, it is what this is. I mean, to repeat again, Iran has not attacked Israel except in self-defense after Israel attacked Iran. Iran has never attacked the United States. Viva, Las Vegas. Thank you for that super sticker.

Sparky says, keep in mind, Israel has killed many more Americans than Iran, remember the USS Liberty. Ralph Steiner says a nation can survive its fools and even the ambitious, but it cannot survive treason from within. An enemy at the gates is less formidable, for he is known and carries his banner openly, Marcus Cicero. Mark Esposito, why discount Trump's words that Iran was cheating?

Well, in what way was it cheating? I mean, if you're talking about the events of 20 years ago, The IAEA, I think, is what... Yeah, I mean, the IAEA thing, which is what... I mean, that relates to things that took place more than 20 years ago. I've talked about this many times. I said already what I think it was all about. Just to repeat again, I think that in the 1990s,

Iran probably did have a nuclear weapons program, which was intended to provide a hedge in case Saddam Hussein, who also had had a nuclear program, resumed his program and acquired nuclear weapons. Given that Iran had fought an eight-year war with Saddam Hussein, I can completely understand why they did not want him to acquire nuclear weapons at a time when they didn't have themselves any. But the moment he fell in 2003, all of the information is the American intelligence community has repeatedly said this. that Iran dismantled its entire nuclear weapons program.

And at that point, simply start with enrichment. So what happened before 2003, which is what the IAEA was talking about, is completely irrelevant to the situation today. Ralph Steiner says America needs mushroom Pearl Harbor. Warlock London, thank you for that super sticker. Miriana, thank you for that super sticker. Bio-toon says, do not underestimate the national resolve of Iran.

Saddam's Western-backed attack in 1980 was much more devastating. Traders have exposed themselves and the nation is rallying. Yes, absolutely. I think that is my own guess of how things will play out. But to repeat again, I do not know Iran. I've never been there. I know some people who are Iranian. Most of the Iranian people I know in London are opposed to the government.

by the way, just to say. So I am not somebody who has deep familiarity with the situation, the internal situation in Iran. But my knowledge of its history, what I know about its economy and the nature of its society

leads me to think that what you say is true. I can't say more. John Matthew says, Russia, China or Turkey will regret this if they don't help Iran. Is Iranovsky predicted long back this war. Russia will collapse soon

if Iran collapses. Well, first of all, I don't by the way, agree with that. I don't think Russia will collapse simply because Iran collapses. I think that besides, if Iran collapses, it will have an impact on the Middle East

which will create its own set of problems for the United States and Israel as the collapse of the Assad government in Syria is already doing, just to So it's not going to be a one-way thing. But I don't think Russia will collapse.

But to repeat again, if Iran collapses under these blows, there's not very much that Russia and China and Turkey can do. But if Iran shows that it has an ability to resist, then all of these countries will undoubtedly. help and of that I have no doubt at all. Tootumor, thank you for a super sticker. Jam says Clark said seven nations to fall. Iran is the last one. Yeah, it's true.

I mean, and that's been the neocon obsession ever since then. I mean, they've never, they've never given up on it and well, here they are. They've got what they wanted. And Trump, and Trump, idiotically let them do it and is destroying his own administration and quite probably is leading the United States into a disaster. Ralph Steiner says, is the USA Jewish Banker Empire still capable of selling its virgining new debt requirements countries like China, Iran and Russia and others now?

Well, Iran doesn't buy American debt, nor does Russia, by the way, they've stopped doing it. China, I understand, is more selling US debt. But you make a valid point because there is a sort of few that you sometimes get. Paul Krugman and people like that say, which is the countries never go bankrupt. Having lived in a country, Greece, which did go bankrupt, and which has gone bankrupt before in the past, absolutely countries can go bankrupt. And the United States, as its own Treasury Secretary, has said, is on an unsustainable fiscal trajectory.

