Tom Dickson

It’s genuinely grim that the insane conspiracy theorist wing of the GOP has better foreign policy ideas than the president

An Iranian lawmaker said banks are under pressure and warned of wider economic strain as production and exports have largely stalled. Mehrdad Lahouti, a member of parliament’s budget committee, said Friday: “Producers cannot pay wages and many Tehran hotels are closed,” adding that firms unable to pay workers may be forced to cut jobs.

75% of Iran's petrochemical capacity is offline. Mobarakeh and Khuzestan Steel, with 14 million tons of combined output, are completely shut down. The Pentagon reports 80% of missile production facilities destroyed. Jam Petrochemical, with 3.2 million metric tons of annual capacity, says it will take years to repair the damage from the strikes. But the decay didn't start with the war: Iran's GDP per capita fell from $8,000 in 2012 to $5,000 by 2024 under more than a decade of sanctions. Equipment across its petrochemical plants, refineries, and steel mills was already outdated and under-maintained. The strikes hit the Arak industrial zone, home to Azarab Industries. This is the company that builds the boilers, pressure vessels, heat exchangers, reactors, and fractionating columns Iran's factories need to repair what was hit. Under sanctions, Iran can't import the necessary spare parts, catalysts, or industrial equipment. Pumps corrode without replacement seals, catalyst beds degrade without refresh cycles, and heat exchangers foul without cleaning chemicals. I build chemical plants. Every month a plant sits idle, the cost to restart compounds. Iran lost more than a few factories. It lost the industrial base underneath.

An adviser to Iran’s Supreme Leader and former foreign minister, Kamal Kharrazi, has died from injuries sustained in an airstrike. He was considered a moderate politician and a supporter of dialogue with the West.

I don’t believe Vance has a strong understanding of geopolitics and the Iran threat in particular so I don’t trust him as a key negotiator on this issue. Let me give you a concrete example. Although Vance opposed the war, he has tried to be a loyal soldier by explaining the value. But even his explanations seem really uninformed. Just last week, he tried to explain why Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon (a point I agree with unlike Realists). To this end, he presented a scenario of Iran passing along nuclear material to terrorists in America who then go on to detonate WMD suicide vests. As a red teamer on terrorism and WMD, I can tell you that ain’t it.

There is good reason to worry about the safety of our negotiators in Pakistan. The country is armed and dangerous and the government is not fully in control. Previous high level visits were short and they involved decoy aircraft, as when then-President Clinton surreptitiously changed airplanes so no one would know which one he was on. The USSS did not like President Bush going there in 2006. The Secret Service will be tested this trip. So too will the military that supports this mission. Pray for the safety of our negotiators, including the VP, and for their success.

Pedro Sanchez’ Spain is planning to reopen its embassy in the Islamic Republic of Iran. 🇪🇸🇮🇷

Israel has nukes, but doesn't need to admit it as they're America's ally Meanwhile Iran just got bombed to oblivion because of their "nuclear program"

BREAKING: China pushed Iran to agree to a ceasefire, in an attempt to win favor with the Trump administration. Xi aims to convince Trump that Taiwan is a "breakaway province" of China in their meeting next month - WSJ

BREAKING: China is responsible for 'nudging' Iran to agree for talks with US and now has 'diplomatic capital' with Trump, according to Wall Street Journal report.