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Apr 8 22 tweets 4 min read Read on X
1/ Iran faces very serious problems even if the currently paused war ends with an agreement, warns Russian political scientist Nikolai Sevostyanov. While many Russians are celebrating the Iranian 'victory', Sevostyanov says the hardest part is still ahead. ⬇️ Image
2/ Guest-writing on the 'Voenkor Kotenok' Telegram channel, Sevostyanov says:
3/ "The Iranians are the clear winners today.Trump raised the stakes as high as they could go and then backed down; the Islamic Republic has preserved its territorial integrity;…
4/ …and the key issue in the upcoming negotiations will be the status of the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran now regards as a legitimate prize.

And now a very important point, which is that there is another side to everything that is happening.
5/ "Let's assume that stable agreements are reached, the Strait of Hormuz remains with Iran, and everyone in the world will come to the conclusion that Trump has lost his war. What next?
6/ "1) And then Iran in any case enters an even more acute phase of the economic crisis. The fuel situation, which has already become a trigger for mass protests, will worsen. The situation with budget payments will worsen. The national currency will continue to depreciate.
7/ "Inflation will continue to rise. Even if Tehran will be able to receive the coveted $2 million from some portion (!) of the ships passing through the strait, this in itself will not save the economy,…
8/ …which was in a terrible state even without the war, not to mention the fact that all the freed up resources will be directed to restoring military potential.
9/ "2) The monarchies of the Persian Gulf will from now on perceive the Islamic Republic quite clearly – as an existential threat. A return to the format of a "complex partnership" is impossible.
10/ "This means not only the rapid militarisation of the Arabian Peninsula and the building of strategic relations with Israel, but also the resumption of discussions about the advisability of the UAE and Saudi Arabia developing their own nuclear weapons.
11/ "And as a "bonus" – that Tehran will no longer be able to circumvent sanctions through the "sheikhs".
12/ "3) Iran will in any case face management difficulties. Administering a country in a war is often much easier than in a fragile, but peace.
13/ "In relation to Iran, this is especially relevant, since in recent weeks a number of very "tasty", high-status and profitable positions were effectively perceived as "vacancies for kamikazes."
14/ "As soon as this perception begins to fade into the background, intra-elite contradictions will rapidly escalate. We will definitely see a "witch hunt for Israeli spies."
15/ "4) Moreover, one of the key problems could be precisely the radical strengthening of the IRGC's role, which has proven itself so effectively in the face of active combat. If before the war, the Corps was a "state within a state," now its appetites have grown rapidly.
16/ "And if previously, according to various estimates, the IRGC controlled between a quarter and a half of Iran's GDP, this figure is guaranteed to increase in the near future, which, in turn, will only exacerbate economic problems.
17/ "5) New protests are also inevitable. There are tens of millions of people in Iran who sincerely hate the Islamic Republic and believe it has led the country to a civilisational dead end. This is not American or Israeli propaganda; it is an objective factor.
18/ "Despite the fact that Trump, with his idiotic statements about the "Stone Age" and the "destruction of Iranian civilisation," has done literally everything to consolidate as many Iranians as possible around the regime, such consolidation is a short-lived process.
19/ "During the 12-Day War, many opposition-minded Iranians also rallied around the flag, but that didn't stop them from immediately posing a direct threat to the ayatollahs' power in January 2026. It won't stop them from doing so again.
20/ "Yes, the Islamic Republic won the battle itself. It won simply because it stood firm. But then again, that's assuming the battle is over. But then, the country will face all its past problems, some of which will be doubled. And new ones will emerge alongside them.
21/ "And while Iran demonstrated during this war that it can learn from mistakes in military strategy, there are very serious and well-founded doubts…
22/ …about its ability to address domestic issues and its willingness to engage in dialogue with a significant portion of its own population." /end

