Bloomberg acknowledges that the US war on Iran is backfiring, undermining the petrodollar system that gives the US empire so much power.
Gulf regimes are exporting significantly less oil, and they're not reinvesting those petrodollars in US assets.
Meanwhile, many foreign central banks have been selling US Treasury securities (US government debt) to prevent their currencies from depreciating, leading to US bond yields rising markedly -- not falling, as they typically did in past crises, when investors engaged in a "flight to safety". The US financial sector is losing its perception of having "safe haven" status.
This means that both key aspects of the petrodollar system are breaking: there are fewer oil exports in dollars (Iran wants oil to be traded in Chinese yuan), and there are fewer petrodollars recycled into US financial assets.
I Oppose the Islamic Republic AND This War on Iran
I am an Iranian living in the United States, and I strongly oppose the Islamic Republic. I do not share its beliefs, its values, or its vision for Iran, and I look forward to the day it falls.
But I will not stay silent about what is happening now. This war, and the way it is being waged, through strikes on civilian infrastructure, universities, refineries, bridges, and the fabric of everyday life, is imposing a devastating human cost on ordinary Iranians. They are paying for it now, and they will continue to pay for it for years and decades to come. These are war crimes.
And now the rhetoric is escalating even further. President Trump has threatened to send Iran “back to the stone ages.” In an Axios interview published today, he also suggested that Iranians who oppose the Islamic Republic support these kinds of actions. That is false! It erases the voices of those of us who oppose the regime yet reject the destruction of our country and the suffering of civilians as the price of change.
Even if this war weakens the regime militarily for a time, it carries a grave internal cost: it fuels nationalism, shrinks civic space, and makes genuine, homegrown democratic change harder. Iran has already shown what internal resistance can look like. The Women, Life, Freedom movement in 2022 was broad, inclusive, and transformative, and it produced meaningful de facto change by breaking some of the Islamic Republic’s most important pillars of control. War puts that kind of organic civil resistance at risk.
Many anti-regime Iranians, both inside Iran and across the diaspora, oppose the continuation of this war. I am not alone in this. Our voices are being drowned out by the loud, coordinated pro-war mobilization coming from parts of the diaspora right now.
Opposing the Islamic Republic does not mean supporting the bombing of Iran’s people or the destruction of Iran’s future. We want regime change by Iranians, for Iranians, not a shattered country handed back to us in pieces. Any outside support should be directed instead toward strengthening grassroots opposition and helping Iranians overcome the Islamic Republic’s censorship and repression.
The world must hear the real voices, not just the loudest ones.
#NoWarCrimesInIran
@PBDsPodcast@patrickbetdavid The number of destroyed US aircraft is rising with more details about the rescue operation pouring in.
The US rescue effort for the downed F-15 crew was a cover for a uranium extraction attempt, which failed!
Trump Made Sure the Rescue Mission Succeeded
"The military sat down and said, 'The next time this happens, we’re going to do it right.' And this time around, they brought the CIA in. And why did they bring the CIA in? Just to throw the enemy off."
"And then when I talked to the President on Saturday, he said: 'In about 10 to 12 hours, the world’s going to find out how we got both of them back.'"
As I told @andersoncooper, we need statesmanship to end this war. Here's a plan.
1) Ceasefire of Iran, Israel, and US bombing.
2) Ironclad guarantee from US & Israel not to attack Iran with China & Russia involved.
3) Open the Straight of Hormuz.
4) Enact sanctions relief in exchange for Iran giving up enriched uranium.
The more that is coming out about this “pilot rescue” — it’s looking like a massive disaster of a failed operation that the Pentagon is lying about that had nothing to do with rescuing a General.
Independent journalists need to prod this Top Gun narrative. This may explain why Trump was enraged on Easter and demanding an end to satellite imagery.
)
- He still managed to "hike up a 7,000-foot [2.1km] mountain ridgeline and hide in a crevice" in the Zagros Mountains, despite his wounds (time.com/article/2026/0…)
- U.S. MQ-9 Reaper drones started killing all "Iranian military-aged males believed to be a threat who got within three kilometers of [the American's location]" (x.com/ByChrisGordon/…)
- To retrieve him the U.S. managed to seize an "abandoned airport," 200 miles deep inside Iran, near Isfahan (bbc.com/news/articles/…), which happens to be where Iran's largest atomic scientific center is located (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isfahan_N…)
- They landed two MC-130 military transport planes in that airport (theaviationist.com/2026/04/05/u-s…) in an operation involving "hundreds of special forces troops and military personnel" (time.com/article/2026/0…)
- Both MC-130 planes got "stuck in the sand" and the U.S. destroyed them themselves "to prevent them from falling into Iranian hands" (theaviationist.com/2026/04/05/u-s…)
- They deployed "three new aircraft to extract all the U.S. personnel" on the ground (theaviationist.com/2026/04/05/u-s…)
- There are videos circulating online of "heavy clashes" with presumably Iranian missiles raining down in Kohgiluyeh County, in the Zagros Mountains during that night (x.com/Afshin_Ismaeli…)
- Iran sent pictures of the aftermath at the "abandoned airport" and it's a sight of utter destruction, with US plane and MH-6 helicopter parts scattered all over the ground, still smoking (turkiyetoday.com/region/wreckag…). Iran claims they are the ones who in fact destroyed all the aircraft.
