Vamsi K. Valluri

NYC, Hyderabad.

[Vamsi K. Valluri @vk9111]

@manaman_chhina Prade

[Vamsi K. Valluri @vk9111]

@peeleraja 😂

[Farnaz Fassihi @farnazfassihi]

BIG SCOOP: US-Israel goal was to install former President Ahmadinejad as Iran's leader (aka Delcy)
An Israeli strike designed to free him from house arrest was part of an effort to bring about regime change and put him in power. w/ @MarkMazzettiNYT @julianbarnes @ronenbergman

https://t.co/dkqZYpCedA

[Matt Walsh @MattWalshBlog]

So far we’ve heard that although we killed the whole Iranian regime, this was not a regime change war. And although we obliterated their nuclear program, we had to do this because of their nuclear program. And although Iran was not planning any attacks on the US, they also might have been, depending on who you ask. And although we are not fighting this war to free the Iranian people, they are now free, or might be, depending on who seizes power, and we have no idea who that will be. The messaging on this thing is, to put it mildly, confused.

[Carl @HistoryBoomer]

It’s cool that Salman Rushdie has outlived 2 Ayatollahs.

[Casual Geopolitics @Casualgeopol]

They kidnapped Maduro and assassinated Khamenei before they arrested a single Epstein pedophile….

[Peter Girnus 🦅 @gothburz]

I am a diplomatic aide in the Sultanate of Oman's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

My job is logistics. When two countries that cannot speak to each other need to speak to each other, I book the rooms. I prepare the briefing materials. I make sure the water glasses are the right distance apart. You would be surprised how much of diplomacy is water glasses. Too close and it feels informal. Too far and it feels like a tribunal. I have a chart.

We had a very good month.

Since January, Oman has been mediating indirect talks between the United States and Iran on Iran's nuclear program. The talks were held in Muscat and in Geneva. The Americans would sit in one room. The Iranians would sit in another room. I would walk between them. My Fitbit says I averaged fourteen thousand steps on negotiation days. The hallway between the two rooms at the Royal Opera House conference center is forty-seven meters. I walked it two hundred and twelve times in February. This is good for my cardiovascular health. It was less good for my knees. Both are in the service of peace.

By mid-February, we had something.

Iran agreed to zero stockpiling of enriched uranium. Not reduced stockpiling. Zero. They agreed to down-blend existing stockpiles to the lowest possible level. They agreed to convert them into irreversible fuel. They agreed to full IAEA verification with potential US inspector access. They agreed, in the Foreign Minister's phrase, to "never, ever" possess nuclear material for a bomb. I have worked in diplomacy for seven years. I have never seen a country agree to this many things this quickly. I made a spreadsheet of the concessions. It had fourteen rows. I color-coded it. Green for confirmed. Yellow for pending. By February 21 the spreadsheet was entirely green. I printed it. It is on my desk in Muscat. It is still green.

That phrase took eleven days. "Never, ever." The Iranians initially offered "not seek to." The Americans wanted "will not under any circumstances." We landed on "never, ever" at 2:14 AM on a Tuesday in Muscat. I typed the final version myself. I used Times New Roman because Geneva prefers it. The document was fourteen pages. I was proud of every comma.

Here is what they said, in the order they said it.

February 24: "We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity." — The Foreign Minister, private briefing to Gulf Cooperation Council ambassadors. I prepared the slide deck. Slide 14 was the implementation timeline. Slide 15 was the signing ceremony logistics. I had reserved the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Room XX. It seats four hundred. We discussed pen brands for the signing. The Iranians preferred Montblanc. The Americans had no preference. I ordered twelve Montblanc Meisterstucks at six hundred and thirty dollars each. They arrive on Tuesday.

February 27, 8:30 AM EST: "The deal is within our reach." — The Foreign Minister, CBS Face the Nation. He sat across from Margaret Brennan. He said broad political terms could be agreed "tomorrow" with ninety days for technical implementation in Vienna. He said, and I wrote this line for the briefing card he carried in his breast pocket: "If we just allow diplomacy the space it needs." He praised the American envoys by name. Steve Witkoff. Jared Kushner. He said both had been constructive.

I watched from the Four Seasons Georgetown. The minibar had cashews. I ate the cashews. They were nineteen dollars. The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten. But it was a good morning and we were within our reach.

February 27, 2:00 PM EST: Meeting with Vice President Vance, Washington. The Foreign Minister presented our progress. Zero stockpiling. Full verification. Irreversible conversion. "Never, ever." The Vice President used the word "encouraging." His aide took notes on an iPad. The aide did not make eye contact for the last nine minutes of the meeting. I noticed this. Noticing things is the only part of my job that is not water glasses.

February 27, 4:00 PM EST: "Not happy with the pace." — President Trump, to reporters.

Not happy with the pace.

We had achieved zero stockpiling. Full IAEA verification. Irreversible fuel conversion. Inspector access. And the phrase "never, ever," which took eleven days and cost me two hundred and twelve trips down a forty-seven-meter hallway.

Every American president since Carter has failed to get Iran to agree to this. Forty-five years.

Not happy with the pace.

February 27, 9:47 PM EST: The Foreign Minister's flight departs Dulles for Muscat. I am in the seat behind him. He is reviewing Slide 14 on his laptop. The implementation timeline. Vienna technical sessions. The signing ceremony. The pens.

