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Monday, March 30, 2026

Iran's leaders believe they are prevailing in the war, and not without reason, analysts say.

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Never forget who is really winning this war. https://www.commondreams.org/news/iran-war-big-oil

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-- Robert Reich (@rbreich.bsky.social) Mar 30, 2026 at 11:20 AM

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"Rather than bringing down the regime, the campaign is, in several key respects, actually reinforcing it," Danny Citrinowicz, a former Iran specialist for Israeli military intelligence, wrote in Israel Hayom on March 27. Two days earlier, the former head of Britain's foreign intelligence service MI6, Alex Younger, told the Economist: "The reality is that the U.S. underestimated the task, and I think as of about two weeks ago lost the initiative to Iran."

time.com

#1 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 04:20 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Here's why

#2 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 04:47 PM | Reply

Andrea Junker

@strandjunker.com

Follow
A strategic masterclass: Iran's oil income has doubled since Feb 28. We get the battlefield optics, they get the cash. This is exactly what happens when you improvise a war just to distract from the Epstein files. Truly, a "victory" worth paying for.

www.economist.com

#3 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2026-03-30 04:56 PM | Reply

One AI Snapshot:

"The US is "burning" money at a rate nearly 10x to 15x faster than Iran. However, because the US economy is more than 50 times larger than Iran's, the US can sustain these dollar amounts for much longer. For Iran, the cost is existential; for the US, it is a massive budgetary and political strain."


#4 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-03-30 05:07 PM | Reply

The article is worth reading. I didn't hit a paywall.

time.com

#5 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 05:20 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

Why does Iran think it's winning?

Because they are

Handily

Our apparent goal is to reopen the strait of Hormuz, which was open before the war. When your goal is the prewar status quo

You lost

Iran wanted sanctions lifted

They got sanctions lifted

Every Piggy bleat about hitting Iran is nonsense, when our actual policies are counter to that. Claim all you want that you are going to seize Kharg Island while lifting sanctions and allowing Iranian oil to flow to the market. It's pathetic.

Piggy has NO OPTIONS except to continue bombing and more and more moving towards bombing civilian infrastructure. It is inevitable. There is diminishing returns on military target so, you expand to military adjacent targets, i.e. civilian infrastructure.

And every step of the way, Iran can match you tit-for-tat.

THEY HAVE ESCALATION DOMINANCE.

The war is lost, the only question is the price to be paid before Piggy realizes that fact

#6 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 05:23 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

And you know what is a kicker and will make it infinitely harder to end, Israel. Israel has invaded another country. Iran is WINNING and will dictate terms and those terms will include Israel pulling back.

We

Are

------

#7 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 05:24 PM | Reply

Iran hit a half a billion dollar plane with what a $30,000 drone?

Think about that

We witnessed Ukraine take out numerous Russian strategic bombers with drones, well over a year ago

We have multiple strategic planes blown up on a runway by drones.

That is negligent

That is pathetic

That should piss you off

Our military is Russia level incompetent if we didn't learn the lesson of protect your strategic assets.

------- pathetic

#8 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 05:27 PM | Reply

More troubling to ordinary Iranians, Golkar says, is that Trump is suing for peace with a regime more extreme and aggressive than at the beginning of the war.

DING DING DING DING

That is what I call a Truth Hurts Bomb

#9 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 05:29 PM | Reply

Mow there's a MORE hard line regime in Tehran with feckless figurehead in Khamenei (is he even alive?) and the IRGC in control.

#10 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 05:29 PM | Reply

Now there's a MORE hard line regime in Tehran with feckless figurehead in Khamenei (is he even alive?) and the IRGC in control.

#11 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 05:30 PM | Reply

"It is amazing," Mohammad Khatami, the reformist cleric twice elected president, said in a March 18 statement, "that those who are capable and eager to achieve an honorable peace, if there is a way to achieve it, are being brutally attacked and assassinated."

This is the result of Israel's intended strategy.

Everyone but Piggy can see it

#12 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 05:33 PM | Reply

Khameini is the religious or spiritual head of Iran with temporal powers, like when the Papal States had their own militaries and large bureaucracies.

Khameni's veto powers and ability to issue fatwas is the source of his power, like the popes of yester-century.

But the control machinery of Iran, like the US, is the police state.

Iran has more hardliners in control now?

The US has Pete Hegseth and the US Senate just confirmed a UFC cage match thug to direct DHS.


#13 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-03-30 05:41 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

"It is amazing," Mohammad Khatami, the reformist cleric twice elected president, said in a March 18 statement, "that those who are capable and eager to achieve an honorable peace, if there is a way to achieve it, are being brutally attacked and assassinated."

