There’s been a massive explosion in Iranian province of Zan and at least 14 IGC members have been killed as it’s being reported by Iranian media. But the reason behind this explosion still remains a mystery. According to the official statement itself, and this is coming from Iranian media, they’re calling it an unexloded ordinance, aka some bomb that either Israeli jets or maybe American jets dropped during the war and it didn’t go off and now they were trying to move it or something and it went off and 14 different IGC soldiers were killed, few more injured.
Now, as you guys know, internet has been shut down inside of Iran for more than two months now. So it’s very hard to confirm news like this, but this is coming from Iranian media. So we can assume that the incident did happen. We just don’t know for sure what exactly happened. Was it actually an unexloded ordinance or was it something else?
The reason there are doubts regarding the explanation that the Iranian media has provided is because we have seen lot of mysterious deaths happening over the last few weeks relating to IGC members. So it does seem like maybe it’s not just mistakes. Maybe someone is going after them. But nonetheless, this would be the deadliest incident we have seen since the ceasefire started on April 7th. 14 people killed, maybe more because there are some people who are injured and getting treated right now.
Now, few days ago, we did have a report saying that Israel was preparing to announce the failure of negotiations and authorization of renewed strikes on Iranian facility. Now, this report wasn’t that big a deal because we’ve been getting similar reports from Israeli media and of course American media every few days. But then we also had Israeli defense minister say this:
“We may soon be required to take action again in Iran to ensure that the regime cannot threaten Israel for years to come.”
Now, of course, a statement doesn’t necessarily mean that what happened inside of Iran was because of Israeli forces or American forces, but nonetheless, that’s something we do have to keep an eye on. But we have other reasons to believe maybe this could be Iranians themselves. And that reason comes from Iranian politicians who are worried so much about an uprising that they are making public comments relating to it.
Just yesterday, Iranian lawmaker Sabedi said that authorities are keeping international internet access restricted during the war due to fears it could be used to organize unrest. If the internet is fully reopened, some mercenaries who are also armed may organize gatherings through these networks. Sabeti also referred to national uprising on January 8th and 9th during which security forces killed thousands of protesters, saying similar events could happen again if restrictions are lifted. He said shutdown was ordered by the Supreme National Security Council and would remain in place as long as war conditions persist.
Statements like these are exact proof that we don’t have to go around looking for proof that Iranian people support the regime or not. We have regime officials themselves saying publicly that: “Hey if internet is reopened we could have protests like ones we had in January.”
They are worried about Iranian people more than they are worried about the war. The economy is collapsing because of the internet shutdown. But despite that officials would rather have it shut down than risk losing power because of protesters. On top of this, executions are still ongoing inside of Iran. That means we can keep adding to the number that we know of people who died during the protest in January.
Just few days ago, we had Iranian chief’s justice. So, this guy is like the main head or the main judge inside of Iran saying that they will continue executing anyone who’s related to the protest that took place in January. Take a listen. This was on live TV:
“One of the people’s rightful requests is that those who have committed crimes, those who have collaborated with the enemy, those who are potentially acting as the enemy’s agents within and outside the country, be pursued, identified quickly, and tried promptly. Of course, it is natural that this should be done according to the law, based on fairness and justice. This is precisely what the enemy does not want.
These lowly cursed individuals believe that for instance the judiciary acts according to their wishes. We say they should not be executed. Who are you to say they should not be executed? You are wrong to say that a criminal who has shed the blood of our dear ones, our beloved people, and who attempted to cause insecurity during wartime should not be executed.
We will punish them with any penalty stipulated by the law. We pay no attention to the words and discussions of these arrogant people who thought they still had the power of arrogance, the power they themselves believe they had. Therefore, I tell you again and I emphasize and I want the cases to be handled quickly and accurately and for the sentences to be issued sooner according to the law, implemented and reported in all stages.”
Iranian officials, more specifically RGC is so paranoid that they are killing people just for using Starling, just for connecting to the internet. Take a look at this report. Ham Aladin, who’s the father of two, was beaten to death after being arrested for using Starling to access the internet. Important to point out, Starlink is banned in the country since February 28th, since the war began. But nonetheless, people are getting killed. Not even getting a trial. These people are getting killed in jails just for using stalling, just for connecting to the world.
Alladin was detained sometimes in the past two weeks after being accused of connecting to the internet with Stalling. He was not provided evidence for this accusation. He was not given an opportunity to defend himself. He never even went to court. He was beaten in jail and he’s dead. His body was then confiscated and was not returned to the family until they agreed to sign a contract saying: “Hey, they’re not going to speak publicly about what happened.”
