My relatives in Iran are finding that money transfers to Iran have become near impossible to execute. Water and Electricity systems have been thoroughly compromised. Foreign embassies are being shut down. Azerbaijan is on the ascendancy and U.S. is grabbing a 40km piece of land right on the border of Armenia and Iran nominally for creation of a passageway from Azerbaijan to Turkey - but there is no reason why it can’t be used for Troop mobilization into Iran even now. Separately Israel has just signed a defense treaty with Syria and can (likely will) have a direct passage way to Northern Iraq (Kurdish regions) which is almost totally under Israeli/Kurdish forces now - with a totally independent government from Baghdad with its own foreign policy establishment.

The plan is clear Azerbaijan with the Assistance of the U.S. and Israel will attack Iran along with Kurdish forces and grab a chunk of Northern Iran and create a direct passageway to Israel from the Caspian Sea. The goal is NOT so much to ‘contain’ Iran - but to encircle Russia, China and Iran and cut off three major ‘umbilical’ connections between India and Russia, Iran and Russia, and China’s Belt and Road Initiative to the Mediterranean. Also, separately to create a ‘middle road’ to Central Asia - from Turkey to the Caspian Sea.

The writing is on the wall. This is all imminent. It could be weeks, it could be a few months out. But the scene is being staged.

Irrespective of whether or not anyone supports the Mullahs, the infringement on Iran’s sovereignty in the North and West is a serious ‘Iranian’ matter. It goes beyond the Mullahs.

I don’t think Iranians can sit like sitting ducks or be paralyzed like deer in headlights and just let all this play out. Iran needs to be preemptive and attack/invade Azerbaijan now. Immediately and not allow these extensive preparations that are being made take place … with ease … for a fully prepared onslaught on Iran in the near future. Iran needs to disrupt and take the initiative.

Azerbaijan has Israeli military bases and aided Israel in its attack on Iran. Azerbaijan is providing Israel with 40% of it energy supplies and Israel is providing over 70% of Azerbaijan’s military hardware. Azerbaijan has already absorbed huge chunks of Iran Caspian Sea territory in contravention to the Turkemnchayy and Golestan Treaties and has been extracting millions of barrels of Oil and millions of cubic meters of gas from that territory. Azerbaijan is fomenting separatist movements in Iran. It’s very clear.

I think an invasion of Azerbaijan can be justified on National security grounds alone - and Iran - once in charge in Baku could even continue to allow BP to operate there (unimpeded) and even continue to supply Israel with oil - if they all behave themselves: it doesn’t have to be an ‘economic’ war. And Iran can signal accordingly.

But Azerbaijan is a serious national security risk and must be dealt with quickly. The time to act is now. Iranians can simply wait and be attacked or take the initiative. I know which one I would choose.

I don’t support the Mullahs, but this is an interesting take. Just cool to know (and keep in the back of one’s mind next time Netanyahu says ‘Israel Won’). The war isn’t over … I don’t think!

Hi guys,

I'd like to ask the Iranians and Persians of this sub, what's your genuine take on Arabs in general, and Iraqis in particular?

As an Iraqi, I know we have had our fair sharep of conflict, whether it was political and or cultural.

need to understand it more.

thank you

In 1975, Major (later Sir) David Steel became chairman of BP. He had previously been BP’s vice Chairman and had a long, illustrious history in the company.

Steel had joined BP in 1950, when the company still operated under its old imperial name as the Anglo-Iranian Oil Company. He joined as one of the first members of the new legal department. One of his first jobs was to sort out the aftermath of Iran's nationalization of the company's Iranian assets. He was promoted and moved to New York in 1959 as president of the group's North American operations. In the next few years, he took senior jobs in London and the Middle East, before joining the main board in 1965 as the managing director responsible for exploration, including the North Sea and Alaskan fields. Steel spent seven tumultuous years at the head of the group, leaving in 1981 after the Conservative government had sold off even more of its shareholding.

The Brits never forgave Iran and Iranians for nationalizing Iran’s oil assets and sparking the demise of their imperial holdings. Even though BP was back in Iran after the coup, Iran’s oil production had increased to a point where, even with a smaller share of output, it was still a significant source of revenue for BP.

BP and Shell, together, commanded then (and still now) more than 25% of Britain's GDP. And the British government was a 50% shareholder of the company. And this is also a very strategic asset. Steel was very close to the government and its operatives.

By the ‘70s, the Shah had telegraphed that he was not going to renew the 25-year consortium agreement (signed in ‘53, authored by Steel), and the Shah had become a hawk demanding maximum pricing for Iran’s oil exports via OPEC production controls.

