Rasa Samimi

Jesus, they're calling it "Operation Total Extermination." theintercept.com/2026/03/23/tru…

@RCBrandenburg @lrozen They're aiming for Israeli positions in Lebanon, assisting Hizbollah. 4 minutes to a gathering of tanks and troops.

Multiple consequential developments here: 1. Lebanon expels Iran's Ambassador designate to Iran = notable signal on the part of the Lebanese government. 2. Iran targets Lebanese territory = notable expansion of target set for Iran and increase threat to Lebanon (while Israel also strikes Hezbollah targets in Lebanon). 3. Israel intercepts missile over Lebanon, for Lebanon = if accurate, was Israel defending Lebanese territory? (This one still seems murky.) Wild.

Speaker of Iran’s parliament and the man Trump is reportedly eying as his man in Tehran. Paraphrased: good luck printing barrels

@JenGriffinFNC 1st step?

Fox News has learned that the Commander of the 82nd Airborne Division Maj Gen Brandon Tegtmeier and his “command element,” members of his headquarters staff, have been ordered to deploy to the Middle East as the Pentagon and White House weigh whether to send the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East for possible land operations. There has been speculation that the US would use ground forces to possibly take Kharg Island or for other missions inside Iran. This would be a first step needed to plan for such a contingency. NYT was first to report yesterday that the Pentagon was weighing whether to send the 82nd Airborne. nytimes.com/2026/03/23/us/…

@ishaq_shamuel @gbrew24 All the transactions through Hurmuz are in Chinese Yuan.

@gbrew24 Do I understand correctly that the money goes to an escrow account and that US Treasury has a say in where the funds are disbursed to?

India bought 5 million bbls of Iran crude just after sanctions were dropped, reportedly at a $7 premium. That's a steal compared to Oman or UAE barrels, which are going for $140-150. Commercial logic relatively straightforward. reuters.com/business/energ…

@lrozen Putting the squeeze on. x.com/i/status/20363…

And Trump says nothing

This video was apparently aired on Israeli TV. It shows Axis of Resistance leaders waiting in line to be killed by Israel. At the end, the camera zooms out and we see that the next leader waiting to be killed by Israel is Erdogan. Seems Israel is already planning the next war.

“Where is Vader today?” “He’s in imaginary peace talks, sir.”

BREAKING: The Strait of Hormuz is no longer closed. It is no longer open. It is something the world has never seen before: a permissioned corridor run by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, priced at $2 million per vessel, payable in yuan. Three ships transited in the last 24 hours. Three. Out of a pre-war average of 60 per day. Total throughput: 310,000 deadweight tonnes. Three percent of normal. Four hundred vessels are waiting outside the strait right now. One hundred and fifty tankers. One hundred and twenty bulk carriers. One hundred and thirty others. Waiting for permission from the IRGC Navy to enter a 5-nautical-mile channel between Larak and Qeshm islands inside Iranian territorial waters. This is how the gate works. A vessel operator contacts approved intermediaries with IRGC connections, submitting full documentation: IMO number, ownership chain, cargo manifest, destination, crew list. The intermediaries forward the package to the IRGC Navy’s Hormozgan Provincial Command for sanctions screening, cargo alignment checks that prioritise oil over all other commodities, and geopolitical vetting. The toll is approximately $2 million per tanker. For a VLCC carrying 2 million barrels, that is $1 per barrel. Preferred currency: yuan. If the vessel passes, the IRGC issues a clearance code and route instructions. Upon approach, VHF radio hail, AIS verification, patrol boat escort. One ship at a time. Through the narrowest channel of the most important waterway on Earth. Iranian crude is still flowing. Approximately 1.1 to 1.5 million barrels per day, mostly to China, at near pre-war levels. Iran’s own oil transits the strait it controls. The blockade applies to everyone else. Iran is simultaneously the gatekeeper and the primary beneficiary. The toll funds the IRGC. The IRGC maintains the gate. The gate generates the toll. The circle is self-sustaining. Now look at what is NOT transiting. Fertiliser. Gulf nations supply 49 percent of the world’s exported urea. Ammonia requires the natural gas that Qatar declared Force Majeure on and that Iranian strikes disrupted at South Pars. Effectively zero fertiliser vessels have received approval through the permissioned corridor. The IRGC is prioritising oil because oil generates revenue. Fertiliser does not. The molecules that feed four billion people are trapped behind a gate that only opens for molecules that fund the gatekeeper. The yuan preference is the structural shift that outlasts the war. Every tanker that pays in yuan instead of dollars establishes a precedent. Every precedent weakens the petrodollar architecture that has governed energy trade since 1974. The IRGC is not just blocking a strait. It is building an alternative payment rail under live fire. The $2 million toll in yuan is not a fee. It is a proof of concept for a post-dollar energy settlement system, stress-tested in the most extreme conditions imaginable: a three-front war with the world’s largest military. The world’s central banks are trapped by the same strait: the Fed cannot cut, the ECB is hiking, the BOJ is tightening. Six countries are rationing fuel. Japan’s 10-year yield hit a 27-year high. Slovenia has QR codes at the pump. South Korea is barring government vehicles one day per week. And behind all of it, 400 ships wait outside a 5-nautical-mile channel for a clearance code from the IRGC Navy, payable in a currency that is not the dollar. Twenty percent of the world’s oil supply. Controlled by a VHF radio call and a yuan transfer. The strait did not close. It changed ownership. open.substack.com/pub/shanakaans…

