Despite Economic Abyss And National Collapse, The Iranian Regime’s Hunger For Terror Only Grows

Despite Economic Abyss And National Collapse, The Iranian Regime’s Hunger For Terror Only Grows

Amir Tsarfati

For the first time in history, you’ve got to be a multi-millionaire to take advantage of the 99-cent special at the local Iranian McDonald’s. That’s because it now requires two million of Iran’s rials to equal a single U.S. dollar. That means a rial is worth 28,571 times less than it did when the Islamic Republic took power in 1979. Well done, ayatollahs!

The nation’s infrastructure continues its collapse, and President Trump recently reported that large segments of the nation’s military are not receiving paychecks. But somehow they still have money to continue work on their nuclear facilities in Pickaxe Mountain and to attempt their piracy of ships as they pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Speaking of the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump has announced mine-free passage through the highly traveled waters.

“All mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz,” the president posted. This follows comments by the president a couple of days earlier declaring the strait to temporarily be “an American territory.”

While you’re at it, Iran, you may want to warn the IRGC to watch their backs, too. The U.S. State Department is offering up to $10 million for information on key leaders of that Iranian military organization.

On Monday, the U.S. removed Syria from its list of state sponsors of terrorism. Now, only Iran, Cuba, and North Korea remain on the naughty list. As one scans the geopolitical landscape, it seems like this catalog of names should be getting longer rather than shorter. But President Trump is determined that Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa succeed in his role, and this move opens up doors for Syrian trade. I would agree with his sentiment, if not for al-Sharaa’s track record both as president and back in his terrorist days when he went by the nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Julani.

The relationship between the U.S. and Turkey also continues to thaw. This is very concerning as Erdogan and company are supplanting Iran as the greatest global enemies of Israel. Columnist David Harris summed up why America should beware of Turkey in a brief but thorough post on X:

Turkey occupied Gaza for 400 years. Never offered independence. Turkey massacred 1.5 million Armenian Christians. To this day, never acknowledged the genocide. Turkey was neutral and profited from the war against the greatest evil in history—German Nazism. Turkey has occupied 37% of EU member Cyprus since 1974. Turkey has suppressed aspirations of tens of millions of Kurds. Turkey jails political dissidents and journalists. Turkey hosts Hamas and other terrorists. Turkey conspires with radical, anti-Western Muslim Brotherhood.

The intentional starvation campaign by Israel against the Gazans has been a prominent talking point for liberals and antisemites since soon after October 7. But recent studies have definitively proven that deception for the evil slander that it is.

On Tuesday, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz posted a quote from The Free Press, stating, “A researcher [in Gaza] who has overseen teams collecting malnutrition data in the Horn of Africa remarked that she had ‘never seen’ the emergence of obesity and excess weight in a place that was declared only a year earlier to be suffering from famine.”

Once again, facts outweigh the lie.

Migrant Ambush Targeting Military Vehicles In Ceuta Was Pre-Planned, Police Claim

'Our Military Is Helpless': Migrant Ambush Targeting Military Vehicles In Ceuta Was Pre-Planned, Police Claim

TYLER DURDEN

The attack targeting a military patrol in the Benzú area of Ceuta last night was a pre-planned ambush rather than a spontaneous clash, according to preliminary findings from the National Police. Now, military sources are speaking of soldiers who are unable to use physical force, have no weapons, and are vulnerable to such attacks in the future.

Regarding the ambush, police investigators at the scene discovered an abnormal accumulation of heavy stones that did not match the natural geology of the terrain. Police believe the projectiles were intentionally stockpiled at the location in advance, setting a trap for a vehicle or convoy passing through the area.

Images of damaged military vehicles have gone viral across social media. Multiple vehicles suffered smashed windshields and other damage in the attack.

The ambush occurred while troops from the 54th Regular Group of Ceuta were conducting routine patrol duties. Dozens of illegal immigrants ambushed the patrol vehicle with a heavy barrage of rocks. The sudden intensity of the assault severely damaged the vehicle, shattering its windows and trapping the occupants inside.

Surrounded by a high volume of projectiles, the soldiers “feared for their lives,” according to statements later provided to investigators, as reported by Spanish newspaper El Debate. Four soldiers were left injured and officials told the press that sthe all-terrain logistical vehicles were not armored and not equipped to deal with such attacks.

Marco Antonio Gómez, president of the Association of Spanish Troops and Sailors (ATME), stated that the “very serious aggression” shows “our military is helpless.”

“They go without weapons. Our colleagues had to run away to save their own lives.”

Speaking to El Debate, military sources who are directly on the ground in Ceuta say that soldiers have their “hands and feet tied.”