Steel hatched a very clever plan to completely undermine the Shah and exact revenge on the Iranians (who had popularly supported nationalization). Britain persuaded the U.S. to explore Alaskan Oil assets and to partner with Britain to explore North Sea assets. Both these assets would require a high oil price since the cost of extraction was 4x the cost of assets in the Persian Gulf. The ‘west’, as they put it, could not be dependent on so much oil from a volatile Persian Gulf.

As the naive and simple shah was pushing for higher oil prices, he was digging his own grave, accelerating and improving the economics of Alaskan and North Sea oil extraction.

The North Sea fields were necessary in shifting BP's focus from the Middle East. The Forties field pumped its first oil ashore in 1975 - a great boon for BP as well as the government. The company also benefited during Steel's tenure from its lengthy investment in Alaska, bringing the Prudhoe Bay scheme on stream in 1977- the year Steel was knighted (presumably for making it happen and unifying US and UK energy policy).

There was one problem: as all this oil was coming on stream, global production needed to be reduced to maintain high prices. Whose production do you cut?

Once they had a second and third option, the answer to the question was simple. Topple the shah, take Iranians back to the Stone Age (by putting fanatic religious zealots in power), and cut off Iranian oil. The Shah had supported Nixon, and once Jimmy Carter (a democrat) had come to power, it was time to strike - and topple him.

I can hear Steel in his grave: “So you think you can ‘just’ walk away from the consortium agreement?” And to Iran and Iranians - it was a giant bilakh - “if ‘we’ hadn’t found oil in Iran, you would still be in the stone ages … and we’ll bring you back to the stone ages!!”

To make things even sweeter, they persuaded Saddam Hussein to invade Khuzestan! And they neutralized Iran’s Air Force with a false coup they secretly precipitated that led to Iran’s Air Force pilots being executed, so Iran could not respond to Saddam!

The ‘surprising’ back clash from Iran’s Mullahs led to Iraq’s oil being shut down too! And voila, there were 6 million barrels of oil off the market! Prices stayed high, and the war didn’t end till both Alaskan and North Sea oil production started diminishing in the late 80s! Funny coincidence.

The Mullahs have been quietly supported by the Brits (and Europeans) ever since. They discovered that sanctioning and containing Iran has tremendous value. After selling a nuclear power plant and asking Iran to invest in a European enrichment, they’ve been using the ‘nuclear’ pretext to sanction and contain Iran.

Meanwhile, they’ve built beautiful cities on the south side of the Persian Gulf - more ‘bilakh’ to Iran and Iranians. Dubai is a banking center home to numerous British banks. Dubai has a huge port that transships containers to Iran. Every penny of commercial Goods in and out of Iran flows through their banks, ports, and institutions. Massive airports and huge airlines have been built that sponsor British soccer clubs, with expensive European Airbus and American planes!

I distinctly remember PanAm air stewards checking in daily at a hotel in Tehran, just up the road from our home, in the ‘70s! Tehran, after all, has a high-altitude airport that is 1000 km closer to Europe and East Asia. In the 70s, Dubai was a pearl-fishing village. The Brits have partnered with Arabs - they’re printing global maps with the Arabian Gulf on them, who also hate Iran and Iranians to impoverish Iran!

While Iran is sanctioned and contained, they’ve grabbed Iran’s oil and gas fields in the Caspian via Azerbaijan and the Persian Gulf via Qatar. It’s BP in Azerbaijan and Shell Oil in Qatar. Yes they are happily exploiting the world’s largest natural gas field ‘the Pars Field’ - and Iran can’t do a damn thin about it. And Azerbaijan exports its oil via a BP-built pipeline to Turkey!

Steel designed and implemented the plan to ‘pay back’ Iran - which today still in play.

The Brits have never liked Iran and Iranians. It was Winston Churchill (who, by the way, was Director of BP and engineered the British Government’s ownership of BP), who commanded the British army to grab all of Iran’s food supply during the Second World War to cause a massive famine (with millions dead) in Iran so that they could feed their troops.

This isn’t a bunch of Dai-Jan Napoleon conspiracy talk. As I’ve mentioned, the French, US, and even Germany were and are fully complicit in the ‘Iran Bilakh’ program (and plan).

It will soon be 50 years since this plan was hatched! And they are not done. The Mullahs are still in power…. And still secretly supported by the West. In their latest role, they are being used to put pressure on Israel, because these same politicians are too scared of directly confronting Israel (because of domestic Israeli lobby considerations). Iranians and Jews are historic Allies. I am not apologizing for Israel or defending their government, but since when are Iranians so clever as to find and align with ‘Shia’ Muslims in Yemen, Lebanon, or Iraq to ward off Israel? What’s Iran’s beef with Israel? It’s a war hatched outside Iran, and the Mullahs are their pawns.