I fall asleep over the Atlantic. I dream about water glasses.

February 28, 6:00 AM GST: I wake up to push notifications.

February 28: "The United States has begun major combat operations in Iran." — President Trump.

Operation Epic Fury. Coordinated airstrikes. The United States and Israel. Tehran. Isfahan. Qom. Karaj. Kermanshah. Nuclear facilities. IRGC bases. Sites near the Supreme Leader's office. Israel called their half Operation Roaring Lion. Someone in both governments spent time choosing these names. Epic Fury. Roaring Lion. I spent eleven days on "never, ever." They spent it on branding. The President said Iran had "rejected American calls to halt its nuclear weapons production."

Rejected.

Iran had agreed to zero stockpiling. Iran had agreed to full verification. Iran had agreed to "never, ever." Iran had agreed to everything in a fourteen-page document that I typed in Times New Roman.

The President said they rejected it.

I do not know which document the President was reading. I know which one I typed.

February 28, 18:45 UTC: Iran internet connectivity: four percent. — NetBlocks, confirmed by Cloudflare. Ninety-six percent of a country went dark. You cannot negotiate with a country at four percent connectivity. You cannot negotiate with a country that is being struck. You cannot negotiate. This is not a political opinion. This is a logistics assessment.

February 28: The governor of Minab reported forty girls killed at an elementary school.

I do not have logistics for that. There is no slide for that. The water glass chart does not cover that.

February 28: Lockheed Martin: up. Northrop Grumman: up. RTX: up. Dow futures: down six hundred and twenty-two points. Gold: five thousand two hundred and ninety-six dollars. An analyst at AInvest published a note titled "Iran Strikes: Tactical Plays." The note recommended positions in oil, defense stocks, and gold.

The most expensive cashew I have ever eaten was nineteen dollars. The most expensive pen I have ever ordered was six hundred and thirty dollars. The math suggests I have been working in the wrong industry. Defense stocks do not require water glasses. Defense stocks do not require eleven days. Defense stocks require one morning.

February 28: Israel closed its airspace and its schools. Iran launched retaliatory missiles toward US bases in the Gulf. The Supreme Leader promised a "crushing response." Israel's defense minister declared a permanent state of emergency. Everyone is using words I recognize in an order I do not. I recognize "permanent." I recognize "emergency." I do not recognize them next to each other. In diplomacy, nothing is permanent and everything is an emergency. In war it is the reverse.

February 28: The Foreign Minister has not made a public statement.

The briefing card is still in his breast pocket. It still says "within our reach."

[Sina @SinaHartung]

World War

World War 2
<— you are here
World War 3

2 World 2 War

World War: Tokyo Drift

World and War

World 7

War 8

[Vamsi K. Valluri @vk9111]

@darab_farooqui @seekingdeep101 Why must sanghis feature in every such analysis?

[J.K. Rowling @jk_rowling]

If you claim to support human rights yet can’t bring yourself to show solidarity with those fighting for their liberty in Iran, you’ve revealed yourself. You don’t give a damn about people being oppressed and brutalised so long as it’s being done by the enemies of your enemies.

[Shashank Mattoo @MattooShashank]

BREAKING: Zohran quotes Nehru in his victory speech

"I think of the words of Jawaharlal Nehru. A moment comes but rarely in history when we step out from the old to the new. When an age ends & the soul of a nation finds utterance. Tonight we step out from the old to the new"

[Shashi Tharoor @ShashiTharoor]

My #TharoorThink column in the @IndianExpress today argues the case for a bold centrism that avoids the extremes of both Left and Right — the stance from which I have attempted to conduct my politics :

[Zohran Kwame Mamdani @ZohranKMamdani]

Before he was a Senator, a candidate for President, and our greatest champion in the fight against oligarchy, @BernieSanders was the four-term Mayor of Burlington, VT.

I sat down with Bernie in Astoria to talk about the lessons he learned—and the work ahead.

[Zohran Kwame Mamdani @ZohranKMamdani]

I am once again asking you to stop sending us money.

But we do need your time. ⏰

[Vamsi K. Valluri @vk9111]

@reacher_za59269 @opinionatedpk @appabhiyanta @MCIAZayyan And why exactly can a Punjabi claim Kashmir and Sindh and Balochistan?

[Kunal Singh @d_extrovert]

The real implications of Indian jet losses on May 7: Much of the Pakistani rhetoric around Indian jet losses is to show that Pakistan won this round of conflict on May 7-10 against India. I think this inference is flawed, even going by Pakistan's own logic. 1/18

[Vamsi K. Valluri @vk9111]

@Taimur_Laal @ankitxai Pak won and sought the nuclear option to celebrate.

[Imtiaz Mahmood @ImtiazMadmood]

This was Pakistani media a day after the surrender at Dhaka in 1971. It's the same situation in 2025.
- @total_woke_

[Rajdeep Sardesai @sardesairajdeep]

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust, if Lillee don’t get you then Thommo must! DGMO Lt Gen Rajiv Ghai is a true cricket fan! ⭐️https://t.co/8rW9i0tydm

[Vamsi K. Valluri @vk9111]

@GorwayGlobal @VishnuNDTV By that logic there was no corruption in procuring Bofors as it worked wonders in Kargil ops.