We are so sorry, says “leader” (for the moment) of Iran to Gulf States
Oopsies about those attacks:
Regime president Masoud Pezeshkian issued the apology to other Gulf states in a rushed video message, but it won’t come with a change of policy. Apparently, no one’s taking orders from the mullahs’ side of the regime any longer:
“Iran’s president apologized Saturday for attacks on regional countries even as its missiles and drones flew toward Gulf Arab states, indicating that Tehran’s political leadership could not exercise full command over Iran’s armed forces. He also rejected US President Donald Trump’s repeated demands for surrender.
President Masoud Pezeshkian, one member of a tripartite leadership council overseeing Iran since a Feb. 28 airstrike started the war and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered the defiant message exactly one week into a conflict that has spread across the region, rattled global markets and air travel and left Iran’s own leadership greatly weakened by hundreds of Israeli and American airstrikes.
The message, seemingly filmed in a hurry without professional broadcast equipment, again underlined the limited powers being exercised by the theocracy’s leaders over its paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, which controls the ballistic missiles targeting Israel and others. It answered only to Khamenei and now appears to be picking its own targets as the conflict widens.
And yet the attacks continue. Either he has no control over them or he’s pretending to have no control over them. I think probably the former. I read quite a while ago – don’t recall where – that Khameini had de-centralized command and control of the ballistic missiles, giving instructions to the people in charge of each station as to what to do in the event of his death. So I don’t think these attacks are uncoordinated. I think they were pre-coordinated by Khameini.
And now, reading further down in that article I quoted for this post, I see that’s what’s being said there, too:
It’s not even clear how much control the IRGC has at this moment either, but they have enough to defy Pezeshkian’s orders. Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has claimed that Ali Khamenei prepared for the war by ordering the all-out attack on Iran’s neighbors and implementing a “mosaic” strategy, in which decentralized units would be empowered to carry out their last orders independently until … something happened. In the last eight days, the US and Israel has done tremendous damage to command, control, and communication functions within Iran, so we are likely seeing the mosaic strategy playing out without any central control to reverse it and halt action – a risk in every war in which leadership gets destroyed.
So will the attacks on the Arab states and others continue unabated until there are no more missiles to fire?
Trump has this to say:
Iran, which is being beat to HELL, has apologized and surrendered to its Middle East neighbors, and promised that it will not shoot at them anymore. This promise was only made because of the relentless U.S. and Israeli attack. They were looking to take over and rule the Middle East. It is the first time that Iran has ever lost, in thousands of years, to surrounding Middle Eastern Countries. They have said, “Thank you President Trump.” I have said, “You’re welcome!” Iran is no longer the “Bully of the Middle East,” they are, instead, “THE LOSER OF THE MIDDLE EAST,” and will be for many decades until they surrender or, more likely, completely collapse! Today Iran will be hit very hard!
He understands this strong horse versus weak horse thing.
Azerbaijan has also been attacked by Iran in the last week, and has mobilized its military. They may even be ready to put a few boots on the ground in Iran themselves.
And the IRGC has basically said they aren’t paying a particle of attention to Pezeshkian:
President Pezeshkian made a mistake [saying they won’t attack neighboring countries], and our forces demonstrated his mistake. His comments were 5 hours ago, and since then Dubai and Abu Dhabi are being struck. Ignore Pezeshkian’s words during the war.
Pay no attention to the man in front of the curtain.
These are indeed interesting times.
What is the endgame in Iran? It would be wonderful if it was some sort of stable and liberty-loving republic. But if that can’t happen – and perhaps it can’t or won’t – perhaps taking away its weapons and ability to make more weapons, as well as getting rid of the worst elements of its leadership, would be good enough.
So no leadership, just those acting on their own. Will be hard to destroy them, but with drones overhead 24/7, there will be fewer places to hide.
RE: Is British PM Starmer (not to mention the long touted “special relationship” between the UK and the US) finally “finished”?
Various commentators have given their opinions–over and over again—after each new misstep, disastrous policy decision, or scandal, that British PM Kier Starmer is “finished.”
But this comment on Starmer and his policies by President Trump, out just a few minutes ago on Truth Social, is the most savage rebuke I think I have ever seen in the diplomatic communications between nations.
How Starmer survives President Trump’s comment below, I don’t know. *
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
* See https://www.foxnews.com/politics/trump-tells-starmer-aircraft-carriers-no-longer-needed-mideast-accuses-him-joining-war-us-already-won
The situation with Iran reminds me of the fable, “Who Will Bell the Cat?”
