We're all Iranians now

We're all Iranians now. At least since 2000 America has become a much bigger threat to world peace than the old USSR ever was. 

In fact back in the 1980s my callow young self saw that the cold war kept the peace. 

Now Iran is fighting to break the American empire with great courage, manliness, intelligence and arguably even morality, all things the US appears singularly to lack in this war. 

I wonder though why Iran agreed to this sham ceasefire. They surely don't trust the Americans. 

I think they are making a mistake. The Americans have some reason for wanting a pause.

I doubt if Iran can force the US out of the Middle East but it would be good for everyone, most of all the US and Israel, if they do. 

A close (and very philo-Semitic) Romanian friend, whose child learns Hebrew at the Jewish School, said to me a week ago "I support Iran! Not because I am left-wing or right-wing but because they were attacked'. I imagine most middle-of-the-road people agree.

Rape in Israel

American podcast star Ana Kasparian has read out the most damning report on Israel's prisons. Sexual torture is organized state policy, endorsed by the highest authorities. Women are raped for days. Men are raped by dogs. Fire extinguisher nozzles are inserted into bodies.

Her information comes from the Israeli media. I knew much from reading Ha'aretz.

Western media don't report this.

There is as far  i know no proof that Hamas men committed rapes on 7 October and by now there probably would be had it happened.

Jewish Currents: Iran Is Not an Existential Threat - Iran poses no significant danger to Israel, let alone the US.

I recommend this very cogent article in Jewish Currents. I quote

It wasn’t until the 1990s that Israeli and American leaders began describing Iran as a threat to the Jewish state. But this change in rhetoric didn’t occur because Iran’s attitude toward Israel changed. It occurred because Iraq, Israel’s chief bogeyman, had been brought to its knees. With Saddam Hussein hobbled by the 1991 Gulf War and then a decade of brutal US sanctions, the Islamic Republic took its place as Israel’s foremost regional competitor. “Nothing special happened with Iran,” retired Israeli Brigadier General Shlomo Brom told Parsi, “but because Iraq was removed [as a danger], Iran started to play a greater role in the threat perception of Israel.”
To be sure, Iran did grow stronger in the ’90s as a result of Iraq’s decline. It also began backing Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which opposed the Palestine Liberation Organization’s recognition of Israel. And in the early 1990s, Iran restarted its nuclear energy program, which had begun under the Shah. It was this cocktail—Iran’s hostile rhetoric, its nuclear program, and its support for armed anti-Zionist groups—that birthed the current conventional wisdom that Iran represents an existential threat to Israel.

But this claim has never been borne out by Iranian behavior. Despite its antipathy toward Zionism, and its efforts to resist Israeli and American power, the Iranian regime has shown no willingness to imperil itself by trying to destroy Israel. To the contrary, it has repeatedly sought to defuse conflict with both Jerusalem and Washington, if only because it recognizes their vastly superior power. In May 2003, after the Bush administration’s invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, Iran sent the US government a secret message: If the US lifted sanctions, ceased trying to overthrow the Islamic Republic, and accepted Tehran’s right to peaceful nuclear energy, Iran would end its support for Hamas and Islamic Jihad, pressure Hezbollah to disarm, place its nuclear program under international inspection, and support the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative, which offered to recognize Israel if it accepted a Palestinian state and a “just solution to the Palestinian refugee problem.” According to Richard Haass, then head of policy planning at the State Department, the Bush administration spurned Tehran’s offer because “the bias was toward a policy of regime change.”

The way we live now

From an opinion piece in the Washington Post on 8 April by Marc A. Thiessen advising Trump on five things to do in his [unprovoked] war against Iran.

"Fourth, carry out a final barrage of leadership strikes, eliminating the Iranian officials who had been spared for the purpose of negotiations. Iran’s leaders must be made to understand that their lives literally depend on reaching a negotiated settlement to Trump’s liking. If they refuse to do so, they will be killed."

A left-wing  Spanish Member  of the Cortes has just likened Netanyahu to Hitler but she might have likened Trump to  Hitler. I am somebody who until now always hated Hitler analogies.

Pluck the moment

Robert De Niro: 'Now is now. Then is then. And the future will be what the future will be. So enjoy the moment while you are in it.'