So more wars are going to add to the pressure. And for that reason, if no other, they ought to be avoided. Far more important for the US to get its financial house in order than to start getting involved in adventures of this kind. OMG puppy says, what if Elon was right and Mossad has abstained blackmail on Trump? We answered that. Maybe. I mean, I've already also you. Sparky says,

Germans bond per harbor was a quote from the movie Animal House. Oh, I see. Yeah. Joharvish, yeah. Joharvi says, can the U.S. even wage a war in the Middle East while being bogged down in Ukraine? Well, I mean, I think that

they're rather ruthlessly doing is like basically giving up on Ukraine. Zelensky. Zelensky is getting very upset about it. What do you make of the report yesterday that the United States is stopping the normalization process, the diplomacy? That was an interesting thing. They didn't, the way the Russians, because we've only had it from the Russians, what they said was that the Americans have told the Russians that they weren't going to turn up to the next normalization meeting, which is a meeting supposedly to.

to sort out the issues of the embassies and all of that kind of thing. I've always felt that, you know, the idea that the United States would give back to Russia, embassy property that it had seized in 2016, which is what the Russians were insisting on, was something that was not going to happen. So I think in the middle of all of this crisis, it's perhaps unsurprising that the Americas call that meeting off. I don't think in itself it is hugely significant. More interesting is the fact that Trump then goes off to the G7. He says, oh, you know, Russia should have continued to be a member of the G8,

and no, we're not going to impose more sanctions and that kind of thing. Again, what you see is an administration that can't sort itself out and isn't prepared to take big steps, like, well, not even particularly big steps, Small steps, like restoring a few buildings that belonged to Russian visa, visa offices, back to the Russians in order to get normalization back on track. Sparky says, shouting death to America was long out of fashion in Iran. Remember, Iran held a candlelight vigil in sympathy for America after 9-11. I know they did. Yeah.

Yeah. Stephen Hightieris says, apparently they took out al-Shadmani. Ali Shadmani. Okay. Thank you for that. The double down says maybe Brickson needs an Article 5 to protect the weaker ones. Well, up to now, they've been clear that they're not working to create an alliance. Who knows? Maybe at some point they will.

Again, can I just say, Russia and Iran signed a security agreement back in January. And again, I had this conversation. It's any of a brief conversation, actually. It sounds more extensive than it was. But when I, in St. Petersburg, they were, you know, said that the Iranians were slow walking in. Matt Borgensen says, I don't think the U.S. will ever fully admit

to the U.S. population, their involvement in the Iran conflict. Trump promised his voters a dove-like presidency. Well, I mean, he's constantly content. telling everybody there's nothing to do with me. This is a unilateral attack, even as he gives every sign, if you're prepared to go and join that attack. There we are. Lee, welcome to the Duran community.

Um, Oscar says, if Iran closes the Hormuz Strait, how fast will the Western economies be in tatters? And can Brick's economy go clear? If the straits of Hormuz are closed, the effect on the world economy will be profound. And obviously the BRIC states, China in particular, will be affected. But nobody should be under any illusions about this. Oil will continue to flow, even if not from the Gulf.

And countries like China will continue to find it. Prices will rise, but the price increases will be felt most in the United States and in the West. And I'm sorry to say in some parts of the global south. Daiger says, thanks for your insights, which are greatly appreciated by us in the audience. Thank you for inviting Brian as well. Thank you for that. Nico says, can you comment about the two planes filled with weapons from China to Iran? Also, can't Russia give some nuclear weapons to Iran?