@lrozen This is not believable. x.com/i/status/20364…

@lrozen They would want him/the Saudis to actively participate in the war with their own boots on the ground. That's what the likes of Lindsey have been pushing since the third day. Figure that's what these stories are about.

“Prince Mohammed has argued that the United States should consider putting troops in Iran to seize energy infrastructure and force the government out of power, according to the people briefed by U.S. officials.” Recent history not encouraging Trump won’t fall for it like he did for Israel PM rush to war

@WUTangKids Most of them don't know what to do with their arms and hands.

That Starbucks hits nice when you’re standing around doing nothing at "work" and getting paid $50/hr

⚡️🚨 Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Intelligence: Israel's attacks on residential areas in Iran provide a legitimate pretext for retaliation by targeting settlers' shelters, and we have accurate maps and locations of these shelters.

"He looked old and tired. He seemed utterly unattuned to the many crises that are piling up around his careless decisions. He finished speaking, everybody else at the table took turns lavishing him with praise, and then it was time to head to Graceland." open.substack.com/pub/thebulwark…

With no means to extinguish such massive blazes, for the second day in a row, Russians watch their country's largest oil export facility burn on the Gulf of Finland. The Primorsk oil facility has now been ablaze for over 35 hours, with no end in sight.

NEW: Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said he’d be willing to send federal immigration officers to the polls for a “specific threat” this November if confirmed as DHS secretary. During his confirmation hearing, he also defended the agency's role in ongoing election probes. democracydocket.com/news-alerts/tr…

“Leave Donbas — and we will build a paradise”: US pressure on Ukraine ramps up. Officials close to Zelensky warn Washington may walk away and shift focus to Iran if no breakthrough is reached. kyivpost.com/post/72475

@citrinowicz With Netanyahu endorsing it, it's a gimmick. x.com/i/status/20362…

It’s possible that, despite everything, Trump still views Iran through a “Venezuela lens” meaning believing there’s a figure in Tehran (Ghalibaf) who can play the role of Delcy Rodríguez and accept U.S. terms to end the fighting. If so, that reflects (yes again) a fundamental misreading of how Iran actually works. The system has become more radicalized, not less, and even senior figures like Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf don’t make decisions independently. Power is fragmented, ideological, and ultimately centralized in a way that doesn’t lend itself to quick political deals. Ghalibaf is not Delcy. Iran is not Venezuela. If the U.S. wants to end this conflict through a deal, it will likely have to meet at least some of Tehran’s demands. And there is little chance that Iran’s current leadership will offer more than what it was already willing to put on the table before the war. That raises a key question: is Trump trying to mislead Iran ahead of a possible escalation, build legitimacy for future military action, or does he genuinely believe a deal is within reach on U.S. terms? What seems clear is this: “Iran 2.0” will be more rigid, more suspicious, and far less willing to compromise. A deal with Tehran has become harder to achieve, not easier, as a result of the war. #IranWar‌