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. ⬇️
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
1/ Iran has reportedly assessed that Donald Trump is "mentally incompetent" and has incorporated psychologists into its negotiating team to adapt the wording of the proposed agreement "as if the recipient were a [mental] patient ... whose capacity is limited." ⬇️
2/ The Russian 'Political Report' says that "Iranian authorities have included leading psychologists in the negotiating team to review drafts of all messages before sending them to Trump."
3/ "This is not a supplementary measure, but a direct consequence of an internal assessment that the American president is mentally incompetent, whose reactions cannot be predicted by conventional diplomatic methods.
1/ Russian commanders routinely make false claims to have captured territory, in order to win awards and personal bonuses. However, the army is reportedly stepping up efforts to uncover instances of "painting over" the map of the front line in Ukraine. ⬇️
2/ Russian warblogger Vladimir Romanov highlights how the practice is causing mass casualties among Russian soldiers, with some commanders maintaining two parallel maps – one of the true line of contact, and a more flattering 'painted over' version to show to their superiors.
3/ "Returning to the paint-overs, the higher-ups periodically conduct compliance checks on the personnel data.
In some places (like in the Kupyansk sector), this is purely formal.
1/ An increasingly severe shortage of fuel is gripping wide areas of western Russia as well as occupied regions of Ukraine. Russian warbloggers report that there is no fuel at all in some regions, with fuel rationing affecting the army as well as civilians. ⬇️
2/ Following repeated Ukrainian attacks against Russian oil refineries, fuel shortages are spreading across western Russia. The Tatarstan-based Tatneft group appears to be particularly badly affected.
3/ Restrictions on fuel sales have been introduced in St. Petersburg, Moscow, the Moscow region, Samara, Nizhegorod, Udmurtia, Kazan, Cheboksary, Ulyanovsk, and other Russian cities, and in the occupied east and south of Ukraine, most notably in Crimea.
1/ A Russian soldier reports that he and four of his comrades were whipped, chained around the necks, tortured, and imprisoned in a sewer, while his officers stole his possessions and emptied his bank account. He says the men experienced "punishments like in Ancient Rome." ⬇️
2/ Dmitry Strelets is a soldier in the 4th Assault Company of the 68th Tank Regiment (military unit 91714). He says that he has endured torture and slave-like conditions at his Avdiivka-based unit.
3/ According to Strelets, these abuses were perpetrated by a sergeant major with the call sign "Foma," a political officer named "Dobry," his deputy "Bzhik," and their accomplice "Putnik."
1/ Ukraine's increasing dominance of the airspace over Crimea and southern Russia is causing great alarm amongst Russian warbloggers. One predicts impending catastrophe for Russia: "Panic and the total collapse of all the main roads." /end
2/ Commenting on the video above, 'Alex Parker Returns' observes:
"In Crimea, Ukrainian drones are freely flying over major roads. For now, they're programmed to target fuel trucks and various military targets."
3/ "But when the drones become significantly more numerous, the target pool can be expanded to include anything, and then the drones will start attacking passenger vehicles or, say, GAZelles [light trucks].
1/ Russia's attempts to block Telegram and force the population to switch to the state-approved messenger app MAX have simply resulted in the population adopting VPNs en masse. Ordinary Russians describe how they are evading the government's blocks. ⬇️
2/ VPNs are a booming business in Russia, with a massive increase in downloads over recent months. Circumvention is routine, even for pro-regime loyalists. According to one Russian citizen, "even the vatniks at work have VPNs."
3/ Readers of the Russian news outlet 'We can explain' (MO) have been describing how they get around the government's restrictions and are continuing to use Telegram. (Ironically, many state-owned businesses and government entities are doing the same things.)