- Meanwhile a second U.S. plane, an A-10 Warthog, also crashed on Friday near the Strait of Hormuz according to two U.S. officials speaking to the NYT (#47863db0-d61e-51bf-b7e1-6c4a9dc988e7" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">nytimes.com/live/2026/04/0…). In that instance too the lone pilot was apparently "safely rescued."
- In all this, after the multiple planes and helicopters destroyed or shot down, the documented heavy clashes, the "hundreds of special forces troops and military personnel" operating deep inside Iran, not a single US soldier was reported killed "or even wounded" (according to Trump: @realDonaldTrump/116350133044957842" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTru…).
- And the 'highly respected Colonel' this was all for? No name. No photo. No interview. Nobody has spoken to him nor knows who he is.
So to sum up: anti-aircraft equipment that supposedly didn't exist shot down an F-15 (and, apparently, an A-10 Warthog the same day). A seriously wounded man climbed a 2.1km mountain. The US seized an airfield 200 miles inside a country it's at war with, next to one of its most strategic nuclear sites, and deployed hundreds of troops all apparently unimpeded. Lost two planes to "sand" and destroyed their own helicopters. Videos show heavy clashes, missiles raining down - but not a single person got "even wounded". And the man at the center of it all? Nobody knows who he is, completely anonymous, zero pictures, but Trump says he is "SAFE and SOUND." And so is the rescued A-10 Warthog pilot, who also remains anonymous.
Trump concludes this all proves the US has "achieved overwhelming Air Dominance and Superiority over the Iranian skies" (@realDonaldTrump/116350133044957842" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener">truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTru…), despite the whole episode only happening because Iran shot his planes out of the sky.
Basically, the only thing that's "overwhelming" here is the audacity of the storytelling...
Does anyone else notice the cycle?
Iran warns tit for tat retaliation
Israel strikes Iranian infrastructure
Iran strikes Gulf infrastructure
And the cycle repeats
(It just happened today actually)
This is Ali Ghamsari, an Iranian musician.
He will be at Tehran’s main power plant, playing his instrument and hoping that art may stop brutality.
If the US and Israel choose to bomb it, there is a possibility that he could be killed.
Iranians are the bravest people in the world.
@jaketapper Jake, do you remember when you relied on a 7-year-old psy-op kid as an expert to promote the dirty war on Syria?
Why are you so consistently lobbying for Israel’s wars and smearing those in the way? thegrayzone.com/2017/09/07/war…
Renowned Iranian composer, Ali Ghamsari and tar virtuoso, announced he will stay at the Damavand Combined Cycle Power Plant.
His plan: Create music there as a symbolic effort to shield Iran's infrastructure from attack.
3/ Trump's advisors are telling him to hit civilian sites because it will cause unrest and potentially topple the regime.
But just think about the insanity of this plan: kill tens of thousands of civilians in order to cause a national panic.
wsj.com/world/middle-e…
Sharif University is Iran’s MIT. They’ve produced a huge number of engineers who’ve gone on to Silicon Valley and founded some of the most successful American tech companies.
Why are we bombing a university in a city of 10 million people?
No dude, don't be naive. We have spent trillions of dollars just so a few people in the military-industrial complex can make money while we taxpayers foot the bill.
We invaded Afghanistan and spent trillions of dollars only to replace the Taliban with the Taliban after many years. We invaded Iraq for weapons of mass destruction that didn't exist, and so on.
The war with Iran is purely about the petrodollar, oil, and trading routes, ensuring the financial-industrial complex can continue making more money.
Again, don't be so naive. Do some research instead of watching Fox News or mainstream media propaganda.
@Aria4Peace@MarioNawfal You're incapable of answering? I'll do it for you. We have spent trillions more over the last 4 decades because of crazy dealth cult's destabilization, you nit-wit. We're putting an end to that, and prospects of a nuclear-powered chokehold. Iran has lost trillions in Epic Fury 🤡
🇺🇸🇮🇷 He was wounded, alone, and hiding in the mountains… and people were actively hunting him.
After the F-15E was hit by a shoulder-fired missile, he ejected and survived. For more than 24 hours, he stayed hidden in a small crevice, trying not to be seen.
Hundreds of Iranian forces were out looking for him. Even locals were being offered money to capture him.
The U.S. was tracking signals, but it wasn’t simple. Some signals looked real, others felt like traps… there was a real fear he might already be captured.
Then a short radio message came through:
“God is good.”
That’s when they knew he was still alive.
One pilot had already been rescued earlier, in daylight, under heavy fire. Fast and risky.
This one was different.
A night operation. Around 200 special operations troops. A temporary base set up inside Iran. Everything slower, more careful… but just as dangerous.
Both crew members were miles apart. Iranian forces were everywhere.
In the background, Israel also helped a bit… sharing intel and hitting targets to slow things down.
He stayed hidden, held on, and waited.
And in the end… they got to him.
Source: CNN
@MarioNawfal Yeah, the military industrial complex makes billions a year while US taxpayers are paying for forever wars! A few are winning while the majority of the US population is losing.