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The mice met in council to figure out how to defeat the Cat. One suggested a bell for the Cat to warn them.
Problem: Nobody would volunteer to bell the Cat. It is easy to propose impossible remedies.
https://fablesofaesop.com/belling-the-cat.html
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Somehow I remembered the story ending with a brave mouse doing the deed. Happy ending! Maybe that was the Disney version. But the fable ends on the question.
Today Israel and the US are succeeding in “belling” Iran. But we sure are hearing a lot of mouse excuses.
huxley:
Yes – other Western nations, and previous US presidents, have been afraid to bell the Iranian cat.
But one thing I hadn’t thought about previously but read something about the other day is that the Israeli campaigns post 10/7, particularly the defanging of Hezbollah, and the change of regime in Syria (which had long been an Iran ally), were necessary before that cat could be belled. Iran set up Hezbollah in Lebanon and other proxies in order to protect Iran from attack. The idea was that the proxies would go on the warpath if anything happened to Iran at the hands of Israel or the US or the West. “If you attack me, the kid gets it” – “the kid” being Israel. Plus, the unleashing of wider terrorist attacks in the West, which could still happen.
Post 10/7, Israel took the gloves off somewhat when Biden was president, and did the amazing beeper operation to Hezbollah. Then, only a month after Trump’s election, Iran lost its allies in Syria when the Assad regime was deposed. But then after Trump took office, Israel and the US had the 12-day joint operation against Iran – which was only possible because Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Syrian allies were much weakened. The 12-day air war was a success as far as it went. But it was not enough to force Iran to give up its weapons development (long-range ballistic, nuclear enrichment, etc). So the present attacks were needed. But I don’t think it would have been possible to be so bold without all the other things leading up to it.
Snow on Pine:
Ouch!
Neo: Some of your comments, such as the one at 9:06 above, have a box around them. Some of them, such as the one at 10:46 above, do not.
Why is that, if you don’t mind my asking? Just curious.
The People of Iran are in for some really interesting times. I pray that they find a path worthy of the moment. Unfortunately, America’s press will be more a hindrance than an ally. And we can count on the Democrat Party to be just like a pebble in a shoe.
James, ditto!
And well said … But too nice, IMO, regarding the lying MSM and the other Dems.
mkent:
I believe that when I comment while signed in to the site, a box is automatically placed around my comments. When I comment when I’m not signed in to the site, no box.
Trump’s comment that Iran has not lost for thousands of years to their Middle East neighbors is suspect at best. And that’s putting it mildly…
President Trump has discovered that the American military might has given him seven league boots, and he can tramp the world at will: Greenland, Ukraine, Maduro of Venezuela, drug cartels in Mexico, the Mullahs in Iran, and now Shield of the Americas. And all this after quickly imposing tariffs, then reversing or modifying them. And now we’re going to insure oil shipments through the Straits of Hormuz, and escort them too.
I worry that we are becoming spread too thin and the dispersed nature of our enemies (think Mexican cartels or IRGC groups) are not stopped by decapitation. And with lone wolf attacks in TX and NY — these are the kinds of things that individuals can mount without anyone actually directing them, just because they believe they are supporting the cause.
All of it gives the appearance of stirring up a hornets’ nest without careful consideration of what the results could be or what we eventually want to accomplish. I hope I am wrong, because if results are not firmly in place in three years’ time we can rest assured the Democrat’s candidate will emphasize the fact that Trump’s policies were not successful, and if s/he wins, will pull those policies up root and branch.
There are lots of statistics demonstrating that a small percentage of the population causes the majority of crimes and that, furthermore, each one of these perps has usually committed multiple crimes (many of which they are never connected to, caught, or prosecuted for), yet, the obvious and simple solution of focusing the majority of policing on them, arresting, prosecuting, convicting them, and locking them away from society for long sentences, is not taken. Why?
An interesting comment here that if you observed each one of these perps at 10, you could already see the signs of where they were headed, and that given their proclivities, as each one of them grew older, they would gravitate to any cause which would allow them to act them out.
If this is true, how many of these kids at ten could you divert into a better, less violent path, and how many were just lost causes, set on a course and not able to be diverted?
See Musk and other’s comments about this on Instapundit today. *
* See “Why people profit by not having the switch pressed” at https://instapundit.com/
Peggy Noonan wrote a five column editorial in the weekend WSJ that says wars have uncertain outcomes.