Although the military is working with National Police, the situation remains dangerous.

The source said “they have done what is necessary and have intervened in situations in which the illegal immigrants bothered the inhabitants of Ceuta.”

However, these military sources complain that various legal frameworks have left soldiers without weapons, and these policies also restrict soldiers from carrying out arrests and using any type of force.

Migrants may even be aware of these restrictions, empowering them to conduct ambush strikes against soldiers with near impunity.

Since the attack, 12 suspects have been taken into custody at the scene by National Police’s Prevention and Reaction Unit (UPR). Some migrants reportedly tried to evade arrest by jumping into the sea. Reinforcement from the Civil Guard also helped secure the perimeter.

The Union of Military Troops (UMT) issued a statement expressing its “strong rejection and indignation,” stating they had warned about the conditions facing troops already ten days eariler.

The National Police investigation remains active as authorities work to trace all remaining individuals involved in the ambush.

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Iran's President admits US sanctions are hurting the economy

Iran's President admits US sanctions are hurting the economy

Israel National News

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has acknowledged that US sanctions are having a significant impact on Iran's economy, reversing comments he made earlier this week that dismissed their effectiveness.

Speaking to Iranian state television late Friday, Pezeshkian addressed claims that sanctions have no effect, saying, “Some say sanctions have no effect at all; to those people, I really don’t know what to say." 

He added, “We are in a war situation, and we must accept these wartime conditions."

Pezeshkian said Iran's imports and exports have declined by between 25% and 35% in recent months as the United States maintains a naval blockade of Iranian ports. He also called for an increase in the price of petrol to reflect the decline in trade.

“We should raise the price of the third-tier quota... For example, from 5,000 tomans to 10,000 tomans," he said. The third-tier quota is one of several fuel consumption rates used to determine the price paid by Iranian consumers.

Iran is a major oil producer and has among the world's lowest petrol prices due to extensive government subsidies. Any increase in fuel prices is therefore politically sensitive.

Iranian Vice President Mohammad Jafar Ghaempanah said Wednesday that the US blockade had prevented Tehran from importing sufficient petrol to compensate for a shortfall in domestic production. That same day, however, Pezeshkian had insisted that the latest US sanctions “will not achieve anything."

“We will stand firm against economic pressures, as we have done so far and will continue to do," he told Iranian state media at the time.

Pezeshkian's latest remarks came four days after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced plans for what he called the “economic asphyxiation" of Iran under "Operation Economic Outcast." Bessent warned that countries refusing to join the US campaign could face consequences.

Iranian officials have rejected the US pressure campaign. Economy Minister Ali Madanizadeh said Tehran was prepared to withstand the sanctions and predicted Washington would suffer “another defeat". He also said the Iranian government had developed a two-year strategy to manage the economic pressure.

“They have done everything they could to test the determination of the Iranian people and the country's officials, but they have failed every time. It seems they wished to suffer yet another defeat," Madanizadeh told Iranian state television.

“We've been waiting for these plans for a long time, and the government is and was ready and has a two-year plan to manage these events," he added.

Lessons Buried in the Rubble: What Argentina’s 2001 Collapse Actually Teaches Us

Lessons Buried in the Rubble: What Argentina’s 2001 Collapse Actually Teaches Us

Milan Adams

Fernando de la Rúa left the Casa Rosada on December 20, 2001, through a side door, boarding a helicopter from the building’s roof. It was not symbolic. It was a literal escape from a capital in flames, where 22 people had died in two days of protests, supermarkets had been systematically looted, and banks remained closed with deposits frozen.

Argentina was not a poor country. Per capita income exceeded that of many European nations. Buenos Aires had architecture comparable to Paris, a subway older than many American cities, and a middle class that traveled abroad and sent children to private universities. The collapse came fast. From the first bank runs in November to the declaration of sovereign default on December 23, only weeks passed.

The United States in 2026 faces similar arithmetic, though mechanisms differ. Argentina offers a rare case in economic analysis: a complete narrative with documented consequences, a natural experiment conducted on living populations. Data exists. Testimonies are recorded. Patterns are visible to anyone willing to examine them without assuming American exceptionalism provides immunity.

On December 1, 2001, Finance Minister Domingo Cavallo implemented what became known as the corralito—a measure freezing all bank accounts. Depositors could withdraw 250 pesos weekly, approximately $250 at the pegged exchange rate. Dollar-denominated accounts, which many Argentines held as protection against fluctuation, were completely immobilized.

