Cannae, Gaugamela, Austerlitz

Kerry is the biggest fool and fabricator I’ve ever met. He says Bibi tried to get Bush to attack Iran. Small problem. Bibi wasn’t Prime Minister when Bush was president. Sharon and Olmert were. Kerry made this up out of whole cloth.

There is so much to NOT believe in reported discussions between the U.S. and Iran. But this may take the cake - and it's a direct quote. The notion that releasing Iran's blocked assets is a precondition for negotiations to begin are laughable.

Significant statement from one of the men leading negotiations for Iran. Vice President Vance already left for the talks, and now the Iranian Parliament speaker says negotiations won't begin until there is a ceasefire in Lebanon, and Iranian assets unfrozen.

في الوقت الذي يسعى فيه لبنان الرسمي إلى فك ساحته بإيران تمعن #فرنسا في إعادة ربطه بالساحة الإيرانية والمفاوضات الأمريكية-الإيرانية وهذا ليس غريبًا عن فرنسا وتاريخ علاقتها مع الدولة الصفوية: ⭕️ في السبعينيات، تحولت باريس إلى ملاذ للمعارضة الإيرانية ضد الشاه. استضافت فرنسا آية الله الخميني في "نوفل لوشاتو"، ومن هناك أُديرت الثورة الإيرانية إعلاميًا. في ذلك الوقت، كان الإمام موسى الصدر (مؤسس ميليشيا أمل) يتمتع بعلاقات وثيقة مع المعارضة الإيرانية في باريس. وفرت فرنسا الغطاء السياسي لشخصيات مثل مصطفى چمران وصادق قطب زاده (وهو قناة التواصل بين موسى الصدر وياسر عرفات الذي أقنعه بفتح مخيماته لتأسيس ميليشيا أمل وتدريب العديد من الفصائل الإيرانية على الحروب غير المتكافئة)، مما جعل لبنان مختبرًا للكوادر التي حكمت إيران وإعادة تصدير الثورة إلى لبنان عبر حزب الله. ⭕️ بعد الثورة عام 1979، ورغم الصدامات (أزمة الرهائن وانفجار مقر المظليين الفرنسيين في بيروت 1983)، حافظت فرنسا على دور "الوسيط". فقد سعت فرنسا دائمًا لضمان نفوذها في لبنان عبر التفاهم مع القوى الفاعلة على الأرض، بما في ذلك حزب الله. هذا الاعتراف الفرنسي بالدور الإيراني في لبنان (خاصة في عهد ماكرون مؤخرًا) عزز من شرعية الوجود الإيراني ونفوذ أذرعه في لبنان على حساب السيادة. ومن جملة دعمها غير المباشر: - منع إدراج حزب الله بكافة أجنحته على قوائم الإرهاب في الاتحاد الأوروبي. - في عامي 2021 و2022، عندما لوّحت دول أوروبية بفرض عقوبات على "النخبة السياسية الفاسدة" في لبنان، بما في ذلك حلفاء حزب الله، كانت فرنسا هي التي تضع الكوابح. - خلال اجتماعات مجموعة ISG (التي تضم الأمم المتحدة، الاتحاد الأوروبي، والجامعة العربية)، كانت فرنسا دائمًا تلطف نبرة البيانات الختامية. - كان لفرنسا مصلحة في تأمين غطاء أمني من حزب الله لبدء عمليات التنقيب. هذا التعاون غير المباشر اعتُبر "اعترافًا فرنسيًا" بسلطة الحزب الفعلية على قرارات الحرب والسلم والنفط في لبنان. #لبنان #إيران #المفاوضات_المباشرة