Fortunately there are other editorials of interest. Like this one:
Germany’s AfD Ditches Trump Over Iran
https://archive.fo/Fts1W
The sort of bombast Trump loves to display is oddly symmetrical to what the mullahs emit. His success, however, requires that his counterparts in Iran not apply a “bombast discount” to his statements, like we learned to do with Baghdad Bob, and now do when we take in the mullah’s more defiant statements.
My guess is Trump would do *very well* negotiating in a casbah, because the merchants want to arrive eventually at a price. In trying to evince a surrender from the mullahs, and the IRGC, however, he is up against the apocalyptic mentality of the Twelvers, who probably welcome their own destruction. Iran could be facing shattered mosaic holdouts for decades, like the Japanese jungle holdouts from WWII who only surrendered in 1974, only more lethal.
And a few days ago I asked about a story coming out of Lebanon. Here’s an interesting short editorial from the Editorial Board of the WSJ:
Hezbollah Pays for Doing Iran’s Bidding
https://archive.fo/GqS6Z
All well and good, but I’m still looking for an answer to the following question. Is the government of Lebanon in any position to actually help Israel solve the Hezbollah problem even if they wanted to?
May I suspect with any justice — while from a position of thorough ignorance of German politics as it exists on the ground in Germany among Germans myself — that some cat writing from BILD (Ha! PICTURE! get the picture?) has his own political motives to insinuate into American political discourse heeps of folderal contra his opponents in Chermany? Eh, mebbe.
This too, to say nothing of the political motivations of the ever fragrant Wall Street Journal in choosing such an one to publish.
Imagine in March 1945, with the Western Allies across the Rhine and the Russians at the outskirts of Berlin, that Germany declared war on Switzerland and Sweden.
yeah I thought bild would not have the soundest take,
there is also the story of the Gordian knot, who would cut it,
Pesekhian was a pawn put up to assuage the more gullible westerners, but certainly Israel isn’t fooled,
how solid is the chain of command in the irgc, thousands of words, have not touched on it,
Starmer would have to lose considerable members of parliament, to trigger a party challenge, and from whom, Reeves Mahsoud, Lammy, none have any real following for now,
the gulf states from oman to bahrain have certainly declared themselves as not neutral, that includes the Kingdom, of Saudi Arabia, Jordan beeing farther west,
the missile against Cyprus, seems to suggest they have not limited their targets,
some states like bahrain with their shia majority seem more vulnerable, azerbaijan to the North is in a similar position,
there is a method to the madness
https://open.substack.com/pub/coffeeandcovid/p/gentlemens-agreements-sunday-march?
I guess I new crop of naysayers, who had not exhibited a whole lot of expertise, much agita in other areas,
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/03/draining_the_swamp_and_reshaping_the_world.html
like the button on hte hitchhiker’s guide I say don’t panic yet,
Neo: Makes sense. Thanks.
Thanks much, miguel.
Phenomenal link.
Phew….
– – – – – – – – – – –
“…because the merchants want to arrive eventually at a price….”
Jim, that’s an interesting statement…simply because that’s the way it usually is…and the way it ought to be.
But what if—in certain cases—it’s simply NOT true?
– – – – – – – – – – –
Mike, the answer to that question is, “NO”.
However, Israel might make Hezbullah’s position untenable, which might enable the Lebanese Army actually do something.
Did I say “might”?
Actually, I said it twice.
The first time, it should have been WILL. Israel’s not going to stop this time, not like they did last year. In case I’m not clear, this time they’ll finish the job.
As for the second “might”, that was just rhetorical: the Lebanese Army will do nothing since they are owned by Hezbullah. If anything, they’ll help Hezbullah withstand Israel. Best case scenario? They’ll sit this one out.
Unfortunately, with Hezbullah essentially gone, the Lebanese might exploit the opportunity to decimate the Lebanese Shia.
And/or the new “Syrian” “Government” might just convince itself that it can take over Lebanon or parts of it, thereof….
Interesting times!
there is something to the effect, that one of the Taliban chieftain Jalal Haqquani, said about they have all the time, because Western media and govt is fickle and impatient, and prone to neurosis, where those rivals, are focused in their objectives,
one trope that mark steyn noted, at the outset of the first expedition of the war on terror, was
‘the brutal afghan winter’ as if the weather was the problem instead of the resoluteness of the adversaries, not to mention, the poor administration that the successor govt would carry out,
I think I’ve mentioned not only Karzai in this sense, but the likes of Akhunzada and his
Kandahar strike force, a necessary evil that happened in lieu of more durable institutions,
he was ultimately right, a set of circumstances led us to abandon the successor govt to Karzai and the remnant of forces rather quickly evaporated,
when moral panic sets in with certain figures, so they abandon Mubarak and Bin Ali and Gaddafi to cite three examples in the Arab spring, as it had been in Central America in the 70s,
regardless of the particular faults of anyo one of these leaders
Here’s my prediction for Neo and the Neo community.