They have many. Well, first of all, we don't know for a fact that those planes from China were carrying weapons. I mean, that's pure speculation. neither the Chinese nor the Iranians have said that they were. So we don't know that that was the case. The fact that these flights took place is interesting and suggestive, but it could be that they were senior officials traveling from China to Iran and there was some kind of coordination set up being made,

or it may be that they were providing humanitarian help or conceivably, and this is, I would have thought it could, thing, given that Iran's entire communication system has clearly been broken into by US and Israeli intel, maybe the Chinese who are very good at communications are going to Iran to help the Iranians to sort that out. But we don't know what was on those planes, and we shouldn't make any rush to any assumptions. Now, about Russia providing nuclear weapons to Iran, they will never do that's the one thing the Russians will never do. If Russia provides nuclear weapons to Iran, then Russia is pulling out the nuclear non-proliferation treaty. And that is completely contrary

to Russia's interests. It means that countries like, well, first of all, Turkey and Saudi Arabia, will rush to acquire nuclear weapons. It will mean that Zelensky will be able to say, look, Russia is giving nuclear weapons to Iran, give me nuclear weapons too. There will be, there'll be a spread of nuclear weapons, and that's not something the Russians at all want to see. Amir Ashth, does in the worst case scenario, how would China and Russia react to a nuclear strike on Iran? I don't know, and I don't think that they know themselves. I think the world would be horrified. And I think if a thing like that were to happen, we would be living in a completely different world and in a completely different reality. and it's very difficult before it takes place to try to work out exactly what that reality would look like.

Irish partisan says, no surprises to see the so-called dissident rights supporting another regime-change war. If these wars, it's these wars an economic fallout that fill the votes of Europe. Well, if you're talking about European, the far right in Europe, by which I presume you mean people like Orban, Orban is fervidly pro-Israeli as we discovered. Hungary is, as we discovered when we went there in October. It doesn't surprise me at all. Ralph Steiner says, what does God want? Does God want goodness or the choice of goodness?

When a man cannot choose, he ceases to be a man. And I see what is right and approve. But I do what is wrong, clockwork orange. as an orthodox christian i do not believe in trying to read god's mind james howell 9000 says how can the resistance be so naive as to use compromised western tech that allows the enemy in time after time three legends thanks guys that's a point to make to the iranians i i am surprised by that myself actually

i mean the fact that iran that it's uh security it's services have proved so disorganized and inadequate for this situation, which was building up over so many years, that really is astonishing. And it speaks of deep corruption. Just the same. Black Thai, thank you for that super sticker. Tim Gibson. Thank you for that super sticker.

Irina Belska, I thank you for that super sticker. Tim Gibson. Thank you for another super sticker. Bysotune says IR is equal to another axis. against Russia's heartland like Ukraine. Iran is equal to another axis against RU's heartland like Ukraine. Well, again, you know,

let's not move too far ahead. I agree, I'm sure, I mean, the neocons do have these very, very, very complex games that they always play. The one thing that always happens that is that these games eventually go wrong and turn out badly for the United States. I don't know the sequence of events.

It could be that the government in Iran collapses. But in one, two, five years time, I suspect that it will be seen as another debacle, regardless of what happens over the next few months. Professor Weed says, at what point are people in the US going to admit we are controlled by a bunch of Jewish billionaires who are loyal only to Israel and to themselves? Well, I don't think that's true, actually. I don't think they're only loyal to Israel. I agree with Brian on this. I think that just as Israel does have of agency. I think Brian underestimates the level of agency that Israel has. But absolutely, the United States has agency. And there are definitely hegemony figures within the United States

who most definitely want to preserve what they see is American hegemony as well. And they're absolutely prepared to work with the country like Israel in order to sustain that. Peter S. says the neocons are devils. Sparky says, build a better world with bricks. Raus Steiner says, as the chosen people of the Iron Age, Hebrew God, Yahweh, the Americans and Jews demand that all others kiss the wailing wall of power, must one comply. Well, yeah, I can see that. I mean, it's certainly some of the rhetoric coming from both Israel and Washington is exactly

the way that you describe it. KFD says, thank goodness for bricks in a multipolar world. Yeah. Elza says, is that already the end of MAGA? What could be the consequences for the U.S. if that happens? People had high hopes for ending in the U.S. involvement. I think it absolutely could be the end of MAGA. In fact, if I was going to make a guess, I think that by the end of this year, we won't see it anymore.