Seen this afternoon

 

South Korean President Lee, addressing Israel

"It’s disappointing that you don’t even once reflect on the criticisms from people around the world who are suffering and struggling due to your relentless anti-human rights and anti-international law actions." 

He said this after posting  a video of IDF soldiers throwing a young Palestinian off a rooftop and commenting that "there is no difference between this and the Japanese wartime sexual slavery issue we raise, the massacre of Jews, or wartime killings." 

Israel's Foreign Ministry responded that his post was "unacceptable" but President Lee stood his ground.

Why don't England, France, Germany and Romania say this?

Professor Norman Finkelstein

 

“Israel is now a madman.”

“It didn’t get its way with Iran, and so it is totally destroying Lebanon now.”

“It is in a state of catatonic lunacy.”

“I’ve said this for years. Now it’s the consensus.”

“Israel is a lunatic state. A lunatic society."

World turned upside down

In a world gone mad few things are any longer incredible but this is.

A report claims senior Pentagon officials, including Elbridge Colby, invited the Papal Nuncio Cardinal Christophe Pierre to a meeting and warned him that the US can act however it wants and mentioned the “Avignon Papacy.”  

When the popes were in exile at Avignon  their sovereignty  was curtailed by military pressure from the French kings. 

Vatican sources say it was sufficiently serious that the planned US visit by the Pope is cancelled. 

However Damian Thompson does not believe the story and I trust him always.

Liviu Mihaiu, one of Romania's most respected writers and intellectuals, just posted this on Facebook. I agree with what Professor Mohammad Marandi says here . 

He has a habit of being right. I must start watching him regularly.  He correctly predicted 3 or 4 days in how the Iranian war would pan out.

Deb Finkle is a Canadian Communist and probably Jewish. I agree with her here.

I also agree with Ann Coulter here. She was once devoted to Trump. I mentioned these points here before, with reference to Biden financing Netanyahu's holocaust in Gaza. Reagan or Carter would not have done this and Kennedy or Eisenhower absolutely wouldn't have done so.

<Reagan shows why you need a man of high moral character in the White House.

NYT, Aug 13, 1982, REAGAN DEMANDS END TO ATTACKS IN A BLUNT TELEPHONE CALL TO BEGIN

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 - President Reagan expressed ''outrage'' to Prime Minister Menachem Begin today over Israel's latest bombing raids in west Beirut, saying the attacks had resulted in ''needless destruction and bloodshed.''..

Larry Speakes, the deputy White House press secretary, said Mr. Reagan had been ''shocked'' by the Israeli attacks ... 

''The President expressed his outrage over this latest round of massive military action,'' ... 

Mr. Speakes, asked whether Mr. Reagan had shouted at the Prime Minister, declined to comment. 

American officials - including, apparently, Mr. Reagan - were stunned by not only the scale of the Israeli air attacks but also the possibility that Mr. Habib's peace proposals could fall apart because of them.

Asked if Mr. Reagan had threatened to suspend American arms aid or take other retaliation, Mr. Speakes replied, ''I won't discuss that.''>

This extraordinary moment in history

Donald Trump has accused Iran of behaving "dishonourably". I am not making this up.

The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia says Iran bombed the East-West pipeline hours before the ceasefire was agreed. This stops KSA exporting oil without the Houthis blocking the Red Sea. Iran is playing her hand brilliantly.

David Rohde: 

“Iran offered to give away ALL of its ENRICHED URANIUM during the recent peace talks. Hours later the U.S. started dropping bombs.”

Trista Parsi:

<WOW!

Spain's Sanchez is on another level. While most European leaders only apply international law in Ukraine, ignoring it in Gaza and Lebanon, and even stating that it doesn't apply to Iran, Sanchez sticks true to principles and calls for the IMMEDIATE ARREST of Netanyahu.

"Netanyahu launched the worst possible unjustified attack against Lebanon. His contempt for life and international law is intolerable. He is a criminal that must be arrested immediately.”>

I blame  the media for being accomplices to war crimes and illegal wars.

