If the MoU was supposed to stay quiet about “proxies,” why does it demand an immediate and permanent end to hostilities in “all fronts, including Lebanon”?
Apparently, an unnamed American official has told the CNN that we must not worry about the MoU and its text — because in private, Qalibaf has told him “Trust me bro.”
https://t.co/mcAOe5Hw68
The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issues a harsh and direct threat against @realDonaldTrump, calling him delusional and a gambler:
"We have heard that you have threatened Iran.
Know that the defenders of Iran will teach you a lesson that will never be forgotten.
Come, and be burned by the fire of Iran’s defenders, in a way that will become an eternal historical lesson for the tyrannical rulers of the US.
In the name of millions of Iranian women and men, I say to the delusional and arrogant President of the United States that we, the Iranian nation, say to you exactly the words of Haj Qassem (Soleimani):
‘O gambler Trump, we are your opponent.
We are the nation of Imam Hussein. We are waiting. We stand facing you.’
Come, and see how all your capabilities in the region will be destroyed.
Come, and see what will become of the American bases, the American ships, and the American forces.
Come and understand that when the region is set ablaze, you will face overwhelming firepower.
Delusional Trump, do not believe the lies that are told to you.
They told you that Mashhad had fallen, but the followers of Imam Reza (the eighth Imam in Shi‘ism) stand ready to respond to your delusions.
We will not tolerate the blood of our people, the blood of our scientists, and the blood of our commanders".
The Speaker of the Iranian Parliament, Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf, issues a harsh and direct threat against @realDonaldTrump, calling him delusional and a gambler:
"We have heard that you have threatened Iran.
Know that the defenders of Iran will teach you a lesson that will never be forgotten.
Come, and be burned by the fire of Iran’s defenders, in a way that will become an eternal historical lesson for the tyrannical rulers of the US.
In the name of millions of Iranian women and men, I say to the delusional and arrogant President of the United States that we, the Iranian nation, say to you exactly the words of Haj Qassem (Soleimani):
‘O gambler Trump, we are your opponent.
We are the nation of Imam Hussein. We are waiting. We stand facing you.’
Come, and see how all your capabilities in the region will be destroyed.
Come, and see what will become of the American bases, the American ships, and the American forces.
Come and understand that when the region is set ablaze, you will face overwhelming firepower.
Delusional Trump, do not believe the lies that are told to you.
They told you that Mashhad had fallen, but the followers of Imam Reza (the eighth Imam in Shi‘ism) stand ready to respond to your delusions.
We will not tolerate the blood of our people, the blood of our scientists, and the blood of our commanders".
WSJ reports the Trump-Iran MOU allows Tehran to immediately sell oil, and may waive banking and transport sanctions to facilitate transactions.
If accurate, this is far more alarming than a narrow General License (like the one Treasury issued in March covering only crude already loaded on vessels). But if it's real, the administration is trading away its most durable economic lever before the hard part of the negotiation has even started.
Broadening authorization to financial transactions would crack the core architecture of U.S. oil and financial sanctions against Iran, arguably the most powerful economic leverage the U.S. holds over this regime, absent the naval blockade.
What makes this especially dangerous: if broad relief is offered upfront while negotiations drag on for months, it normalizes Iranian oil flows to China, India, and the UAE, and critically, normalizes the repatriation of Iran's oil revenue back to Tehran. Revenue that today sits trapped in Chinese bank accounts due to secondary financial sanctions.
Once that normalization sets in, re-establishing today's level of leverage would take years, not weeks.
https://t.co/ucrmGQ3lHO
Over the weekend, CNN reported that, “in recent weeks,” according to five “sources familiar with US intelligence”, “Iran has dramatically escalated efforts to seal off its cache of near bomb-grade uranium, deliberately collapsing tunnels and booby-trapping entrances with explosive mines.”