I mean, I think this is quite plausibly going to break it down, unless Trump suddenly, as he sometimes does, change his course. but it's going to be very, very difficult to do that this time. Texas Grown says, could this be theater of war? Hardliners being removed for the future with high level knowing on all fronts seems to target the people set in and not budging both settings, Ukraine and Iran? Well, I don't, I mean, I don't. I mean, we mustn't make this more complicated, I think, than it really is.

We are in a war with Iran at the moment. All the facts point to an American involvement in that war. I mean, I direct American involvement in that war being very, very likely. And that must be our concern. I think imagining that there's some, you know, ulterior games being played, perhaps they are. But we can't possibly know what they are. We must focus on the fact that there is a war.

Truth scares them, says the CIA puts in a lot of effort to screw up the Iran-Russia relationship. Oh, absolutely, yes. Not just, of course, the Iran-Russia relationship, the Iran-China relationship. Are you going to say something, actually? A lot of people here say, you know, that Iran is, you know, the pivotal member of, you know, this axis. I would say, actually, the pivotal member is China first, Russia's second, and Iran is a very, very distant.

than less important third, fourth, fifth. The fact that in Israel and amongst some people in the US, they are obsessed with Iran and have been for decades before the bricks even appeared, shouldn't make us overstate its great geopolitical importance. It's very unfortunate for the country. that it has become the target of an obsessive attitude to the extent that it has been. A different perspective says false flag is over. We are in an open state of intent. Oh, yes. I absolutely agree with that, by the way.

Ralph Steyner says, only the USA and Israel are the good guys, you know? Oh, yeah, absolutely, yeah. Nikos says, regarding Iran, do people there specifically young people actually like Reza Halavi, this spoiled oligarch that hasn't worked one day in his life. As far as I know, he has virtually no support inside Iran at all. He does have some support amongst people in London and in Washington, maybe, but not in Iran itself, including amongst young people. There is no desire to restore the monarchy?

Ralph Steiner says, is Trump really maga or now mega, like we thought? I think that Trump has been completely outplayed, that he's a prisoner of the forces, that he once upon a time said that he would fight, and which now ultimately controlled the situation, and in the end, him. From Nicos, the problem that China doesn't get is that the US has made all the systems like the UN or Swift, that they need to make their own in bricks, but China doesn't listen to Russia and are dumb enough not to do it. I cannot agree with that.

I mean, I read Chinese things all the time. As many people know, I do a program every week with Sofia Midgif, which is circulated inside China. I get lots of people from China. I think the Chinese are very, very well aware of the situation. And certainly the Chinese public. From Sparky, ironically, DNA testing from an early European Jewish cemetery shows that if Ashkenazi Jews have any genetic connection. to the Middle East, it's with Persia, aka Iran. I can't comment on that.

Rubia Pell says, thank you guys for your constant insight and hard work. It's much appreciated and dangerous times. Thank you for that. Vincent Vega, thank you for that super sticker. Russell Hall says the U.S. still has military personnel in Iraq because we have bases in Iraq, just as we do in many other countries where we also have military presence. and bases that are also potentially targets now if the United States does get drawn into a war with Iran.

Jeff Pickford says, seems like this observation on the Trojan war still holds true. An appetite, a universal wolf, so doubly seconded with will and power, must make a horse and a universal prey and last eat up himself. This is, I think, from Virgil. I see to remember it.

Yeah, I presume that's right. Yes. A different perspective says AM's explanation of bricks intent sounds like Iran explaining here's. Russia, there's Gaddafi. His, China, there's, it's irrelevant when we only see ours. Well, again, there was a limited amount that the bricks, of course, the bricks are,

I don't know whether they even existed in 2011, actually, at least in their present. Well, I don't think they did exist in their form in 2011 when Gaddafi fell. The Gaddafi, the events in Libya were very important in making countries like China and Russia decide that they needed to start coordinating more closely with each other. The Russians, Putin personally, was deeply shocked by what happened to Gaddafi in Libya. And apparently he has never forgotten it and feels great remorse for the fact that the Russians backed a UN Security Council resolution, which the Western powers misrepresented and used to conduct the operation in Libya that they did. Sparky says Israel poured tons of money into individual Protestant churches in the Bible Belt to give.