TRUTHHURTS

We killed the head of the IGRC. His replacement, Ahmad Vahidi, is a despotic hardliner who seems to be firmly in control.

Who is Ahmad Vahidi?:

Mohammad Ali Shabani, the editor-in-chief of the Middle East news outlet Amwaj, said in a post on X that Pakpour and Salami, Vahidi's predecessors, were "schoolteachers compared to this guy".

"The man is brutal. Hardliners wasting no time filling vacancies thanks to Israel," Shabani added.

#14 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 05:55 PM | Reply

So, we've done regime change. The new Iranian regime, now run by the IGRC, is even worse.

#15 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 05:58 PM | Reply

The new Iranian regime, now run by the IGRC, is even worse.

Who can blame them? The hardliners have been saying since their beginning that America and Israel were out to destroy Iran. It turns out, they were correct.

#16 | Posted by horstngraben at 2026-03-30 06:10 PM | Reply

This is a repeat of the Peacock Throne.

After the US installed the Shah of Iran in 1953, his brutal SAVAK repressed dissent.

So much of the intelligentsia, middle ground, and civil society leaders were disappeared from 1953 to 1978 that when the Shah was finally deposed, only angry students (similar to the 1871 Communards of Paris) and religious leaders were left to take over the reins of government.

Hence Ayatollah Khomeini flew in from his French exile in Feb 1979, IIRC.

Someone related this anecdote to me last century:

"Christian" Bono from U2 angrily asked after a terrorist incident in Israel: "Well, where are the Dr Martin Luther King Jrs and non-violent dissidents for the Palestinians?"

A fellow Irishman nearby barked at him: "Dead or in jail, you bollicks!"

#17 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-03-30 06:12 PM | Reply

---- Bono

#18 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 06:20 PM | Reply

Meanwhile, the Marines are preparing their reserves that deployment is in their future

politicalhotwire.com

#19 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 06:25 PM | Reply

^ We can guess which one's the protestant and which one's the catholic.

#20 | Posted by horstngraben at 2026-03-30 06:27 PM | Reply

I was flabbergasted that an Irishman would ask such an idiotic question.

A pure example of selective sympathy.

Remarkable.

And last century I robustly danced to "Sunday Bloody Sunday" at one of their concerts-- not this one, but close enough.

www.youtube.com

#21 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-03-30 06:30 PM | Reply

Bono was against the revolutionary aspect of the Troubles.

Traitor to his people if you ask me

Up the RA!

#22 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 06:34 PM | Reply

Meanwhile, the Marines are preparing their reserves that deployment is in their future

politicalhotwire.com

#19 | Posted by truthhurts

Sounds like they're expecting casualties. "... (get your) personal affairs in order"

#23 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2026-03-30 06:37 PM | Reply

@19 JFC. This is The Guns of August redux.

Only one Congressman has a child serving in the US military-- he's an NCO in the US Army-- and ZERO children from the mega-oligarchs or the Trumpf Crime Family (TCF) are serving.

AIPAC-recipient candidates from both political parties better start looking over their shoulders this year or these lepers should start wearing disguises in public.

#24 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-03-30 06:40 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Trump willing to end war without reopening Hormuz'
The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials, is reporting that Trump has told his aides he is willing to end the war on Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed.

The WSJ reported that Trump and his aides have assessed in recent days that a mission to pry open the chokepoint would push the conflict beyond the president's timeline of four to six weeks.

Trump decided that the US should achieve its main goals of hobbling Iran's Navy and its missile stocks, and wind down the fighting, according to WSJ. The US would then pressure Iran diplomatically to resume the flow of trade and press allies in Europe and the Gulf to take the lead, it reported.

WOW

Trump is ready to declare defeat!

#25 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 11:00 PM | Reply

Trump is ready to declare defeat!

I wanna be... a TACO Man!

#26 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-03-30 11:03 PM | Reply

www.jpost.com

US President Donald Trump told aides he is willing to end the military campaign against Iran even if the Strait of Hormuz remains largely closed and leave a complex operation to reopen it for a later date, the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, citing administration officials.

The report mentions that Trump's first option remains to open the Strait by negotiating an ending of the war with the Iranian regime, while a second option would be to demand that its allies, especially the Gulf States and NATO, lead the operations to reopen the Strait.