BBC on Israel’s massacres

BBC whitewashing Israel’s killing yesterday of more than 250 civilians in Lebanon by flattening entire neighbourhoods:

“Israel says it hit more than 100 command centres and military sites in 10 minutes…”

I am sick of BBC bias. It's the British equivalent of RT, the mouthpiece of the British establishment. You see the same thing with Russia, China, Viktor Orban, immigration, abortion, feminism, climate change and on and on.

Peace in our time? It looks like Trump will invent a victory and leave, giving Iran the things she asks for. At least let's hope so

A disturbing number of Britons, it seems, would gladly see the survival of the world’s worst regime. So wrote Jake Wallis Simons a couple of weeks ago in the very pro-Israel Daily Telegraph. I am one of them because he was talking about Iran (why is it Iran has a regime and Egypt a government?) although I by no means think that it has the world's worst regime, not by a country mile.

I can think of others worse.

I am not sure America isn't one of them.

I said yesterday that peace was impossible. I saw no reason why Iran would ever accept a ceasefire because it would only allow her enemies to rearm and prepare for a fresh assault.

That is still my position but we were all wrong when we accused Trump of lying about negotiating with Iran. In some way he was talking to Tehran.

Now genuine negotiations based on the maximalist demands of Iran, which by the way seem to be very reasonable, are going to start and meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz is going to be reopened with certain conditions and under the control of Iran (as it was until the British wrested control from the Shah of Persia in the 18th century).

I wrote yesterday that Trump and Netanyahu should just give up but they won't but it looks like I was wrong. It looks like this might be exactly what they're going to do, which would of course bring peace.

Netanyahu desperately wants peace not to break out and he may be cunning enough to prevent it, but I doubt it.

Trump was in a locked room and now he has found a key.

Let none of us forgive him or forget that this terrible war is certainly the fault of of Donald Trump and has enormously damaged American interests and standing in the world.

But let us remember that it is much more the fault of Benjamin Netanyahu.

He is not America's friend. He is not the friend of anybody apart from Israel and what he calls the diaspora Jews.

Why should he be? Countries do not have friends.

The two countries which seemed to me to have behaved in a very civilised and moral way throughout the last few years when it comes to diplomacy, though certainly not in their domestic policy, are China and Iran.

I note that China is said to have persuaded Iran to talk to the American aggressor.

An (anti-Zionist, of course) synagogue in Tehran was completely destroyed by the Israelis, who remarkably then issued their first apology since they started the war

Chinese propaganda, as seen from Germany

 

Peace is impossible in the 3rd Gulf War - it would give the US and Israel time to prepare a new war. Peace is impossible in Ukraine too. China will not attack Taiwan but enjoy the spectacle.

 

I have been saying on this blog for many years that America is the great danger to peace and that Great Britain should if not leave then quietly quit NATO. I said NATO exists to defend its members from the dangers created by belonging to NATO and is useless. My opinions seemed eccentric but they don't seem unusual now. I have also been saying that had Iran an atom bomb that would preserve peace in the Middle East. That looks pretty undeniable now too. Apart from the mistake of not developing the bomb the Iranians made another big mistake last year in agreeing a ceasefire with the Americans and Israelis which their enemies used to buy time to organise the fake regime change operation at the beginning of this year and then to launch this war.

Netanyahu and Trump should just give up but that would leave Iran in charge of the Strait of Hormuz and as the clear winner so that will not happen.

Iran has informed regional states that if Iranian energy infrastructure is struck, the entire region will be plunged into darkness and all options are on the table.

The United States and Israel have a set of targets lined up in Iran designed to cripple the country’s economy and ensure the regime’s recovery from this war is “long and painful,” with Israel awaiting authorisation from Washington this week to begin striking energy facilities across Iran, officials tell The New York Times.

When Ayatollah Khomeini first came along talking about America as the Great Satan it found a certain chord in my reactionary teenage breast. (And us as the Little Satan felt like a compliment to my miserable island). Now I see Candace Owens, America's most popular media personality, just said that satanic Zionists occupy the White House. 

"When we’re kids we play cops and robbers, and watch cartoons about evil criminals being stopped by virtuous crime fighters. Then when we mature we learn that all the most evil people are operating within the laws of our nation, and nobody ever sends them to jail." Caitlin Johnstone

The Americans are deliberately bombing schools and hospitals

Al Jazeera confirms the US and Israel have bombed over 760 schools and 350 health centres in Iran.

