Authored by Pepe Escobar,
They came. They bunker-busted. They fled.
And then they set the stage to control the narrative via a massive P.R. operation.
POTUS hailed the “spectacular” victory of B-2s flying from the US to West Asia to release MOPs (“Massive Ordnance Penetrators) over Fordow in the middle of the night of June 22 (significantly, the same date of the start of Operation Barbarossa in 1941).
Trump 2.0 functionaries gloated that the Iranian nuclear program was now gone.
That’s the reality show. Now for reality. Mannan Raisi, a member of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) from the holy city of Qom, summed it all up: “Contrary to the statements of the lying US President, the nuclear facilities at Fordow were not seriously damaged. Only the above-ground structures, which can be restored, were destroyed. In addition, everything that could pose a danger to the population was evacuated in advance. There are no reports of any nuclear emissions. Trump’s false claims about the ‘destruction of Fordow’ are refuted by the fact that the attacks were so superficial that there were not even any fatalities at the facility.”
What really matters is that the Empire of Chaos, in a single – spectacularly criminal – raid, bunker-busted the UN charter (again); international law (again); the NPT (perhaps for good); the US constitution; the “international community”; and Trump’s own MAGA base.
The Global South is now doing the math – and drawing the necessary conclusions.“Peace through strength” POTUS now owns two wars; a genocide; and an unprovoked attack by a nuclear superpower on behalf of a nuclear power against a non-nuclear power.
The IRGC’s response was swift: the real war starts now. The Zionist axis will pay – in spades. It will not be a full-scale war against the Empire: that’s supremely un-strategic. What will develop is multi-layered death by a thousand cuts.
That was already in effect in the morning of June 23. Iran launched no less than five multi-directional waves of missiles – covering the whole of Israel, including new targets such as Ashdod port and power station. The Israeli interception rate fell below 50%. All hell broke loose – from alert siren malfunctions to power outages. Knesset members fled. An El Al rescue flight from New York was forced to turn back in mid-air when missiles started flying.
The message: the whole of Israel is now a legitimate target – reached within minutes by Kheybar-Shakan, Emad, Qadr, and Fattah-1 missiles.
The Strait of Hormuz: the ultimate card
Iran’s upgraded priorities include: stop the war on Gaza and southern Lebanon; “evolve” the nuclear doctrine (all bets are off); targeted assassinations of Zionist leaders; more strikes on Mossad; more missile barrages on Tel Aviv, Haifa and Dimona.
There will be no direct war on the Empire of Chaos. The blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is the ultimate Iranian card, not the nuclear card: it won’t be played in full for now. At best there could be a partial blockade of oil shipping to the – fragmented – collective West.
A top former Deep State source confirmed that “the CIA advised the Trump administration that China was resolutely against the shutting down of the Strait of Hormuz, so Trump went ahead with the bombing.”
Shutting down the Strait of Hormuz will detonate a global depression of unforeseem magnitude. The loss of over 20% of the world’s oil supply will trigger the implosion of over two quadrillion dollars of derivatives, as was already speculated by Goldman Sachs projections in the late 2010s. Warren Buffett described it as a chain reaction after a nuclear explosion.
As it stands, Tehran learned a lesson the hardest way. It’s not that the Iranian leadership acted immorally: on the contrary, its belief in diplomacy and serious negotiations proved totally at odds at with the US empire’s totally debased modus operandi.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi summed it all up. Iran was negotiating with the US “when Israel decided to blow up that diplomacy.” Then Iran was talking “with the E3/EU when the US decided to blow up that diplomacy.” Ergo, it’s absurd to order Iran to “return” to the table: “How can Iran return to something it never left, let alone blew up?”
At the St. Petersburg forum, President Putin was very clear that “we support Iran and the struggle for its legitimate interests, including peaceful use of atomic energy.” He added, crucially: “Those who say Russia is not a reliable partner are provocateurs.”
