🚨 LIVE: Mohammad Marandi - Israel Preparing for Iran Attack with US Ground Invasion

Well everyone, I want to welcome you to a very special episode of Let's Talk Geopolitics. My name is Cyrus Jansen and in today's important live stream, we're going to be discussing the latest updates from Iran with one of the best experts in the world.

Now, the situation continues to evolve every single week. We're well into our fourth month of this conflict and the most important thing is that the leverage has changed. The game has changed. We see many regions in the area are starting to be very concerned and new reports this week have now shown that Israel has actually made an attempt to actually, uh, stop these peace deals. Uh, there was also another report that came out that actually, um, came out and said that Israel is actually planning to attack several, uh, Iranian leaders who are actually going to the peace deals. And there are also rumors that a potential United States draft could be, um, underway sometime maybe in the fall and potentially a ground invasion. There's so many things that we have to discuss from Iran and of course, we're going to be bringing in the expert. So joining me now is Professor Morandi from Live from Iran and of course, my co-host Alex from Reporter F Media. Gentlemen, how are you this evening?

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you.

All right, Professor Morandi, I want to say thank you so much for joining us on this important day. I know this is a, a very difficult time in the country. I know the country is mourning the death of, uh, your, you know, Supreme Leader and his family, of course, that were taken out. Uh, just if you could just give us a little update from your end, you know, as far as the way things are going right now in, uh, in Iran and just kind of your, your thoughts on this weekend.

Well, thank you very much for inviting me. Uh, the funeral processions began yesterday, uh, for, uh, ordinary Iranians. Day before, there were delegates, delegates from across the world, including China and, uh, Russia and, uh, many Central Asian countries and the Caucuses and, uh, the subcontinent in particular. But, um, uh, yesterday, the, uh, funeral ceremonies began and, uh, we've had very large numbers of people attending and, uh, today, this morning, there were the prayers where it was definitely in the, uh, um, multiple millions. I've never seen such a crowd. It was actually at, uh, some point, uh, it was very well organized, better than I've ever seen before, but it was so crowded that, uh, I was just hoping that nothing happened and there was no stampede, otherwise it would have been very dangerous. So, um, but the, the, the funeral is, is ongoing and people, if they go to media outlets like Press TV or Alam or Al-Mayadin, uh, they'll, they have rolling coverage and people are going there 24 hours a day in very large numbers.

So the irony of it all is that the United States, uh, carried out an assault with the Israeli regime and with this broad alliance or coalition, uh, of NATO, as the Secretary General of NATO admitted they were involved, and regional countries. Um, this assault was to destroy the country in a couple of days, to, to bring about a collapse. And, uh, not only did it fail to do that, the United States and the Israeli regime and their allies and proxies lost the war, they lost the siege warfare, and they lost at the negotiating table. And today and yesterday, we've seen huge crowds, uh, gathering, uh, in the, in the many millions, uh, to pay their respects and they've united, uh, the country in a way which, um, I have never seen before.

Professor Miranda, you know, I want to extend, uh, my deepest condolences to you and the people of Iran during this week of national mourning. Uh, the assassination of the former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Kami by the US and Israel's government, I would say, is a horrific, lawless act of aggression. It is felt over here. I know the mourning over there must be just terrifying. You know, it's absolutely sickening to see this, to, you know, the toll this has taken on his family. Uh, before the show, uh, I was sharing some images with Cyrus. You know, the heartbreaking sight of his little granddaughter's coffin displayed among the victims. I honestly don't know how anyone could hold back the sheer anger and frustration over what the US and Israeli governments have done. I think, uh, you know, this desperate attempt at decapitation strike is just another failed attempt at the, uh, I would say, the Israeli US regime and their attempt to regime change, as they call it. It completely, uh, crosses the line and I just want you to know that, uh, we stand with you in grief and join in condemning this brutal violence in the strongest possible terms. And today, uh, thank you so much for coming on to this program and helping us understand what is going on in that nation. We see things on our western media that say the numbers are low. It's not that big of a turnout. We're going right to the source. You have said the, the turnout is, is absolutely astonishing. What is, is this, does this turn the page for Iran now or is there just so much resentment that, uh, it's impossible to move forward?