So let's talk a bit about the history of Hezbollah... Hezbollah was founded in the early 1980s during the Lebanese Civil War, a period marked by intense sectarian violence. However, the group was specifically created to follow the model of Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution. Their openly stated goals, laid out in their 1985 manifesto, included: The destruction of Israel The establishment of an Islamic state in Lebanon, modeled after Iran and loyal to Iran’s Supreme Leader Hezbollah didn’t limit its attacks to Israelis. They also targeted Sunni Muslims, Christians, and Westerners — most notably killing 241 U.S. Marines in the 1983 Beirut barracks bombing. From the beginning, Hezbollah functioned as an Iranian-backed Islamic Republic entity operating inside Lebanon, working to undermine the Lebanese state. As a direct terror proxy for Iran, it has always refused to disarm. For years, Hezbollah regularly launched attacks into Israel, provoking several major flare-ups. The largest was the 2006 war, which began when Hezbollah raided Israel, killed several soldiers, and abducted two others. Israel responded with a major offensive, and Hezbollah fired thousands of rockets into Israeli cities. That war ended with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which called for Israel to withdraw from southern Lebanon. In exchange, the Lebanese army and UNIFIL (UN peacekeeping forces) were supposed to take control of the area and disarm Hezbollah south of the Litani River. Neither the UN nor the Lebanese forces ever enforced this requirement. They stood by as Hezbollah, heavily backed by Iran, built up a massive arsenal of over 150,000 rockets in the very region where it was supposed to be disarmed. Many of these rockets were placed in civilian homes and villages. During this period, Hezbollah also diverted much of its fighting force to help Iran’s ally, Bashar al-Assad, massacre civilians and prop up the regime in Syria. Despite this growing threat and the clear violation of Resolution 1701, Israel largely held back between 2006 and 2023. Then, on October 8, 2023 — just one day after the October 7 Hamas massacre — Hezbollah, clearly under orders from Tehran, opened a second front, firing rockets and drones at northern Israel. This forced Israel to evacuate tens of thousands of civilians from the north and eventually respond more forcefully. In 2024, Israel carried out the pager operation, eliminated most of Hezbollah’s senior leadership, and launched a limited ground invasion that significantly degraded the group’s arsenal. In November 2024, the U.S. brokered another ceasefire. Once again, the agreement required Hezbollah to disarm south of the Litani River in accordance with Resolution 1701. Once again, the Lebanese army and UNIFIL failed to enforce it. After Israel began striking Iran in March 2025, Hezbollah resumed rocket attacks on Israel. Once again, the lack of follow-through on the disarmament commitments made the conflict inevitable. In summary, Iran established Hezbollah as a terror proxy to occupy southern Lebanon, with the explicit goals of destroying Israel and turning Lebanon — a country that was once Christian-majority — into an Islamic state. The UN and Lebanese government repeatedly promise to address the problem but never follow through. As a result, both Lebanon and Israel keep getting dragged into wars dictated by Tehran. Israel has no active conflicts with Arab neighbors that do not host terror groups openly dedicated to its destruction. The solution is clear: Lebanon must finally take back control of its own country and enforce Resolution 1701 by dismantling Hezbollah. Until that happens, the cycle will continue.

Time is running out ⏳

I have just spoken with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam. I expressed France’s full solidarity in the face of the indiscriminate strikes carried out by Israel in Lebanon today, which resulted in a very high number of civilian casualties. We condemn these strikes in the strongest possible terms. They pose a direct threat to the sustainability of the ceasefire that has just been reached. Lebanon must be fully covered by it. I reiterated the need to preserve Lebanon’s territorial integrity and France’s determination to support the efforts of the Lebanese authorities to uphold the country’s sovereignty and implement the Hezbollah disarmament plan.

🚨The speaker of Iran’s parliament Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf who is expected to lead the Iranian delegation to the summit with the U.S. in Islamabad on Saturday claimed three out of ten clauses in the U.S.-Iran agreed upon framework have been violated and therefore "a bilateral ceasefire or negotiations is unreasonable” 🚨He mentioned that the first violation was regarding the ceasefire in Lebanon which was a commitment mentioned by the Prime Minister of Pakistan in his statement announcing the ceasefire 🚨The second violation, he claimed, was the entry of a drone into Iranian airspace and the third violation was Trump’s statement which denies "Iran’s right to enrichment, which was included in sixth clause of the framework"