News Breakdown | Iran-Israel Exhibition Match

Okay. There were a number of other stories that I was gonna do today for the news breakdown. But when I woke up in the middle of the night, I woke up to the news that the anticipated retaliation attack by Iran against Israel was underway. Now even though I was I was relatively active in the Middle Nation discussion group following the events that were taking place in real time, obviously, this is the story that I'm gonna talk about today. So let me begin by saying what has actually happened as of the time of this recording.

In terms of the retaliatory strike by, Iran against Israel, this is what we know so far. We know that the attack involved drones, and missiles launched from, Iran and by groups in Iraq by Hezbollah and reportedly also by the Houthis. Iran used more than 200 rockets and drones according to a statement by the IDF. I'm I'm also seeing a relatively smaller figure in terms of just the drones where something was around a 185 or something like this. Anonymous Israeli sources said that 99% of the projectiles from Iran were intercepted.

Again, we have no way of knowing whether or that's actually true, but that's an official statement. The US and The UK reportedly helped to shoot down several of those drones in strikes in Jordan and Lebanon and Syria. We know that they attacked Iran seems to have only attacked military locations, military installations, including the the air base from which the plane was, took off that attacked the Iranian embassy, in Damascus, which is why the this retaliation is happening in the first place. So, Iran attacked the air base where that plane came from. Now Hezbollah stated that they had struck Israeli air defense complexes in the Golan Heights with rockets and so on, and that Israel retaliated against Hezbollah infrastructure in Lebanon.

Now there's an IDF base in the desert, in the Negev Desert, that was reportedly also hit by some some seven missiles. And another seven rockets or so are supposed to have hit another airbase in southern so called Israel. It's being referred to as the largest, the biggest drone strike that's ever been launched. But as of right now, the damage assessment appears to be relatively minor. Now as we all know, Israel attacked the Iranian embassy in Damascus, and that's why all this is happening.

And ever since then, ever since they had that attack, they've been waiting for Iran's retaliation. On April 4, the CIA reportedly warned Israel that an attack from Iran was about to take place within the next forty eight hours. In fact, the Israelis were so scared and paranoid about this upcoming attack and so prepared for it that they they they overreacted to a rocket that was launched against them by Hezbollah, and they thought it was Iran. So they launched several $2,000,000 anti ballistic missiles against this one rocket fired by Hezbollah. Well, as the days passed, the information about the upcoming retaliation got more precise.

It got more specific, both in terms of the timing of the attack, the expected timing of the attack, and in terms of what to expect, what kind of an attack it would be. Preparations were being made in Israel, and several countries were closing down their flights to Israel and to Iran and warning their citizens in both countries to either leave those countries or shelter at home. The Gulf countries and Turkey told The United States that they would not be allowed to use their airspace if they decided to attack Iran in retaliation for whatever it is that Iran was going to carry out. So then finally, by Friday, this this past Friday, it seemed that The US had very solid and specific information about exactly what was going to happen. You had US officials telling CBS News that an Iranian attack on Israel was going to involve 100 or over 100 drones, dozens of missiles, as well as attacks by Iranian proxies.

And at that time, they were expecting last Friday that it would take place on Friday or over the weekend. Israel announced that they were closing all of their schools. They were banning public gatherings and so on, and they lined up dozens, if not hundreds of ambulances for rapid response for to be ready for this expected retaliation. So in other words, what I'm saying is there's nothing surprising. No one was surprised when this happened.

They've been waiting for it for days. Now it was also reported earlier that the Iranians and the Americans had actually talked about what Iran was going to do. The the Americans apparently told Iran that if they were to attack Israel, The US would not participate in any retaliatory response by Israel against Iran. As long as that attack by Iran, the retaliatory attack by Iran only targeted military facilities in Israel, and there was no significant or no major loss of civilian life. Now all of this indicates to me that Iran, America, and Israel all came to some sort of an agreement about how and when Iran was gonna carry out its retaliation, And it would be measured, that it would be restrained, that it would be a precise precisely targeted attack.

Now all of this indicates to me that Iran, America, and Israel came to some sort of an agreement about how and when Iran was going to carry out its retaliation, and that it would be a measured restrained attack precisely targeted, but also impressive enough to satisfy Iran's domestic imperative of retaliating. You remember that some months ago, America was actually discussing with Iran the possibility of America carrying out a a strike on their territory. And they asked Iran at that time not to respond. So, yes, it's actually quite normal even though it is completely insane. It's quite normal actually for The US and Iran to coordinate and to orchestrate military action against each other for the sake of political optics.

