Iran

[VAVol85]

Haha. The "admin tells CBS" is laughable

Reuters cites sources in Turkey; CBS sites administration sources; many places cite Axios who cites sources in the administration. Pretty sure no independent reporters were invited to sit in on the calls, so the best you’re going to get are unnamed sources and you will have to judge the credibility based on the agency doing the reporting.

Bottom line, you can laugh all you want, I don’t give a rats ass what you and @MontyPython believe. We will find out what’s happening later this week.

 

[FLVOL_79]

The popular theory is that Trump saw the market and oil futures overnight and created his own off ramp for his threats to bomb Iranian power plants by making up talks.

Hope he is telling the truth but don't know what to believe at this point

Trump TACO'd. That is all.

 

[FLVOL_79]

When the war ends does Trump add this to his fake tally of "wars ended"?

 

[OldVol]

Do they?

I believe they do. Their problem is they are the children of the 70s. The cell phone generations are the ones you see in the streets. The children of the 70s are the ones prosecuting this war. If it comes to any sort of conventional warfare, Iran is screwed because the ones who would be fighting it are the ones who are burning the images of the Ayatollahs.

 

[rekinhavoc]

https://www.iranintl.com/en/202603234812

He also claimed that the United States had been speaking to “a top person” in Iran, though not to the new supreme leader, and added that “we don’t know whether he is living.”

At the same time, Trump said the threatened strike on Iran’s major power plants had been paused for five days. Oil prices fell after his remarks, while Iran’s foreign ministry denied that any such talks had taken place.

But the importance of Trump’s remarks is not only in the news itself. It is also in what the statement is designed to do.

Trump is trying to achieve two things at once.

First, he is using ambiguity as a political and psychological weapon inside the Islamic Republic. By saying he has been talking to a very senior Iranian figure without naming that person, he is planting doubt and suspicion among what remains of the leadership.

In current conditions, that matters. Iran’s leaders are living in hiding. Command centers are disrupted. Communications are limited out of fear of interception and assassination.

Meetings are difficult, if not impossible. In that setting, a statement like this will be deeply unsettling. Each senior figure will now be asking: Who is talking to Washington? Who is looking for an off-ramp? What is being hidden from the others?

By naming no one, Trump makes everyone in Tehran wonder who is talking to Washington.

 

[rekinhavoc]

AI Overview



Based on reports from Iranian officials and religious authorities between 2023 and early 2026, a significant number of mosques in Iran are empty or closed due to a sharp decline in attendance and widespread disillusionment with the state-mandated religion.

• Massive Closures: Senior Iranian clerics and officials have admitted that roughly 50,000 out of 75,000 mosques in Iran are closed or inactive, largely due to a lack of worshippers.
• Widespread Disillusionment: The decline in attendance is attributed to the younger generation distancing themselves from state-imposed Islamic practices. Factors driving this include economic hardship, perceived corruption, and the use of religion to justify, as some perceive it, the oppression and humiliation of people.
• Low Attendance Statistics: In 2023, it was reported that roughly 70-80% of Iran's mosques lack permanent prayer leaders, and only about 30% of mosques regularly hold daily congregational prayers.
• Shift in Faith: Amidst the decline in mosque attendance, there are reports that Christianity is growing in Iran, with many converts practicing in underground house churches.
• Regime Response: In response to the empty mosques, the Ministry of Culture has called for increased mosque-based activities to try and draw people back, and there have been proposals to use mosques for public services, such as welfare distribution.
  ایران اینترنشنال +3

These reports, stemming from both religious authorities and reports on the ground, point to a deep, growing disconnect between the Iranian population and the ruling religious establishment.