Source:
t.me/voenkorKotenok…

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More from @ChrisO_wiki

Apr 29
1/ One of Israel's largest grain importers has been identified as the customer for 26,000 tons of stolen Ukrainian grain currently aboard the ship Panormitis. Zenziper says it did not know the grain was stolen and is waiting for government instructions. ⬇️
2/ The Israeli news website The Marker reports that Zenziper, the leading player in Israel’s grain import market, has a sales agreement with a Russian company to buy an estimated $7 million worth of grain aboard the Panormitis, which is currently waiting to dock off Haifa.
3/ The company says that "we have a sales agreement to purchase wheat, and if we violate it, the Russian supplier will sue us and win. If there is a [Israeli] government directive not to unload the goods, that will change the situation."
Read 13 tweets
Apr 29
1/ Tuapse is on fire again, and once again Russians are asking why their air defences are so inadequate. Prominent Russian drone developer Alexey Chadayev blames the lack of any clearly defined responsibility for air defence.
2/ Chadayev is the head of the Ushkuynik Research and Production Centre, a leading Russian drone development group. In a commentary on his Telegram channel, he highlights how disorganisation and unclear responsibilities are undermining Russian air defences.
3/ This is in marked contrast to Ukraine, where the Ukrainian Air Force is responsible for a highly organised, multi-layered, hybrid system which incorporates sophisticated detection systems with dispersed and mobile countermeasures. Russia has never been able to replicate this.
Read 23 tweets
Apr 29
1/ The Russian officer who oversaw the occupation of Bucha in 2022, during which an estimated 458 Ukrainians were murdered, has been targeted by a bomb attack in the Russian Far East. Major General Azatbek Omurbekov's condition is currently unknown; another officer was killed. ⬇️ Image
2/ According to VChK-OGPU, the attack took place on 28 April at a military garrison located in the village of Knyaze-Volkonskoye-1 in the Khabarovsk Krai. A bomb exploded in a mailbox, killing Lieutenant Colonel Kuzmenko, the commander of the training communications battalion. Image
3/ The target appears to have been Major General Azatbek Omurbekov, who has been the head of the 392nd District Training Centre for Junior Specialists of the Eastern Military District since 2023.
Read 12 tweets
Apr 29
1/ Downloads of VPNs have soared by 1,300% in Russia as citizens try en masse to circumvent government blocks on popular apps like Telegram. As a Russian commentator warns, this is likely to lead to the government criminalising VPN use in the near future. ⬇️ Image
2/ Yuri Baranchik writes about how Russians are adapting to a "digital concentration camp":

"According to media reports, VPN app downloads in Russia have increased 14-fold in one year (!). From March 2025 to March 2026, 35.7 million downloads were recorded on Google Play alone."
3/ "January-March 2026 were the peak download months: downloads reached 21.27 million in the first quarter. By the end of 2025, the active user base of the top 5 most popular VPN services in Russia had grown to 7.3 million.
Read 22 tweets
Apr 28
1/ The acting US Ambassador to Ukraine is to resign over differences with the Trump Administration, becoming the second ambassador to do so in just over a year, and the third to resign under Donald Trump. She is said to be frustrated at Trump's lack of support for Ukraine. ⬇️ Image
2/ The Financial Times reports that Julie Davis will leave her post in the next few weeks and retire from the diplomatic service. She has been serving simultaneously as ambassador to Cyprus and Ukraine, but is based in Kyiv.
3/ Davis is said to have been blindsided by Trump's decision to nominate Republican donor John Breslow to be the next ambassador to Cyprus. The State Department has been sidelined in diplomacy in Ukraine, with Trump allies like Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner leading instead.
Read 6 tweets
Apr 28
1/ Russian warbloggers are increasingly speculating about what will happen after the war ends and/or the fall of Putin. They predict chaos, disorderly struggles, repression, and not least their own violent elimination. ⬇️
2/ In a since-deleted post, Maxim Kalashnikov sees gloomy prospects ahead for Russia:
3/ “I believe that after the Transition (change of the central figure of power), as a result of this untriumphant war, a period of chaos and instability is inevitable.

No matter what “Sukharev conventions” are signed by the highest beau monde these days. What do I predict?
Read 23 tweets

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