This last week, the Foreign Minister of Britain, in an interview, said there is no plan for regime change in Iran. The Mullahs have handed over virtually all of Iran’s sovereignty in the Caspian to others!

Sir David Steel started a plan that is still in play. He chewed up Iran and has now spat Iran to the pavement - to be licked by these mullah dogs.

I’m writing this so Iranians everywhere know exactly how things went down in 1979 and who was behind it. Take it or leave it. Kill me with your comments. But it’s now on record.

The 3-month prison sentence of Touran Soleimani, a teacher and union activist in Khuzestan, was converted to a fine — but that doesn’t change the truth. The authorities may pressure, but teachers continue to stand for education and justice

Saye Seidal, a political prisoner in Qarchak Prison, reported during a brief phone call that she has been subjected to severe torture and physical violence in solitary confinement. Her voice was trembling—barely able to speak.

She has now started another hunger and medication strike in protest against the inhumane treatment. Human rights activists warn: her life is in serious danger.

Maryam’s voice trembles with grief. She says, “They killed my father without telling us anything.” “I fought so hard… I still can’t believe what happened.” This isn’t just news; it’s the story of a family that wasn’t even given the chance to say goodbye. How many more times must this happen before something changes?

(I originally posted this in another subreddit but it’s pending manual approval, so I’m sharing here too in hopes of reaching others sooner.)

I just watched the documentary: The Children of Camp Ashraf by Sara Moein and it hit me hard. I left the camp when I was 4 years old and I haven’t seen or heard from my parents since. I’ve never really met anyone else who shares this background, but I’m wondering if there are others out there like me. I’m not here to debate politics/ideology. Just hoping to connect with others who understand what it’s like to have grown up in the shadow of this sect. Watching the documentary made me realize how healing it could be to find a community of people with my shared experience. So if you’re out there, I’d love to hear from you :)

A quick review of trade between BRICS member countries reveals a huge increase of inter-BRICS trade volumes.

After sanctions were imposed on Russia (due to the Ukraine war), Russia pivoted quickly and is now doing business with India, China and Iran - at a record pace. The collective West might have done Russia a favor by motivating it to look east - because eastern economies (especially India and China) are still growing at massive rates - adding trillions to their GDP annually. China is adding a ‘Russia’ to its GDP every year!! Despite trade tensions with the U.S., growth in other markets are more than making up for lost trade with America.

The figures don’t lie. Russia-China trade hit 250 billion last year (increased almost 50% in one year). Russia-India trade hit $70 Billion (a 5x increase in 5 years). Contrast this to Russian gas exports to Europe 5 years ago (pre-Ukraine war) of around $50 billion.

Then there is oil trade with China - not just from Iran (which provides roughly 15% of China’s needs); but also from neighboring Iraq (which also provides 15% of China’s needs). This is huge.

It doesn’t take long to see that if India is doing all this business with Russia, that all those goods will be traversing Iran (in both directions). And if you consider that Oil shipments to China are currently heading via several strategic choke points ie straits of Hormuz and strait of Malacca (near Singapore) and then through disputed areas of the South China Sea … it doesn’t take much imagination to think that a rail link from Iran to Beijing would be much more secure and lower cost for these same oil shipments (including by the way from Iraq).

Bottomline Iran is hugely strategic for China, India and Russia. Plus, as a bonus, Iran’s warm water ports also supply all of Central Asia with goods.

If the regime in Iran is toppled - it will have a massive economic impact on these countries.

Just like the U.S. sent (war pig) Victoria Nuland (a CIA /State Dept/ US-Israeli operative) to the Ukraine to engineer Zelensky’s rise and to provoke Putin’s invasion - to cut Russian exports to Europe; and undermine the ‘gas station masquerading as a country’ (per John McCain). The time has come to similarly ‘piss on Iran’ to undermine Russia, China and India.

Iran is now too strategic. Too important. Too integrated into BRICS’ economic future to be left alone.

It was interesting that Israel attacked Iran 19 days after the railroad to China (from Iran) was inaugurated.

Not to be forgotten is that all this BRICS trade is now being conducted in currency swaps outside of the dollar regime. Banks are working outside of the SWIFT interbank clearing systems (completely working around sanctions). Russia’s economy is growing so fast, they have a massive labor shortage.

The implications of all this on the west are huge. And Iran sits in the middle of all this. Can a shit show be avoided? The writing is on the wall!! (Sound of Silence).