I have listened on podcasts to more than one American veteran say this is what the Americans always do. I think Scott Ritter was one but am not sure. 

John Mearsheimer has said, "From 1971 to 2022, America killed 38 million people. They are the origin of terrorism. And this is the very same U.S. that now wants to ‘liberate’ Iran.”

She is arguing for killing Iranian and Arab children on religious grounds

Israeli analyst Orit Perlov who works for a think tank called the Institute of National Security Studies at Tel Aviv University, felt happy posted this X feed on Sunday 22 March 2026 but later took it down.

<Please replace the state approach with a cruel religious approach. Instead of a power plant strike, a plague of the firstborn – tomorrow evening, eliminate the children of Vahidi, Araghchi, and Ghalibaf.

Why is the BBC trying to make us care about a downed American airman?

 

We are finished - unless we see that America is now the threat to world peace. I can only see one chance.

Trump who is clearly mentally unfit for his or any job boasted the day before yesterday about having killed 88 Iranian leaders. It was about 49 to start with.

The European countries, except for Russia and Belarus, have offered no criticism of this unprovoked, illegal murder spree or the bombing of 60 schools and I forget how many hospitals (America always does this sort of thing) but Ursula von der Leyen says with a solemn face that Iran’s actions are putting global economic stability at risk, which indeed they do.

She criticises Iran for fighting back.

The EU and most of Nato have no moral authority to condemn anything because they condemn Russian but not American war crimes and illegal wars.

Starting an illegal war is the greatest of war crimes, it was said at the Nuremburg tribunal. The Nuremburg tribunal was a kangaroo court but in a world that can't stop talking about the Second World War its rulings should be important - but no, war crimes are fine for the leaders of America's vassals and for the Western media.

Meanwhile 'Europe' makes no attempt to talk to Iran or Russia or chart a foreign policy of its own.

The European Union will I hope be fatally wounded by these wars though its death will be very long drawn out.

It has failed to make Europe powerful or richer or independent or able to defend itself from America or Russia or, the most important thing, the invasion by illegal immigrants that is going to make the continent part of the Maghreb, thus fulfilling the predictions of Neagu Djuvara and Bernard Lewis.

It has concentrated instead on restricting innumerable freedoms while enforcing free movement of people.

Stalin did not say ask "How many divisions does the Pope have?", but the Pope is important and so is moral authority.

Great Britain, Romania, most of Europe have none any more.

I do not see how it can be recovered unless Europe firmly condemns America.

That would be the end of Nato but Nato was obsolete by 1991 and is now a body without a head.

This war could continue as long as the Korean war and that war has never ended.

What I'd like to happen is for the world to recognise the Strait of Hormuz as run by Iran, just as the Bosphorus is run by Turkey under the Montreux Convention, and for all countries to use it on Iran's terms - which to start with might mean transporting oil bought in yuan and condemning US war crimes.

Iran in return would stop her war on the USA and its proxies.

Could that be a durable peace?

Yes if Europeans thought like say Metternich or Bismarck.

It would mean the end of the American empire in the Eastern hemisphere, which would be a good thing for everybody except MBS and his gangsters, even America, even Israel.

Remember, European and the G7 countries are in conflict with Iran, Russia and even China solely because of America. 

I was a supporter of Trump until he changed -the murder of people on the ship in the Caribbean justified by obvious lies was probably the turning point - or the threats to Panama, Canada and Greenland - though piracy ie arresting ships breaking US sanctions should have opened my eyes. 

I had hoped he would be the peace president, end the war in Ukraine and betray Netanyahu. Instead...... 

Of course I was delighted that the Houthis withstood his attack on them. 