So in my opinion, that's what happened today in Israel. This was an exhibition match, not a real fight. Iran informed The US that they were launching the attack. They informed, the countries in the region that they were launching the attack, and they first, launched drones in that attack, which take hours, took hours for those to reach Israel from Iran, giving them plenty of time to be prepared and to react. And they do appear to have indeed only targeted military facilities, including, of course, as I said, the airport from which the plane took off that bombed their embassy.

Most of the drones apparently were successfully shot down well outside of Israel, well outside of their borders. And by all counts, very little actual damage was done by this attack. The Israelis themselves are reported to have said that they would neither confirm nor deny that Iran had told them in advance about what they were going to do, which is more or less the same thing as saying that they were told what Iran was going to do, and I believe that. Every aspect of this looks choreographed to me, and this shouldn't be construed as a criticism. I'm not criticizing that.

For Iran to have proceeded in any other way would have been disastrously irresponsible, in my opinion. All of the countries in the region, all of the the BRICS countries have consistently pursued de escalation and sought to avoid the spread of war in the Middle East and throughout the whole region. And I think that that that that this act by Iran doesn't constitute any shift or any change in that position. I don't think they have departed from that position. And I think that by carrying out an an orchestrated choreographed retaliatory action and that was very disciplined in its execution in about as non threatening a manner as you could possibly conceive of a military strike to be.

I mean, was basically a slow motion attack with extensive advance notice. That's that's what they did. Personally, I believe that this action was understood and agreed upon between Iran, America, Israel, and most of the countries in the region, as well as probably Russia and China. With Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, and The UAE most likely counseling Iran after the embassy attack about the best way to proceed. Because as I've said many times, I think that all of the BRICS nations are following a very coordinated policy, and they work with each other, and they consult with each other to determine what's the best way to move forward in any, you know, in any scenario, in any situation that might be happening, that involves any single member BRICS country, they want there to be a coordinated, orchestrated response between the member states.

Now for Netanyahu's part, I've already talked about why I believe or what I think the the the rationale or the objective, what their objective was behind attacking the Iranian embassy, and to some degree, it has worked. Israel was at least partially successful in recovering their existential threat narrative. Netanyahu was able to distract the hostile Israeli public, which is more and more becoming something of a lynch mob just calling for his head, and he was able to give the Israelis the opportunity to feel, vulnerable again, which is something that that that they absolutely adore, particularly when they are engaging in inhuman savage aggression and violence. It also allowed Western countries to revert back to the the the standard we stand with Israel united with Israel mantra without looking like genocidal lunatics to their own population for a couple of weeks. And at least partially satisfied the demands of Zionist extremist psychopaths in Netanyahu's government who dream of escalating and expanding the war against Iran.

And now, of course, Iran was threatening retaliation for weeks, and it was absolutely necessary for them to retaliate. It was it was necessary for them to actually do something, and now they've done it. And they themselves have said that that as far as they're concerned, the matter is already closed. The matter is over now. But they have said that if Israel responds to their retaliatory strike by attacking Iran, then they'll take the kid gloves off, and it won't be a choreographed response.

You know, in fact, with within just hours of the attack, which anyway took hours to reach Israel from Iran, in Iran, they had already put up a giant poster in Tehran saying the next slap will be harder. I mean, one wonders, did it take them so long to retaliate because they had to wait for the poster to be ready? Now, again, reportedly, The US told Iran that America would not participate in any response by Israel if Iran attacked them, presumably so long as Iran attacked Israel in the agreed upon manner. Well, in my opinion, they did attack in the agreed upon manner, they kept up their end of the agreement. And so far, it appears that America is also keeping up their end of the agreement as it does appear or it's been reported, that, Biden has told Netanyahu that Israel should not now attack Iran in response to their retaliatory attack.

And if they do, The US will not become involved in that conflict. Reportedly, Netanyahu has expressed to Biden that he understands. In other words, as far as America is concerned, they do not want to be dragged into a war with Iran. And if they're sincere about that, which I think, as I've said, I think that there are factions, important factions in the OCGFC who are sincere about that, then it means that Israel doesn't really have any realistic option for going to war with Iran because it's unthinkable that they could do it by the by themselves. It's unthinkable that they could do it on their own.