Other military options are being considered by the US President, WSJ noted, citing the officials, but they are not currently his immediate priorit

#27 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 11:10 PM | Reply

Let's take stock

Piggy killed and old man and replaced a moderate Iran regime with a hardline regime

He blew up a bunch of stuff that can and will be replaced

Iran still has it's nuclear material

Iran

Got sanctions lifted

Got control of the Strait of Hormuz

Will be collected tolls, in Yuan for oil traversing the strait

Gulf states are now living in fear of Iran

World economy has taken a blow that will take years to recover from-how bad the damage will be will depend on Iran's requirements for the strait

We've depleted our stocks of crucial weapons

Israel has seized 1/4 of Lebanon and will be at war with them for a while-this is a big question as to whether we can declare defeat and leave as Iran may still bomb Israel and the Gulf States over that little war crime

Lots of infrastructure damaged

SOO MMMUUUUCCCHHHH WIIIINNNNNIIIINNNNGGG

Thanks magat scum

#28 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 11:15 PM | Reply

Meanwhile Hegseth's broker was trying to make trades on defense stocks on run up to war

#29 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 11:18 PM | Reply

Meanwhile Hegseth's broker was trying to make trades on defense stocks on run up to war

#30 | Posted by truthhurts at 2026-03-30 11:18 PM | Reply

www.thestreet.com

#31 | Posted by C0RI0LANUS at 2026-03-30 11:51 PM | Reply

Why Iran thinks they're winning:

THEY ARE WINNING.

#32 | Posted by DarkVader at 2026-03-31 11:40 AM | Reply

Because Iran knows it does not have to defeat America.

It only has to survive America.

#33 | Posted by donnerboy at 2026-03-31 11:45 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Iran's oil income has doubled since Feb 28.

"Steel wins battles, gold wins wars."

#34 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-03-31 12:03 PM | Reply

By the way I predict no winners in this war, only losers and bigger losers. Winners are the non-combatants like Saudi Arabia and China.

#35 | Posted by snoofy at 2026-03-31 12:04 PM | Reply

Lewzer lashes out at the UK and other countries, telling them to "go get your own oil" from the Strait of Hormuz. "You'll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the USA won't be there to help you anymore, just like you weren't there for us".

#36 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-03-31 01:24 PM | Reply

Drumpf is saying now that the Straits don't matter, that they are other people's problems.

And that the new leaders of Iran are more moderate now... which is the opposite of what experts say.

He's going into full TACO mode now that he's gotten gas prices well over 4 bucks a gallon.

#37 | Posted by Corky at 2026-03-31 01:33 PM | Reply

@#37

Trump tells The Post the war against Iran won't last much longer -- Strait of Hormuz will reopen automatically after US exit
www.msn.com

... President Trump told The Post on Tuesday that he believes the Iran war is likely to end soon and that other nations can reopen the Strait of Hormuz themselves -- after he posted to social media a video of huge explosions near Isfahan that he said hit "a lot of stuff."

"We're not going to be there too much longer. We're obliterating the s--t out of them right now, it's a total obliteration," the president said in a phone interview.

"But we won't have to be there much longer -- but we have more work to do in terms of killing their offensive, whatever offensive capability they have left." ...

Trump said that other countries can sort out the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has closed for 31 days, causing global energy prices to soar.

"Well, I think it'll automatically open, but my attitude is, I've obliterated the country. ...," he said ...

Pressed on a Wall Street Journal report that said he was willing to end the war without reopening the strait, Trump said: "I don't think about it, to be honest. ...



#38 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-31 01:49 PM | Reply

Iran has 'necessary will' to end war but seeking guarantees, President Masoud Pezeshkian says
www.euronews.com

... US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth said that the next days of the Iran war will be "decisive" while refusing to rule out US ground forces playing a role in the conflict.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Tuesday his country had the "necessary will" to end the ongoing war with Israel and the United States, but is seeking guarantees that the conflict would not be repeated.

"We possess the necessary will to end this conflict, provided that essential conditions are met, especially the guarantees required to prevent repetition of the aggression," Pezeshkian said in a phone conversation with the president of the European Council, according to a statement from his office, reiterating a key demand of Tehran's. ...



#39 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-03-31 02:01 PM | Reply

...but is seeking guarantees that the conflict would not be repeated.

That is not even possible. Neither is Israel being convinced Iran is not seeking a nuclear weapon.

#40 | Posted by REDIAL at 2026-03-31 02:05 PM | Reply

Israel should just give Iran a few of their upwards of 200 nuclear warheads... with note sayin, 'You first, MF'er!".

MAD werks for a reason.

#41 | Posted by Corky at 2026-03-31 04:07 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

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