Left: President Trump, "Regime change (in Iran) was not our goal"

Right: President Trump, "But we also want regime change (in Iran)"

These two speeches were on the same day 🤷‍♂️ pic.twitter.com/fUwwYvyl9b

— Farrukh (@implausibleblog) April 2, 2026

The Iranian President's Letter to the People of the United States: Iran Has Never Initiated a War

Dr. Masoud Pezeshkian's Letter to the People of the United States: Iran Has Never Initiated a War

Addressed to the people of the United States and all those who, amidst a flood of distortions and fabricated narratives, continue to seek the truth and hope for a better life:

Iran is one of the oldest continuous civilizations in human history. Despite its historical and geographical advantages over different eras, Iran has never chosen the path of aggression, expansionism, colonialism, or domination in its modern history.

Even after enduring occupation, invasion, and continuous pressure from global powers, and despite having military superiority over many of its neighbors, Iran has never been the initiator of war; yet it has firmly and courageously repelled aggressors.

The people of Iran bear no hostility toward other nations, including the people of the United States, Europe, or neighbouring countries. Iranians have historically distinguished between governments and the people they govern, even when facing repeated foreign interventions and pressures. This is a deeply rooted principle in Iranian culture and collective conscience, not a temporary political stance.

Chas Freeman: The era of Western dominance that started in 1492 is over

Chas Freeman was US Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and Nixon's senior translator in Peking. He said yesterday in this podcast that I highly recommend that the era of European and then American dominance of the world, which began in 1492, is now over.

 

He also said:

We don't know whether this war will end.



How long will the American public be willing to arm Israel for wars that are either genocidal or utterly illegal, purposeless and which draw the United States into them? I don't know.

I think the Greeks are responsible for many good things but one of the things they did was decide that there was an Asia across the Bosphorus. You know people who lived in Eurasia didn't know that they were Asian. They thought they were Turks or they thought they were Mongols or they were Chinese or they were Indians or something like that or Russians perhaps but no they're Asians. So what is happening is that European separation from the rest of Eurasia I think is in fact as you suggest becoming untenable in the new era. If you look at European history the greatest mistake - well let's go back to 1815 the Congress of Vienna which brought an end to the the Napoleonic war once and for all. That Congress did something very wise. They reached out to the enemy, France, revolutionary France and they reintegrated it into the councils of Europe so that Europe became governed by a group of countries that practiced balance of power that kept the peace for a century until 1914. In 1919 the Treaty of Versailles excluded two of Europe's great powers from any role in governing Europe: Germany which was punished for its war and the Soviet Union the successor state to Russia which was probably happy to be excluded but nonetheless was. Then the consequence of that were World War II and the consequence of World War II  was the cold war. All of this stems from the exclusion of Russia, a European great power from any role in determining European affairs. This is not tenable.

Jewish troops will be looking for Muslims hidden in the attics of Christians. Let that sink in. https://t.co/OwfZYKy0Lj

— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) April 2, 2026

Israeli authorities confess they are singling out the Shi'ite Lebanese population for destruction.

This is textbook ethnic cleansing, described as "Israel's message" by the @nytimes. pic.twitter.com/UcbNQQjcEE

— Zachary Foster (@_ZachFoster) April 1, 2026

Anthony Scaramucci 1 hour ago on X

Let me walk you through what happened one hour before Trump announced the five day moratorium on Iran strikes.

$1.5 billion in notional S&P E-mini futures contracts. Four to six times normal activity.

One hour before the announcement.

Simultaneously, $192 million in crude oil futures purchased at the same time.

They made between $300 and $400 million dollars off those trades.

Trump claimed he spoke to an Iranian official to negotiate the moratorium.

The Iranians said that person doesn't exist and the conversation never happened.

This is not the first time.

It has happened multiple times. He says something. The trade goes on. He says another thing. The market moves.

But whatever you call it — they are laughing at you and they are laughing at me while they do it.

Hunter Biden sold a painting and Washington lost its mind.

These people are making hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars trading on information that only exists inside the most powerful office in the world.

I think we are dramatically underreporting how much money is actually being made here.

This isn't politics anymore.

This is a financial operation running out of the White House.

Alan MacLeod

@AlanRMacLeod

·

It's incredible watching the New York Times having to describe ethnic cleansing without ever using the phrase.

"We're seeing the ending of an era, not a decline but an abrupt change."

I have been saying on this blog for a long time that America is the great threat to world peace, that Biden and now Trump are war criminals and Nato a danger to its members. 