>> Well, thank you both for, uh, your condolences. Uh, I, I think it's very clear, uh, uh, with regards to the extraordinary numbers. Uh, fortunately, lots of international journalists are here. Some alternative media journalists that, uh, have much more credibility than mainstream journalists. I was with Max Blumenthal yesterday, for example, and, uh, he, uh, we did an extensive interview while walking towards the, uh, the place where the four martyrs of the, of Aait's family were, uh, were placed, uh, and, uh, you know, went to this morning when I went, uh, for the prayer, I was, uh, and I know you don't know the geography of, of Tehran, but I was actually to, to the south of the, uh, the complex where the prayer was held and the people have to be to the north of the, uh, body, uh, to pray behind the prayer leader. And I, and hundreds of thousands of people had no way of getting around the complex to pray behind the prayer leader. In other words, we, there were hundreds of thousands of us stuck to the south of the complex and we just listened to the prayers because, uh, we, we couldn't participate. That's how crowded it was. And, uh, we were all, it was like, you know, it was a very dense crowd. Uh, but, uh, all that aside, I think that, um, the, the, ever since the start of the war and the US and Israeli assault, and it began with, of course, the martyrdom of the leader and his family and some of his, uh, uh, companions. But simultaneous to that attack, they massacred 168 little elementary school kids, uh, mostly girls, um, in the city of Minab. And the United States has never taken responsibility for it and has never admitted, car, admitted carrying it out. In fact, they've tried to blame Iran for it. They've tried to imply that the Tomahawk missiles were Iranian at some point, and it was so bad that, when the, um, uh, the, I think the chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, uh, tried to claim that, uh, this was, uh, near a, uh, a missile base, uh, the, uh, Sky News journalist was actually there and was in the city of Mina for like two, three days doing interviews, and Sky News, of course, is by no means sympathetic to the Iranian people or the Iranian government, and he was so outraged that he said, we've been talking to people, we've been looking at around the, the school, the neighborhood, and there is no sign of any missile base. In other words, the Americans, uh, they just slaughtered all these kids and they, uh, they try to blame the victims. Uh, so this is, you know, this is what we've been dealing with since the war started. Uh, but I think this is a major turning point because when you look at all of the events over the past few months since the attack, uh, it's been all downhill for the United States. Obviously, the Iranians have suffered, uh, many martyrs, many factories destroyed, many, much infrastructure destroyed, schools, hospitals, apartment blocks brought down. Uh, in one apartment block, there were women, uh, volunteers in a neighborhood who were cooking for soldiers and they brought down the entire building on those women. So, uh, you know, that's the sort of enemy that the people were dealing with, uh, uh, and, uh, yet, um, you know, after this period of time and with the crowds that we, we've been seeing in Tehran today and in later in Iraq, because his body will be taken there, and then in the city of Gul and Mashad. So this will be a, a multiple day funeral procession both in Iran and Iraq. Uh, I think what we're going to see is, um, further, uh, signs that Iran has emerged significantly stronger, despite the destruction and the, the deaths, uh, than what it was before, and the United States is, is significantly weaker. I mean, all these millions of people who gathered in Tehran today and those who are going now and tonight and tomorrow morning and at midnight, all those millions of people who will be, uh, attending, uh, different parts of the funeral ceremony. Uh, they've been hurt by the war. They've been economically, uh, impacted by the war. Life is more difficult today than it was four or five months ago. Yet they were determined to go and participate, and it's, it was a, they declared a holiday. So these people could have just left Tehran, gone to the beaches in the north of Iran, gone to the forest, gone to the some other cities and enjoyed, uh, the weekend. But what they did was, in this, uh, heat of summer, they went and, you know, how big cities are getting around is difficult enough on normal occasions. Getting to this ceremony, uh, meant we had to walk for a couple of hours just to, just to get there in, in Tehran's heat, which, uh, in the height of summer can be at 40 degrees. I think it was like 35, 36, uh, today, which is, which is rather, which is rather good for the summer in Iran, which is okay. But the point is that, uh, despite all the hurt, uh, people are determined. That's a, it's a show of force. They went to the streets both to commemorate the leader, both to, uh, show, uh, how they felt about him, but also in defiance of the United States, in defiance of empire, in defiance of those who imposed war on the people. And, um, I think this is just going to make things more difficult for the United States in the, in the days and weeks and months ahead because imagine you're an Iranian negotiator. You have, you're going to the negotiating table and now you have, uh, you've, you've seen the millions of people going to the funeral. That is going to give you much more strength and, uh, much more leverage to deal with the United States.