their favor in the last 30 years. Church leaders is pro-Israel. Their congregations are disgusted. I've heard that. I've heard that too. I mean, I don't know, but I've heard that as well. Hello there, says, Jens, could you please discuss whether the Kremlin in China have any plans regarding the current situation? I'm sure they have plans. I'm sure they're coordinating with each other. And I would not be surprised if there's being private meetings and all kinds of things. But what those what those plans are. I mean, we can't guess, but we can't actually say because the Kremlin and the Chinese leadership, Zhongnanhai, is the location in China where the Chinese leadership has its offices. They don't talk to us and tell us what the plans are, so we can only guess.

My own guess is that at the moment, the present moment in time, what the Russians and the Chinese are going to be doing, is they're going to be saying to the the Israelis and the Americans, for God's sake, bring this thing to a stop. It is a huge, you're making a huge mistake by what you're doing. Let's get back on the negotiating track. There is indeed a deal to be done and let's do it. And if that doesn't work and if the war continues, then they will not, they will start to shift from just playing negotiators to providing more and more material assistance to Iran

and ultimately that could extend to weapons. But that depends on how long the war goes on for. Elsa says, understand what's going on. Gonzalo Lira. Ralph Steiner says, the English man, David Lamy, stated that the might of the British Empire stands behind Israel. Which British divisions will be diverted from the Russian front?

Is there a Bernard Montgomery to lead them? Is there a Bernard Montgomery to lead them? No, there is not. British divisions? Well, I suppose the king could send us some of the soldiers that guard his palace. I mean, they might just about make up some numbers then. I mean, really, I mean, you're asking a very good question. I mean, we're in no military.

We're in no condition in Britain to take on Iran or anyone else. And that's the truth of it. Russell Hall says Trump's political story has not been one about right, betrayal so much as his being politically cornered and kept on the back foot. The man is penned in. I think he is, but I think he's also somebody who's very, very easily manipulated. And that was true. His first term, when he ended up appointing people like John Bolton and Mike Pompeo, and we see that it's turning out exactly the same way in his second term. He does this to himself. He puts himself in these positions. He's a tragic figure. Yeah, that's how he's going to be

remembered. I agree. It was a tragic figure. That's a tragic, exactly. And that's not a good thing. Bobby LaForest, thank you for that. Can we just say, in the Greek meaning of the word, in the Greek meaning of the word, this is a damning verdict

on someone. Bobby LaForest, thank you for that. Markos 588. This is two-part. question as when emperor hadrian abandoned parthia or aurelian dachia the wise the wise know their weaknesses or at least ought to however like twitching colossus dying empires can't help but roll their dice this agenda isn't a heroic final stand in the form of the battle of shallens but rather an unfolding adrianople catastrophe if if zelensky is very very much very much

Valentinian the third, Donald J. Trump may well prove to be Emperor Valance. You know, you are somebody who obviously knows your late Roman history. Very, very well. I'm not going to go into discussions about the Battle of Adrianople when the Roman Empire was defeated by the Goths or the Battle of Chalons, but I believe they defeated Attila and all of that. Suffice to say, to sum me that very quickly, Frederick the Great, put it, I think, very pithel.

and very well. He who defends everything defends nothing. If you try and hold on to every little part and place where you want to extend your influence, you will eventually dissipate

your influence and you'll bring about the resource crisis which we already see. Progressive Lefty says all three of you do great work. I try to watch everything you put out. Remember that. Let's see, we answered that question. Different perspective says if Iran falls, everyone falls, impossible not to.