And it's almost just as unthinkable that Biden would even want to do that anyway regardless of even the OCGFC. But because the election the presidential election is only, like, six months away, half a half a year away. I don't think that he he would want to get America involved in a a war with Iran at this point in his administration. So here's what this looks like to me. Netanyahu has basically been given the opportunity to claim to be the man who pulled the world back from the brink of World War three by by accepting to not respond militarily to Iran's attack.

You know, the Western media could certainly guarantee that he will not be remembered as a genocidal maniac, as the genocidal maniac that he is, but rather as a wise statesman, you know, who was strong enough to make war when necessary, but also strong enough to make peace and so on and so on. You know, the way that they these fictional narratives get created, they can certainly do that for him. But is he smart enough to take this opportunity? Almost definitely not. But honestly, I find it hard to see how he can go back to the genocide agenda after this.

You know, Israel's called for an urgent u United Nations Security Council meeting to condemn the attack on Iran. That's gonna take place later today. They're expected to to request that the attack by Iran be condemned and for the Iranian military to be designated as a terrorist organization. Now they might get the condemnation, but they're certainly not gonna get the terrorist designation unless I'm very badly misreading, the room of international geopolitics and economics. But I think that the, the tide has turned so drastically against Israel that they're gonna garner very little support actually and very little sympathy in the wake of the Iran retaliation.

Indeed, think that it's interesting that the Western media is actually referring to Iran's attack as retaliation because typically when Israel provokes a violent response, that response is almost always treated as if it was not provoked, and that that that that is itself an unprovoked act of aggression. You know? And and recent history never exists. What what what what Israel has done to provoke that response is completely erased from memory. It's never reported, and it's always they they always act as if the provoked response, the response that they themselves provoke is just coming out of nowhere.

I mean, look at what how they even portrayed the Hamas October seventh attacks. Like, came out of nowhere. Like, there's no history. Like, there's no occupation. There's no historical justification.

But this time, everyone is acknowledging that Iran was retaliating. That what they did was not an act of aggression, and that they were in fact within their rights, within the rights granted to them by international law, which is why they shouldn't actually even get a condemnation at the United Nations, but they probably will. But Iran has themselves cited the United Nations Charter that grants them the right to do what they did because Israel attacking their embassy was unquestionably an act of war. So they had every right to respond. They had every right to retaliate, but it's entirely possible that they will get a condemnation.

Now it'll be very interesting to see how that vote goes, how China votes on that, and how Russia votes on that. It'll be very interesting to see how that goes. But it's very interesting, again, I said, that that it is actually being reported as retaliation. That's the word that they keep using for what Iran did. They do say it's retaliation, which to me in and of itself indicates something quite significant about how Israel has lost support even in the mainstream media in the West.

The fact that Iran actually targeted Israel, Iran itself targeted Israel itself, and not just using proxies attacking, you know, Israeli assets here or there or, you know, the Golan Heights or whatever. I think this sends a send a a a palpable message not only to Israel, but to neo cons in Washington. It sent a very palpable message to drive home the understanding that an an an actual full blown war with Iran would be devastating for the region. I think this is a message that badly needed to be conveyed. Now when I characterized Iran's retaliation on X in a tweet on X as an exhibition fight, people thought that I was mocking Iran's actions.

I wasn't. I just wanted to emphasize that I didn't believe that this was the start of World War three as many people were fearing. I think it was a wise move. You know, there are many Iran supporters who want to pretend that this was a severely punishing blow by Iran, and they were mad at me when I didn't see it that way. And then there are also others who are disappointed that it was not the start of World War three, even among Muslims, because we have in our own ranks, we have plenty neocon minded, warmongering chicken hawks, just like they have in Washington and Tel Aviv.

We have plenty of those among our own people as well. And they were also mad, that that this was, as one person called it, theater and not a real attack. They really wanted it to be a real attack that would unleash carnage and bloodshed throughout the region. But in my opinion, if this attack by Iran had actually been what the Iranian cheerleaders want to portray it as having been, or if it was what the neo con psycho warmongers, Muslim and non Muslim, if if it was what they wanted it to be, then that would be an absolute calamity for the entire Middle East. In my in my opinion, it was a well played, wise, controlled response that actually has the potential of leading to de escalation.

And I sincerely pray that that will ultimately be what this action by Iran finally does achieve, Insha'Allah.