Dr. Mirandi, why would Iran even negotiate with the Americans at this point? I mean, they have proven to be savages. Uh, if you sit down with Jared Kushner, I nickname him the undertaker. Uh, 48 hours later, you die, uh, by a strike. Uh, I don't see any motivation why the Iranians should even negotiate at this point. Uh, they have proven that, uh, the Strait of Hormuz has been quite a valuable strategic, uh, little device to use to slow down the Americans' approach. I'm going to bring up a graphic here and I would like your insights on this. I'm not sure if you can see it, um, but it's on our screen. So, it's Iran friendly forces and strategic nodes in the area here. I was really not aware until, uh, a gentleman, uh, brought this map up to me last week. But to me, um, really, Iran does hold the cards here with all the support in the area, the Iraqi support, the Syrian support, you know, uh, Israel, uh, on the side there, we have Hezbollah, Hamas, and then, uh, down a little bit, uh, below there, we have the Houthis. I mean, if anyone's landlocked, it is Saudi Arabia here in this one when it comes to distributing their oil. So, I mean, for the viewers here, everyone just thinks that there's this country Iran and it's in the Middle East and it's on its own and it's got no support, but clearly here visually, it looks quite powerful to me.

>> Well, except for Syria, you're, it's all correct. Syria, after the Americans brought Al-Qaeda and ISIS to power, >> that changed. But even in Syria, Iran still has a lot of influence because the, uh, the Al-Qaeda government, uh, really doesn't have that much control. They're very incompetent. They're extremists, and, um, the situation in the country is, is, is horrible. And so many different groups which, uh, have been traditionally close to Iran, uh, they still exist, but they, for the time being, they, they have their heads down. But you're absolutely correct. The Iranians and their allies, they control the Red Sea. They control the Strait of Hormuz. They have a presence, uh, across, a strong presence across the region. Uh, and what you said about negotiations is actually something that's debated in Iran and, uh, debated at the funeral and debated, uh, I mean, I went to the funeral twice. I went yesterday evening, uh, and, uh, I went this morning, and, uh, people, some people recognize me because of my presence on international media and on shows like your, your own, and they would come up to me and they would, some, even though I'm not a negotiator, some are mistakenly think that I have something to do with the negotiating team. I, I went once with them, just to help with media in Pakistan, but I'm not a negotiator. Uh, so some would argue with me, why are we doing this? Why are we negotiating with Americans? And, and a couple of them were, one yesterday and one today, were, were very angry, uh, uh, about it, saying this is a, you know, a betrayal or this is, uh, stupid or foolish or, you know, what in the world are you doing, and, and that sort of thing. And it is a legitimate argument. There are many in Iran who believe that way and many in, in Iran also believe that, uh, the current path that the, uh, that the state is taking is appropriate. I, I, there are different views, and that is one of the good things about Iran, and this is something that in the West, people fail to understand because western media won't let people know this, that Iran, we have different political parties, we have all different political factions, we have, um, we have the media is very open, uh, the, uh, critique and the criticisms of the government of policy are very severe, and, um, people, especially with regards to the, to the negotiations, have been very vocal. Many people have been very vocal about their opposition. The, what I would say is that while I agree with some of what they say and I agree with some of what those who are support the negotiations say too, I think both have valid arguments to make. I think that the reason why they're doing, they're carrying out the negotiations are, are important in themselves, in themselves. One is that Iran's friends, like, uh, in China, um, they, they want to see a deal, and so the Iranians don't want their friends, uh, in Greek countries, regional countries, Central Asian countries, to see Iran, which is the victim, and we should not start the war, and they don't want them to see Iran as the problem. And so when Iran is at the negotiating table, regardless of the results, that helps, that helps Iran a lot. And, and you recall last year when we had the 12-day war, Iran agreed to negotiate, indirect negotiations, because Iran did not want to speak with the Americans directly, out of, um, because of