China's industrial life is tied directly to Iran. We are in a state of existential threats. Now what? I think we should not fall for these over dramatic claims. Iran's industrial might is not connected to Iran. Certainly, sorry, China's industrial might is not connected to it. Certainly China recently has been a major buyer of Iranian oil, but that has not always been the case. It's bought oil from Saudi Arabia. It's bought oil from Russia. The oil trade with Russia is absolutely secure.

Oil is one of the most fungible commodities in the world. The idea that you can control the market and blockade a country like China is absurd. It's for the birds. So, you know, it's not going to result in a collapse of everybody. But that doesn't mean that if it happened, it would not be a tragedy of epic proportions. We should not see it, I think, in those geopolitical terms. This is neocon thinking, which we are mirroring. We should see it for, we should see the situation for what it is, as an unprovert war of aggression against a peaceful country, which is intended and could create its destruction

with all the humanitarian catastrophe that would follow from that. Prepi Slay Swifti. Thank you for that. Super chat. Sparky says, had a girlfriend decades ago whose parents were Iranian Jews. Many fellow Americans we encountered were astonished. Iran allowed Jews. She was beautiful. Lucky for me, she had bad. Bad judgment in men. Klaus Vatner says, Our hope.

Russia and China are the two adults in the room. Negotiations with Iran and Israel by Russia if the U.S. war goes south. Not quite. Eric Hatchet says, Mashe Dian said, Next time everyone climbs in the oven, tells you everything you need to know about these people.

Well, yeah, he did say that. He said some extraordinary things. Let's see here. We answered the wrestling one. Lana Zankova, thank you for that. Super chat. Ralph Steiner says, only Yanks and Jews will be left in the world.

Damn. Lana, thank you once again for that. Super sticker. Super Seamster says, make Israel look like Gaza. Thanks, respect. Bakersfield. Well, I mean, we're already seeing,

we're already seeing. that meme start to circulate. I think it's been a shock to many people that the Iranians were able to, Iranian missiles have been able to get through to Israel as in the quantities and as effectively as they are doing. Remember when there were the missile strikes last year? A lot of people in the West sort of downplayed them, but we see what the result is. Latimerau, thank you for that. Get to Raspanama. The whole Gulf region will be in danger with the Iran war.

Why don't they use the oil as leverage to stop it? Well, I mean, they might do. I don't think they are going to do it yet because I think they calculate that it would not be to their advantage. They don't want to alienate the Gulf states, which are warily neutral at the moment, and they don't want to cause trouble for China, and other allies who also import oil from the Gulf region too.

So Badano, Brazil, welcome to the drug community. Ralph Steiner says, Brian, choose your pill. We answered that. Moon Dragon says, what will Russia and China do when it comes to Iran? I think we've answered that. Well, I think we've answered this extensive. Russell Hall, yes, the U.S. military may have abandoned a few of its core capabilities for the sake of progress, but the important thing is that soldiers feel safe.

Dumanda Munas City, thank you for that super sticker. Irish partisan says, to hell with Spain, remember the main, redux. Absolutely, yeah. Matthew said, hard to see how this doesn't go global. Well, let's hope it doesn't. At the moment, as I said, there's an attempt to keep it to prevent it from going global. An awful lot depends on the Iranian leadership and how it handles this situation. So far, they've been very, very incompetent tactically, but rather insightful than intelligence strategically.

Ralph Steiner says, for what shall it profit is Ayo Khan if he shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? What would Osaya Khan give in exchange for his mortal soul? Do these people have a soul? Alberto Chan says, why did India reject SCO's statement condemning Israel's attack? What do they have to gain? Well, the Indian government, the Modi government, has been somewhat aligned with Israel,

with Israel. And I think it has also not been happy about Pakistan's very, very public alignment with Iran. Unfortunately, and one has to say this, and it is, something is working against India. India tends to see everything, frame everything in the world, around its perpetual feud with Pakistan. So Pakistan is sympathetic to. Iran, that tends to make India more understanding towards Israel.