Starting with the failed regime change operation in January in Iran, which the media misreported as a spontaneous uprising in which 30,000 people were murdered by an evil regime, things became much clearer for me.

I presume huge numbers of people everywhere find to their surprise that they want Iran to win. However, it is being seriously suggested that expressing support for Iran in the UK should be made a crime, I presume punishable by prison for 14 years like expressing pro-Hamas opinions. Marches in the UK in protest at the illegal, unprovoked attack on Iran are called, in inverted commas to prevent lawsuits, 'hate marches', a bit like the Good Samaritan being accused of hate for going to the aid of the man set upon by robbers.

"We're seeing the ending of an era, not a decline but an abrupt change. And this change is not stemming from without. The ending of the American power did not result from any foreign  or other war against American dominance. The end came from the United States itself trying to juxtapose its interest to every other country thinking we're going to put sanctions against everyone who doesn't agree with us, we hate China because they're more prosperous than us. We hate Russia because Russia is supporting China. We hate Iran because we don't control its oil. We hate Iraq and Syria because we don't control its oil. And now Trump in the last few days has said, "We're really angry with Europe because Europe didn't send its navy to commit suicide and all be killed by joining us in opening the Persian Gulf." He said, "Hey, Europe, if you want oil, why don't you send your navy to open up the the Persian Gulf and go and come and get it? We don't need it. It's our war but your problem - that and well it's the United States all the way from the Bushes through Obama through Trump that has closed off the United States from the rest of the world and virtually declared war on the rest of the world leaving the whole rest of the world what was no option except to join Iran." Michael Hudson, ancient historian, in this podcast. I recommend it highly.

When Greek meets Greek

Sweet are the uses of adversity. Iran has been released from prison by this war and is or will be, Robert Pape predicts, one of the five most powerful countries in he world. It looks as if Trump hopes to intimidate Iran by sending troops close to Iran - Iran will not be intimidated. Iran is in an extraordinarily strong position, all thanks to the outrageously illegal unprovoked and murderous war that Trump has launched (compare Putin in Ukraine and Milosevic in Kosovo). The conman, as we now see him to be, was conned by Netanyahu. When Greek meets Greek.

Everybody who thinks without preconceptions about the US, Russia, China, and Iran and who ignores the media babble now sees with surprise that the US is the terror state. Iran and the Houthis are behaving bravely and even, I'd say, in a measured and moral way.

Professor John Mearsheimer on Tuesday: "If there were Nuremberg trials right now where the Israelis and the Americans were brought before the court President Trump along with President Netanyahu and many of their advisors would be hanged." He was talking about the attack on Iran though he said exactly the same thing last year.

Interestingly he says that a quarter to a third of Israelis will be ultraorthodox by 2050. They do not serve in the army. The secular socialist Israel of fifty years ago is long gone. Meanwhile Israel is occupying southern Lebanon where a previous Israeli occupation created Hezbollah.

This is my prediction

The war ends when Iran says and Iran will keep the Strait in her hands till America leaves the Middle East. That would be good even for America but a terrible terrible humiliation for Trump. 

Zugswang.

Iran wants to destroy Trump’s presidency as she destroyed Carter's and will succeed by continuing the war till the November elections.

April Fools

Volpone:

Fools, they are the only nation
Worth men's envy, or admiration:
Free from care or sorrow-taking,
Selves and others merry making:
All they speak or do is sterling.
Your fool he is your great man's darling,
And your ladies' sport and pleasure;
Tongue and bauble are his treasure.
E'en his face begetteth laughter,
And he speaks truth free from slaughter;
He's the grace of every feast,
And sometimes the chiefest guest;
Hath his trencher and his stool,
When wit waits upon the fool:
O, who would not be
He, he, he?

Coleridge: "Men of genius are rarely much annoyed by the company of vulgar people, because they have a power of looking at such persons as objects of amusement of another race altogether." 

Irish comedian Dave Allen (1936–2005): "I still think of myself as I was 25 years ago... Then I look in a mirror and see an old bastard and realise it's me".

Nestor Makhno, a Ukrainian revolutionary who fought the Bolsheviks: "War is when your government tells you who your enemy is, revolution is when you figure it out for yourself." (Acknowledgements to Christopher Newbury.)