The Fate of Iran’s Nuclear Program
Much highly enriched uranium was likely removed before U.S. bombs hit. If the U.S. was going to attack anyways, striking earlier may have prevented this.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_i0TlszPupU
Tag: international relations
Iran & Israel at War – Israeli Operations, Iranian Missiles & The U.S. Strike
Iran & Israel at War – Israeli Operations, Iranian Missiles & The U.S. Strike
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPTI6s2VepQ
Bank hacks, internet shutdowns and crypto heists: Here’s how the war between Israel and Iran is playing out in cyberspace
“Some of the most aggressive efforts over the past week have been cyberattacks against major financial institutions in Iran and disinformation campaigns aimed at causing chaos and confusion in Israel.
A pro-Israeli hacking group known as Predatory Sparrow claimed credit for a cyberattack last week on Iran’s Bank Sepah, which caused widespread account issues for customers. The group also later claimed credit for draining around $90 million from Nobitex, Iran’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and for posting stolen Nobitex source code lists on the social media platform X.
Hackers also targeted Iranian news stations. Videos circulated online appeared to show Iranian state TV broadcasting anti-regime messages last week.
The Iranian government shut down the nation’s internet in response to the attacks late last week, a blackout that was largely still ongoing on Sunday.
“Gaining control of the flow of information is certainly to be expected from the regime … they suspect that there is maybe an attempt to mobilize public attention,” Vatanka said.
Top Iranian officials and their security teams were also advised last week to stop using internet-connected devices, in particular telecommunication devices, to protect against potential Israeli disruptions. Last year, thousands of pagers used by the Iranian proxy militant group Hezbollah exploded across Lebanon, leaving thousands injured.
One reason Israel’s cyberattacks may have been more effective in this round of fighting is that Israel struck Iranian facilities first, giving it more time to prepare its offensive and defensive options before Iran could retaliate.
Iran and its proxy organizations are fighting back, albeit on a smaller scale. Israel’s National Cyber Directorate warned Israelis abroad on Saturday not to fill out forms on malicious websites that are seeking to gather intelligence on these individuals.
Gil Messing, chief of staff for Israeli cyber company Check Point Software, said Saturday just before the U.S. strikes that his company had tracked cyber and disinformation campaigns against Israel “escalating a bit,” though no new major attacks had been reported.
Messing said that there was a “flood of disinformation” pouring onto social media last week, including messages discouraging Israelis from entering shelters during attacks and erroneous texts about gas and supply shortages.
Israel’s civilian cyber defense agency warned that Iran was renewing its efforts to hack into internet-connected cameras for espionage purposes.
John Hultquist, chief analyst for Google Threat Intelligence Group, posted on X on Saturday shortly after the attacks that Iranian cyber forces usually use their “cyberattack capability for psychological purposes.”
“I’m most concerned about cyber espionage against our leaders and surveillance aided by compromises in travel, hospitality, telecommunications, and other sectors where data could be used to identify and physically track persons of interest,” Hultquist wrote.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/22/us-israel-iran-war-cyber-attacks-00417782
How Iran Can Close The Straits Of Hormuz
Iran has several ways to close the Straits of Hormuz, and opening it back up will be deadly.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VTly35T4fz0
Trump Bombs Iran’s Nuclear Sites | Bari Weiss, Haviv Rettig Gur, Eli Lake, & More
If the U.S. wanted the Israel-Iran war to end, one strategy to end it was to use U.S. bunker busters to destroy nuclear sites, helping Israel achieve their goals and end the war sooner. Time will tell whether this strategy worked.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Ymory2Fgdc
God bless America – Goodbye Islamic Iran, the Soviet Union, Nazi Germany
“for anyone who…says America use[s] its power only for selfish interest or foreign interests, let me ask you one simple question…Which countries would you rather live in? Those that were on America’s side or those on the other side? Would you rather live in North Korea or South Korea? In communist East Germany or democratic West Germany, in the Soviet Union or the United States? In Taliban controlled Afghanistan or US-led Afghanistan?…when you cut through all the noise, America fights for freedom.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kh2PztcZAQ8
How Trump’s Top Economist Envisions Victory in the Trade War
“Foreign manufacturers will have to lower their prices to accommodate tariff rates, Miran believes. If they don’t, then U.S. importers will turn to factories in other markets rather than absorbing the cost of tariffs themselves.
“We can move our demand across borders, but a factory can’t get up and move across borders,” he said.
You might say, his theory is that the customer is always right.
This line of thinking, a theme of his work since before he joined the administration, is an important way Miran’s reasoning diverges from that of most of his fellow economists. Critics point to examples — such as Trump’s tariffs on washing machines in his first term — where consumers seemed to be the ones who paid the price.
The question of who will bear the cost burden of import taxes is an important puzzle piece for gaming out how much inflation will rise and how much growth will slow. It is a particularly critical dilemma for the Federal Reserve, which is trying to decide when to ease off the decelerating economy.”
…
“For this to work, foreign firms have to believe that, unless they capitulate, U.S. companies really will relocate their supply chains elsewhere, Miran told me. That’s one of the many tricky parts for proponents of Trump’s agenda — and Miran conceded as much.
“The truth is that for a lot of products, there’s not a credible alternative for a supply chain available instantaneously, right?” he said.
The recalibration, in other words, will take some time.
And that time could come at a price for the economy, as Trump’s shifting tariffs and fluid negotiations leave businesses hesitant to take action. If firms knew where tariffs would land, they could make investment decisions — on where to build factories, on what size workforce they need, on whether they need to change their business model. In the meantime, many executives are frozen in place, a paralysis that itself could take a bite out of growth.
Right now, manufacturers have been scaling back production as new orders dry up, and confidence in business conditions among CEOs collapsed during the second quarter at its fastest pace in roughly half a century.
Miran was straightforward about acknowledging that policy uncertainty is a challenge, repeatedly suggesting that there could be volatility — in growth, in prices — ahead.”
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/18/trump-economist-stephen-miran-trade-war-00410450
China’s got the world in a rare earth choke hold
“China has a virtual monopoly in the sector, dominating the entire supply chain from the extraction of rare earths to their processing and the manufacture of permanent magnets.
According to the International Energy Agency, the country accounts for some 61 percent of rare earths extraction and 92 percent of refining. Moreover, it provides nearly 99 percent of the EU’s supply of the 17 rare earths, as well as about 98 percent of its rare earth permanent magnets. Global demand for these minerals is expected to increase by 50 to 60 percent by 2040.”
https://www.politico.eu/article/china-rare-earth-materials-donald-trump-west-magnets-cars/
Trump’s Syrian Outreach Turns an Enemy Into a Friend
“the U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a three-page waiver lifting almost all economic sanctions on Syria unconditionally.”
…
“the Syrian government handed back the old U.S. ambassador’s residence to Thomas Barrack, who serves as both U.S. ambassador to Turkey and special envoy to Syria.”
…
“a waiver isn’t a permanent end to sanctions. The sanctions imposed by Congress have to be lifted by Congress…Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that it should do exactly that.”
https://reason.com/2025/05/30/trumps-syrian-outreach-turns-an-enemy-into-a-friend/
Will the U.S. Join Israel’s War With Iran? | The Daily
Good description of Trump’s attempt to negotiate with Iran, it not yet succeeding, and then Israel deciding to attack.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6tFSro590Xg