Putin himself said earlier that week that Russia had previously offered to bolster Iran’s air defenses, but was not taken up on that offer. It also is no secret that unlike the treaty with North Korea, the Russia-Iran strategic partnership agreement didn’t feature a collective security provision.
That may be about to change.
There have been no substantial leaks yet on the Putin-Araghchi meeting – but supremely touchy issues would have to have been discussed. Putin reaffirmed, “the absolutely unprovoked aggression against Iran has no basis and no justification.” Then, he added, cryptically: “Russia is taking steps to support the Iranian people.”
Today, Putin meets Iranian FM Araghchi in Moscow.
No one should be surprised if Iran decides that it now has to possess a nuclear weapon as a deterrent to the Zionist axis. One option floated by some analysts – although extremely touchy on several levels – would be a full security partnership with Russia and perhaps China, with Iran positioned under their nuclear umbrella.
After all these are three top BRICS nations – the revamped Primakov triangle and the Empire war is fundamentally a war against BRICS.
This new deal would at least keep Iran’s own nuclear enrichment as a civilian, scientific and non-military process, allowing the Russia-China strategic partnership to supervise uranium enrichment while providing security guarantees to Iran.
Additionally, that would be a security guarantee for the International North South Transportation Corridor (INSTC) – which is in the strategic national interest of Russia.
The Chinese view is another very complex matter. There’s some sort of consensus among Chinese think tanks that Iran should now, more than ever, strengthen their air defense system. That likely means taking up Russia on its earlier offer to cooperate in this area.
A long dark cloud is coming down
Trump entering the – suicidal – war of Israel/US neocons on Iran just adds a new layer to the Big Picture. That was predictable since at least the late 1990s: the same playbook of controlling West Asia’s energy resources to enhance the economic power of the Empire of Chaos, while intimidating the Global South: don’t even think of deviating from our unilateral order.
Even POTUS himself gave away the game, in caps: “If the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change? MIGA!”
Inestimable Prof. Michael Hudson, among a few others, has summarized the stakes: “Iran is not only the capstone to full control of the Near East and its oil and dollar holdings. Iran is a key link for China’s Belt and Road program for a New Silk Road of railway transport to the West. If the United States can overthrow the Iranian government, this interrupts the long transportation corridor that China already has constructed and hopes to extend further West. Iran also is a key to blocking Russian trade and development via the Caspian Sea and access to the south, bypassing the Suez Canal. And under U.S. control, an Iranian client regime could threaten Russia from its southern flank.”
So it’s no wonder that regime change in Tehran – that’s what the whole war is all about – is a matter of supreme national interest for US elites, in the sense stressed by Prof. Hudson of a “coercive empire of client states observing dollar hegemony by adhering to the dollarized international financial system.”
Now compare all of the above with the tenor of the discussions at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum (SPIEF) last week. The forum ended in the evening of June 20. The US attacked Iran in the middle of the night of June 22.
Virtually the whole Global South was in St. Petersburg; at least 15,000 people. Over a thousand deals were signed, amounting to over $80 billion, according to Executive Secretary of the SPIEF Organizing Committee Anton Kobakov.
There were enlightening panels all around: on the challenges of the Northern Sea Route, one of the key connectivity corridors of the 21st century; on Russia-China mutual investments; on the reform of the international financial system; on the fight against fake news – an industry the West excels in – and AI controlling all narratives; on BRICS, the SCO, the EAEU, ASEAN, the INSTC.
At the plenary session, the Global South and BRICS were fully represented: Russia, China, Indonesia (President Prabowo was the guest of honor), South Africa, Bahrain. President Putin cut to the chase: “Russia and China aren’t shaping the new world order – it’s rising naturally, like the sun. We’re only paving the way to make it more balanced.”
Yet along dark cloud is coming down, as the Empire of Chaos will go no holds barred to block the sunrise. Russia’s representative at the UN Vasily Nebenzya nailed it, sharp as a dagger: “The US has opened Pandora’s box (…) No one knows what new catastrophes and suffering it will bring.”
Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of ZeroHedge.