Ralph Steiner says at least in London people aren't speaking German. Fuzzy balls says Ukraine and Israel are on the same team. They are both under control of the United States, which is under control of the hideous gargoles in the deep state. Well, indeed. And look what's happened to Ukraine. Sparky says, Alex, admitted to you helped BB in Greece. Costa Blanca Anglican says,

no, welcome to the drag community, Costa Blanca, Anglican. Sparky says, just kidding. Sparky says, Ukraine war cured COVID. Will Iran war cure Ukraine war? Good point. Ralph Steiner says, Germans, forget about it. He's rolling, animal house. He's on a roll, animal house.

Very true, Tom Steiner. Chris Collier, thank for that super sticker. Rich West says with all due respect to Mr. Berletic, we do in fact know who runs our government. Let's see. We answered that question as well. We answered that. Jahari says, can the U.S. even wage war in the Middle East while being bogged down in Ukraine? Did we answer that?

Yes, we did. I think we answered that, yeah. I think we answered that as well. we answered the Elon one as well yeah musk one uh Sarah Hahn says can saying that the UN statement exposed boiled

U.S. plans can you read that can you read that as saying that the UN the UN statement exposed boiled the U.S. plans and the IAEA I think is what Sarah Hahn is oh I think I think the IAEA statement was a dare it was another

terrible mistake it was intended to provide a pretext for this. It was one that was so thin and unconvincing that, again, outside the bubble that, you know, the Western media inhabits, I don't think it persuaded anybody. And amongst the people, obviously, it hasn't fooled the people in Iran because the Iranians, I mean, they have no reason to doubt the truth of what their government is telling them that their country is this target of an unprovoked attack because that is the truth. And things like the IAE statement, IAEAEA statement, make that perfectly clear. So that is probably why we're seeing a rallying of people within Iran behind the government,

even people who are critical of it. Chili Pepper says how Israel installed Trump to start a war with Iran in 2016 on YouTube. No, I don't think Israel's installed Trump. I think lots of people went out and worked to get Trump elected because they saw what the Biden administration was doing and they were angry about his wars and they believed that he would end that. And I think they feel very, very angry at the moment. I can tell you for a fact, I mean, I'm sure Alex was saying.

I've been inundated with emails from people who are very, very angry. and I think they're very angry. They feel very betrayed. And I think that's going to have a political effect going forward. Ralph Steiner says, at Sparky, that when Saddam blew his planes into 9-11. Moon Dragon says, could this be beneficial for Russia, weakening the US? Well, yes, except that I don't think the Russians ever think in those terms.

I don't think the Russians are saying to themselves, oh, well, this is a great thing. Now the United States is going to be tied down for a year or two years or longer in the Middle East. So, you know, we can go ahead and carry out our plans in Ukraine. I do think it is at all how the Russians think. I think they see the situation. They see the crisis in the Middle East. They see the crisis in Iran. They worry about the situation in Central Asia.

And they are appalled. And they are further appalled. any prospect of a real rapprochement between Russia and the United States to the extent that it ever existed and they are very cynical and doubtful about that too. But they're probably a pull that that prospect has receded further into the distant future. It's quite obviously the deep state and the neocons are still in control. Double down says can Egypt and Arab nations come out unscathed? No. Alara G says, Bernie Sanders also torched the movement he built.

Yes. Elza, welcome to the Dran community. Brave Dave says it could be the end of MAGA, but remember, in the United States, diversity of opinion really only exists on the right. Yes. Fuzzy Ball says, may as well name Trump Israeli Prime Minister. Ralph Steiner says, remember how Trump was nearly assassinated on the right? on the Persian Gulf course. Those Iranians are going to pay for that now.

Persian Gulf is now Arabian Gulf. Nick, thank you for that super chat. Mark, thank you for that super sticker. Sparky says President Trump can instantly redeem himself with MAGA by having those U.S. Navy carrier groups go against Israel instead of Iran. Patrick, thank you. Patrick, thank you for that. I mean, I wouldn't want that to happen either, by the way.