The war against the current Iranian regime will be over before April 1, 2026.
Cornhead has spoken!
But what will neo post on that day?
But seriously, will this guy go to join his father before April 1, 2026?
https://redstate.com/jenvanlaar/2026/03/08/new-mojtabba-khameinei-named-irans-supreme-leader-n2199998
@Cornhead: From your lips to God’s ears.
Re: Missile Cities
I was curious about Iran’s ballistic missiles. I discovered they have “missile cities” in which large tunnel systems are dug as much as 500 meters into the ground to house vast arrays of weapons and launchers.
We know about these “cities” not just from intelligence, but because the Iranians have posted videos touring the tunnels:
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Iran shows off ‘missile city’
—But has it just exposed a critical weakness to the US and Israel?
Yet, while the video was intended as a show of power, it also exposed a glaring weakness. Analysts quickly pointed out that the munitions were stored in vast, open tunnels without blast doors or fortified barriers. This layout, they warned, could prove catastrophic in the event of an attack, triggering devastating chain explosions inside the base.
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/defence/iran-shows-off-missile-citybut-has-it-just-exposed-a-critical-weakness-to-the-us-and-israel/articleshow/119595579.cms
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Unlike the Gaza tunnels these are big, beautiful tunnels, and clean. From what I’ve heard we know the entrances and the B1 bombers have hit them hard — with any luck igniting all the weapons stored within.
huxley:
The video looked like AI tunnels to me. No blast doors looks sketchy, if not criminally stupid; things leak and accidents happen (sleepy forklift driver for example), and then kaboom? Not a single human except the two muckey mucks; no workers, guards, maintainers. No sign of a single grease stain or tire mark on the concrete. Surprisingly well lit but no light fixtures that I noticed. Didn’t look industrial/military to me.
Sketchy. Fake footage IMO.
om’s analysis seems sound to me.
om:
That particular tunnel system was supposed to be brand-new:
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On 26 March 2025, Iranian media released a video showing Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff General Mohammad Bagheri and Amir Ali Hajizadeh, the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps Aerospace Force commander, inspecting an allegedly new massive underground missile base, dubbed a “Missile City” by Iran. In the video, the two IRGC commanders are seen riding through extensive tunnel systems lined with vehicles loaded with advanced weaponry and missiles, including the liquid fuel propelled Ghadr-H and Emad missiles as well as the solid fuel propelled Khaibar Shekan, Sejil, and Haj Qassem ballistic missiles in addition to Paveh Land Attack Cruise Missiles. The video was released after the US issued a two month ultimatum demanding that Iran abandon its nuclear aspirations and missile program.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iranian_underground_missile_bases
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FWIW it didn’t look AI to me. None of the sources I’ve encountered question the authenticity.
huxley:
I looked at it again, and did see the light fixtures on the walls, and one or two grease stains.
Funny I didn’t see a single fire extinguisher, fire hose reels, or spinkler fire suppression hardware, nor obvious alarm boxes, spill kits, PPE stations (self rescue mask/respirator stations). The ventilation ducts (round) seem to be dropped from the ceiling with the standard threaded rod/steel Unistrut configuration.
Liquid fueled rockets in an underground facility, good thing those never develop leaks nor get punctured inadvertently (see USAF Titan missile silo explosion from a dropped wrench, armed ICBM with a warhead attached).
AI generated IMO.
Tunnels?
Missile storage?
Missile numbers?
This fellow sheds some very bright light:
“Everyone is counting Iran’s missiles. They are counting the wrong thing.
“The number that determines the outcome of this war is not 2,000 or 2,500 or 3,000. Those are pre-war missile inventory estimates and they are now largely irrelevant. The number that determines the outcome is the one that moved from 504 to 29 in five days….”—
https://mobile.twitter.com/shanaka86/status/2029746767722606946
“The B-2 is not a bomber. It is a key. And there is only one thing on earth it was built to unlock….”—
https://t.co/cgJ7yHJLwf
H/T Blazingcatfur blog.
Guess we know where the Feminists(TM) stand on this one:
“Iranian women’s team may face jail, death after losing soccer game”—
https://nypost.com/2026/03/08/world-news/iranian-womens-team-may-face-jail-death-after-soccer-loss/
Yep, should be crystal clear.
Obvious.
A slam dunk…