And this is something Iranian officials and Iranian soldiers were doing even before. During the protest, they were killing people and they were just taking the body to this central place where families could come identify the body, but they could only take the body back if they agreed to pay for the bullets that were used to kill their family member. And also if they agreed to not go public, if they agreed to say that: “Hey, he was part of the police, he was part of the regime, he wasn’t a protester.”
If they agreed to sign a document saying that he was part of the regime, then and only then they could have the body back. Now, I understand this kind of stuff is probably not YouTube friendly. It is sensitive stuff. I understand if YouTube doesn’t want to show it to you guys, but this is what Iranian people are dealing with every single day, and that’s why we’re covering the Iran war.
Now, let’s talk about what’s happening on the negotiation front. And unfortunately, we don’t really have a lot of new information. Yesterday we covered how Iran sent a new proposal which is a little better than the last one they sent roughly a week ago. But we still don’t know the exact details of what’s included in this new proposal. But we do know that US is unlikely to accept it. Here’s what President Trump said relating to the proposal yesterday. Take a listen:
“So they want to make a deal, but I don’t I’m not satisfied with it. So we’ll see what happens. Iran wants to make a deal because they have no military left essentially and they want to make a deal but I’m not satisfied with you know it’s a very disjointed unfriendly leadership unfriendly to each other. They’re not getting along. They’re very very confused by what’s happened because essentially most of their military has been wiped out. But we just had a conversation with Iran. Let’s see what happens. But I would say that I am not happy.
Their leadership is very disjointed. Uh very argumentative with each other. They come back, one says one thing, one says another. They’re very confused. Uh obviously their country has been frankly decimated. Their navy is gone, their air force is gone. Many of their soldiers unfortunately are gone. Uh they’ve got to come up with the right deal. At this moment, I’m not satisfied with what they do.”
Now, as I said before, we don’t know the exact details of this new proposal that Iran sent back, but what details we do know does come from Axios reporting, which is a news organization which has been doing very well in reporting everything that’s been going around in terms of negotiations. Well, here’s an interview from the journalist who’s been covering all these stories and he shares exactly what was included in this Iranian counter proposal or I guess counter to counter proposal. So, take a listen:
“What is the latest that you’re hearing about what is actually in this proposal that Iran sent over?”
“So, this proposal is actually a response to US amendments that were delivered to Iran by White House envoy Steve Whit on Monday. Um what Witkov sent the Iranians is basically trying to insert again into the uh draft agreement uh issues related to Iran’s nuclear program. Issues that the Iranians tried to take out of the deal and and focus it only on the straight of Hormuz. Witov asked to put them back in the deal.
The Iranians uh last night sent their response um uh about those amendments. As far as I understand, the Iranians went even went further closer to the US amendments but did not accept them. And I think therefore, President Trump said that he was not satisfied uh with the Iranian response that still did not uh um was not really in line with what the US wanted.”
Now if negotiations don’t actually solve the nuclear issue, you would have to assume or I guess one would have to assume the war restarts. And relating to that option, US military presence in the Middle East has not really decreased. In fact, we are seeing more and more supply planes flying into US bases and other US operation points around the region.
And just yesterday, President Trump had a top secret meeting that the media knew about. And in that meeting, he met with military commanders who gave him options as to what the United States could do if negotiations does not go forward. Here’s his comments on that:
“You had a sencom commander come in here yesterday. Was debriefing you on a different approach, options. What kind of options? How would it look options? I mean, do we want to go and just blast the hell out of him and finish him forever or do we want to try and make a deal? I mean, those are the options.”
“Do you want to go blast the hell out of him?”
“I prefer not. On a human basis, I’d prefer not. But that’s the option. Do we want to go in there heavy and just blast them away or do we want to do something? They’re a very disjointed ownership, as you can understand, Peter. Very disjointed. I mean, they uh they’re not getting along with each other, and it puts us in a bad position. One group wants to make a certain deal. The other group wants to make a certain deal, including the hardliners. The hardliners want to make a deal, too. Why wouldn’t they? They have no navy. They have no air force. They have no anti-aircraft. They have they have no nothing.”
Now, to understand why Iran is behaving the way it’s behaving right now, we have to go back and look at how Iran got to where it is today. That doesn’t just mean going back to 1979 when the Islamic Revolution took place. In fact, we have to go further back to when the Kger dynasty was ruling Iran in the 19th century and look at how the decisions the ruling class made back then still affects Iran to this very day.
Well, guess what? That’s exactly what we’re doing in our multi-part podcast that just came out today. So, if you’re someone who is interested in the history of Iran and how we got to where we are today, definitely go check it out. You can watch it by clicking the links in the description or you can just watch it by clicking the end screen on your screen. Basically clicking the video that’s on your screen.