I think those Navy carriers should go back. United States. There's you go home. Patrick, thank you for that super chat. Commander Crossfire says, Good day, everyone. I missed the live. But with Brian,

I know it was great. All the best from Canada. Thank you for that. Max Head Rush says, thanks, guys. Stephen Hightower says, Al Shadamani, Iran's wartime chief of staff, and the top aide, Tachamanei,

was taken out in a precision air strike. They keep on taking out Iran officials. Well, they do. And as I said, that this happens and it tells you an awful lot about, as I said, the continued disorganisation of Iran. I'm going to say, I am a little bit more skeptical about this story, not because I don't believe this person was killed, but because I really do wonder what a wartime chief of staff is. I mean, Iran has a chief of staff. I forget his name, but he's not this man. Is it possible

that the Israelis are calling him the wartime chief of staff simply to make him seem more important than he really is. Just saying. Trust Rusty. Keith says, does Prime Minister Modi play the same double-sided role in this global issues as does Mr. Erdogan? Can he be trusted by the BRICS community? We did a program some months ago

with M.K. Badra Kumar, who's an Indian specialist, and he does a brilliant blog, by the way, called Indian Punchline. And Badra Kumar said that we overestimate India's foreign policy sophistication and reach, that India continues to have a very, very narrow provincial mindset, and it just doesn't seem to have that self-confidence and ability to go out there and actually conduct international diplomacy in the way that he can and should. And bear in mind, Budra Kumar is a former Indian diplomat. So it's a very powerful statement.

And I think we're seeing that play out now. Summer of 1970 says the Empire of Lies will fail. Yes. Commander Crossfire says Trump said he didn't care what Tulsi said concerning Iran, not pursuing or being close to nukes. She should resign. she deserves way better. Well, I completely agree, absolutely.

And I think that might be, I think that might have been intended to provoke that, actually. Samuel Moroni says, how is it going to end in Gaza, in your opinion? Terribly. I mean, the war there continues. The horror in Gaza continues. No end in sight. This situation with Iran is not going to change that. All of these wars.

I get to make a guess. I think this war with Iran is going to drag on. and on and on even if the United States becomes involved. And it's going to sap American strength, and it's going to sap Israeli strength even further, and it's going to be an awful disaster. But I don't see the situation in Gaza ending any time soon. Ralph Steiner says Trump said he wants Spain out of the BRICS alliance.

Spain? Yeah. Commander Crossfire says North Korea sending Sending sappers and engineers to Kursk. Yeah. Neil Mechda says, amazing work, guys. Thank you for that. Aser Dhan says, can saying the U.S. wants to nuke Iran at the UN?

Well, I mean, that could be said. I mean, we haven't got gone there. We haven't got there yet. I think at the moment, the view in Washington is that, yes, the Israelis failed, but did the all-powerful, almighty United States, gets involved, that will be enough. And then we will get regime change in Iran. Now, they may be right, but I inclined to think they're probably wrong. It's only when it turns out that they are wrong, that they might start to think about these other options. Chris Collier says a 30-day ceasefire in

Ukraine would have made it easier to supply Israel if the West sure wanted that ceasefire. Well, they did. True. I did that was, they certainly did. I mean, not for that reason, in my opinion. But one can increasingly see why the 30-day ceasefire was something they are so earnestly wanted. All right, Alexander, that's everything. Nice, great live stream.

Great live stream. Thank you. And it was great having Brian again. We should have him again. By the way, he's exhausted. I think I could speak for both of us. We too are very, very time. I still have a video to record.

Absolutely. It's very, very hard to keep up with all of this. But, you know, we are here. We will continue. And just as Brian, of course, continues, and we will continue to cover these events to the extent, to the full extent that we can. All right.

Thank you to everyone that joined us on Odyssey, on Rock Finn, on Rumble, and YouTube, as well as locals. the grant dot locals.com check it out and thank you to our moderators thank you so much for moderating in the chat thank you we will see everybody tomorrow to take care