Argentine banks did not fail through classic insolvency. They failed through physical inability to return deposited money to owners. The central bank lacked sufficient dollar reserves to honor the Convertibility Plan’s promise. Foreign debt consumed all incoming currency. The result was a liquidity crisis disguised as a solvency crisis, with depositors caught in between.

Cavallo designed the corralito to prevent capital flight. The wealthy had already moved dollars offshore—approximately $20 billion left the country in 2001 alone. What remained in the system represented the savings of those without foreign accounts, without access to international wire services, without mobility to physically transport cash across borders. The corralito trapped these remaining deposits, converting a banking crisis into a political one.

The response emerged spontaneously. Within hours of the announcement, Buenos Aires residents began appearing at windows, banging pots and pans with spoons. This cacerolazo—named for the casserole dishes producing the noise—represented something new in Argentine protest culture. Previous demonstrations were organized by unions or parties. The cacerolazo was middle-class, decentralized, and furious. It announced that the crisis had breached barriers that normally protect comfortable populations from systemic failure.

y December 19, the cacerolazo had moved from balconies to streets. Tens of thousands converged on the Plaza de Mayo. President de la Rúa declared a state of siege, suspending constitutional protections. Police responded with rubber bullets, tear gas, and eventually live ammunition. The 22 confirmed deaths represented only the immediate toll.

The corralito demonstrated how quickly financial trust can evaporate. Argentina’s banking system had functioned normally in October. By December, citizens were attacking ATMs with sledgehammers. The psychological transition from depositor to victim took approximately six weeks.

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They Will Do Anything to Avoid Returning to Cash

They Will Do Anything to Avoid Returning to Cash

Martin Armstrong

Switzerland is developing a nationwide system that will allow consumers to make card payments even when internet and telecommunications networks are unavailable. The government, Swiss National Bank, commercial banks, payment providers, terminal manufacturers, and major retailers are working together to make approximately 16.5 million debit and credit cards capable of operating offline, with broad deployment planned by the end of 2027. They are constructing an entirely new emergency payment infrastructure to create “offline payments” that are still under government’s watchful eye.

Cash does not need authorization, a PIN, a working terminal, a battery, a generator, or a promise that the banking network will return. It settles the transaction immediately and leaves no unfinished claim waiting to be processed. Yet the Swiss Federal Office for National Economic Supply declared that while cash is an alternative, it is “always advisable” to be able to complete purchases without it.

Under the proposed system, the customer must use a physical card and enter a PIN. Authorization occurs locally between the chip and the terminal, which stores the transaction until communications are restored. The account is debited later after the terminal finally reconnects to the payment system. This means the payment is not truly settled offline. It is merely recorded offline and submitted to the banks later, ensuring that the transaction eventually returns to the same centralized financial network government claims was temporarily unavailable.

The terminal must still have electricity from the grid, a battery, or a generator. Therefore, if the emergency is prolonged, cash remains the only reliable option. The system will also be restricted initially to retailers selling government-defined essential goods. A person may be permitted to purchase food, medicine, and fuel but not necessarily repair equipment, obtain supplies from a small independent business, or pay another individual. Cash does not ask a bureaucrat whether the merchant or product belongs to an approved category.

A society dependent entirely upon banks, cards, telecommunications, and electricity is fragile regardless of whether the terminal can temporarily store transactions. Cash creates an entirely separate payment channel outside the electronic network. It works when banks fail, cards are blocked, systems are hacked, power disappears, or government declares an emergency.

The objective is to ensure that money never truly leaves the banking system. When people hold cash, banks cannot use those funds, governments cannot instantly observe transactions, payment providers cannot collect fees, and monetary authorities cannot impose negative rates or control how quickly money circulates. Cash gives the individual direct possession of money. A card provides access to a liability recorded on someone else’s computer, subject to contractual terms, technical limits, institutional solvency, and government regulation.

Sweden also expanded offline card payments in July 2026 to cover communications disruptions lasting as long as seven days, and Finland, Norway, and Estonia are developing similar arrangements. The same pattern is spreading across nations that allowed cash usage to decline and then discovered that their digital economies could stop functioning during a cyberattack, telecommunications failure, power interruption, or war. Rather than admit that abandoning cash was reckless, they are building another layer of technology to keep everyone inside the electronic cage.

The War Cycle makes this particularly disturbing because payment infrastructure will become an obvious target during any major conflict. Cyberattacks can cripple banks, communications networks, power grids, and payment processors without a single soldier crossing a border. Governments know this, which is why they are suddenly concerned about emergency payment resilience. Nevertheless, the solution remains controlled by the same banks, card networks, and state institutions whose failure would trigger the emergency. That is not independence from the system. It is a delayed connection to the system.

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