We have been monitoring the sites believed to house enriched uranium – the Esfahan tunnel site, the underground Fordow enrichment plant, and the underground Natanz enrichment plant and associated tunnels. We reported on the US and Israeli attacks on the facilities and their entrances, specifically the Esfahan and Fordow tunnel entrances in June 2025, and Natanz enrichment plant entrances in March/April 2026, all of which were seen as logical denial of access attacks. Which additional tunnels Iran would have collapsed, and why the US would be concerned about this, is not included in the CNN report. We have also been reporting on measures that we assessed would facilitate or complicate retrieval of assets post June 2025, such as Iranian efforts during its rebuilding of entrances, activity near the entrances or weapon impact points, efforts to seal off entrances, and additions of earthen berms and chicanes along the roads. We also reported on events that would make ground offenses easier such as the destruction of defense establishments at the Fordow and Esfahan nuclear sites, or more difficult such as new Iranian revetments for military equipment along the road at Esfahan. The attacks on defensive sites did not surprise anyone and efforts by Iran to protect their assets should not either – they have been going on for months. In fact, following the June war, Iran quietly sealed a small tunnel complex just south of the Natanz enrichment plant. It also accessed two out of three Esfahan tunnel entrances in the fall of 2025, giving it ample opportunity to booby trap the entrances or even the inside of the northern tunnel portion, before it fully buried all entrances in February 2026.
Largely overlooked is the immediate benefit of Iran having increased the difficulty of accessing any material, such as enriched uranium, on short notice, making it less valuable in negotiations, less dangerous in the short term, and solidifying the assessments that Iran has no immediate use for the HEU, i.e. nothing resembling an enrichment plant. As a reminder, before June 2025, Iran also had 60 percent HEU in multiple locations, but together with the HEU, three fully functioning enrichment plants ready to produce weapons grade uranium within days and no guarantee of immediate detection (the IAEA was able to visit the enrichment plants once every few days but had no remote or real-time detection mechanism of diversion of HEU or changes in enrichment).
Figure 1 is a June 7 image of the Fordow enrichment plant, which shows the previously reported chicanes in larger numbers. It also shows small earthen piles near two of the tunnel entrances, which were added between May 3 and May 22. These earthen piles could be indicative of mines having been placed nearby but given the small size of even anti-tank mines, only very high-resolution imagery could show this. Figure 2 is a June 12 image of the Esfahan tunnel complex, and figure 3 is a May 29 image of the Natanz enrichment plant entrances. Figure 4 is a May 29 image of the Pickaxe mountain tunnel facility and nearby 2007 tunnel entrances. The 2007 tunnel entrances remain sealed. The eastern set of tunnel entrances for the pickaxe mountain facility has remained half buried since April 2026–as of now, this is the most likely “deliberately collapsed” tunnel, but it is not believed to hold HEU and we previously reported the burial. For more information, see: https://t.co/1oer7whmPu
Iran has fired multiple drones toward commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding Sunday, according to a U.S. official.
I offer my condolences for this painful loss to the seminary of Najaf, to all the followers and admirers of this late Religious Authority, to particularly the resilient, steadfast people of Afghanistan, and to his honorable family.
I wish this were the case. But I see absolutely no sign that Vahid has transformed into some Joulani plus. If they have changed, why can't they change their behaviour? Why can't they at least update their rhetoric like Joulani did? Why are they still hanging Iranian protesters?
Trump on Iran:
The current Iranian leadership are very rational people. They are nice to deal with; they are strong and smart people.
They are not radicalized, and they are looking to help their country.
"The notion that clerical supremacy in Iran has given way to a military junta under the IRGC should be regarded with scepticism", not least b/c "the more it is true that the IRGC are tightening their grip over Iran, the more powerful that makes Mojtaba." https://t.co/KMffrBymhn
NBC News: "Iran has fired multiple drones toward commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding Sunday...The IRGC has fired multiple drones each night since the MOU was digitally signed Sunday, the official said."
https://t.co/THFjRxe4ig
NBC News: "Iran has fired multiple drones toward commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz since the U.S. and Iran agreed to a memorandum of understanding Sunday...The IRGC has fired multiple drones each night since the MOU was digitally signed Sunday, the official said."
https://t.co/THFjRxe4ig
We are considering delisting the IRGC as an FTO? No way this can be true. POTUS will hear from Gold Star Families to be sure. Even Joe Biden wouldn’t let Rob Malley do that!
We are considering delisting the IRGC as an FTO? No way this can be true. POTUS will hear from Gold Star Families to be sure. Even Joe Biden wouldn’t let Rob Malley do that!