Sergey Latyshev | “To attack, or not to attack, that is the question”🔺Negotiations between the US and Iran in Oman have ended in failure. Now the Americans will either have to launch a military campaign against Iran alongside Israel or retreat. Tehran has no intention of giving up its peaceful nuclear program, missile program, or allies in the region, and is only willing to discuss the issue of nuclear weapons with the US. This was confirmed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Arakchi 🔺The Americans have an aircraft carrier group, destroyers with more than 450 Tomahawk cruise missiles, and large air forces in the region. And now Trump, whose entourage is trying to count the chickens before they hatch, will have to decide which of the two options to choose. 🔺 Both options are bad. Backing down after spending so much money and making so many threats would mean losing face. But even if an attack were launched, the Iranian regime would not be overthrown. That would require two million soldiers. Since Iran is not Venezuela, and China and Russia have been able to strengthen its military machine in recent weeks, the US would suffer considerable losses. At the same time, according to polls, less than a third of Americans support a war with Iran, while half are against it. Everything could turn out for the US as in the Russian proverb: “If you chase two rabbits, you won't catch either.” Especially if one of them isn't a rabbit at all. (Translation: DeepL)

■ Mideast Source to Haaretz: U.S. Drops Demand for Iran Talks to Cover Ballistic Program, Proxies (Haaretz)

Simplicius | A new round of Iran talks has kicked off in Oman, with Trump claiming they are “going well”. | We’ve already established how it’s been clearly implied by Trump’s renewed threats against Iran’s “nuclear” capabilities that Operation Midnight Hammer was a total failure, or a con job. The US administration does not even attempt to keep its stories straight anymore, simply crafting narrative impromptu as necessary. ■ But what has become obvious is that the latest stunt is an attempt by the roi fainéant orange not to eliminate the threat of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but rather to entirely neuter its conventional strike potential at the secret behest of Israel. ■ The main demand apparently being pushed by the US is for Iran to completely give up its long range ballistic missile capabilities, which would absurdly give Israel total leverage and dominion over its arch-nemesis: it is essentially calling for Iran’s complete surrender to Israel, given that this capability represents Iran’s only true asymmetric deterrence against the terrorist aggressor-colony.

Leo Hohman | The two-party system has all but shredded the First Amendment, which protects the rights of all Americans to speak out against their government without fear of censorship or political retribution. | Remember how Donald Trump prattled on about the evils of the Biden administration censoring Americans’ online activity and how he was going to restore free speech? ● He said he was going to make the internet free again for conservatives to express their views and opinions without fear of being censored or shadow banned like they were under Biden. ● That now seems like a distant memory. While X and Meta have marginally eased their censorship of conservative voices, the administration is taking a note from the Biden playbook and pressuring them to crack down on those who speak out against Trump policies. ● Like Biden before him, Trump apparently thinks the First Amendment only applies to those who support him politically. ● This week we found out that the Trump administration is working quietly behind the scenes to force online social-media platforms to turn over lists of people who post content critical of Trump.