their mistrust. And, uh, so they were carrying out indirect negotiations, and then the Americans attacked. Now, in Iran, many people before the 12-day war believed that this, these negotiations will get nowhere, get us nowhere, and they were right. But they helped, uh, Iran's image immensely because Iran doesn't have any, you know, the media is in the hands of the West, and alternative media, of course, today has an enormous impact, but still western state media, western corporate media, they have enormous influence, even though they, the number of people who watch them have been decreasing. But across the world, uh, when they want to quote, let's say, when they want to gather news, they still go to these western media outlets, like in India or in Latin America or in, you know, the subcontinent or East Asia or West Asia. So they still have that sort of influence. And, um, when it was seen that the Iranians were negotiating, yet the Americans attacked, that strengthened Iran's, uh, hand with regards to, uh, the global majority and, uh, global public opinion. And then before this, uh, war, too, the Iranians repeated the same model. They agreed to negotiate indirectly. Oman was mediating, and again, the Americans attacked. The Iranian government, the state, they knew that the Americans were going to attack on both occasions, but they wanted to negotiate anyway so that they can be seen, um, as the victim that they are. I mean, if they hadn't participated, then the Americans would have said, well, if the Iranians had participated in negotiations, this could have been averted, and this could, this would have had an adverse effect both in Iran, because many people would say, well, yes, why didn't you negotiate? Perhaps we didn't have to go through this, you know, unfair war, but, though it's unfair, maybe you, through your mistaken, you know, your refusal to negotiate, um, you're partially responsible if you, if you. So this is a, you know, this is important. You want to have your own people on board, and you want to have the international community on board, especially as I said, since you don't have the media on your side, the mainstream media in this case, it's partially the same too. The Iranians wanted to negotiate because their friends wanted, uh, Iran to negotiate also. They wanted ordinary Iranians to see that Iran is not seeking war, it's not a warmongering regime, as they like to call it, and, uh, and that strengthens Iran's hand. Uh, but the Iranians, when the agreement was signed, even though it was favorable to Iran, they knew that the United States was not, had no intention of implementing the deal, and that is why Iran is also playing hardball. Iran, as you know, the number of ships that pass through the Strait of Hormuz are, are limited still. The Iranians are slowing it down. Most of the, the Americans are trying to force ships to go through, they're mostly tankers. So, but still, when you look at the, the, the number of ships that are going through, they are much smaller in number than they are on ordinary, in ordinary circumstances. So Iran has this leverage both in the Persian Gulf. This Strait of Hormuz, it has, it's rearming itself. It's preparing itself. It sold a lot of oil during this, uh, ceasefire period, which I'm sure you have, uh, been following, because they had a lot of tankers that were stuck, uh, because of the siege. They, they filled the tankers, but they couldn't leave, and then they sent them off immediately as soon as the ceasefire deal was, uh, agreed upon. So they've been able to make substantial amount, substantial amount of money, bring in new, um, um, you know, needs of the country, uh, import them through their ports, which were shut down for a while. They've been preparing themselves for war.

>> I, I want to bring up a slide here, um, and I just want to know if this is true or not. Um, this is the Iranian president. He is saying that he told the Iranian, this is allegedly now, this is a western media source, so, that told the Iranian Supreme Leader that he would resign from his post if he rejects the agreement with the US. Is there any truth to that?

>> Well, there, there have been rumors of him, uh, seeking to, to resign, but it goes back, I think, even before the war. He, he is the sort of person who, uh, I think he, he feels that, I think he feels that he was very unlucky in being elected as president because I, I don't think he ever expected to be president, and ever since he became president, >> uh, he, he hasn't been the most fortunate of leaders. War and, you know, war after war and sanctions and, um, and sieges and, and, and that sort of thing. This has never been done in public, and not, I don't think it was, uh, there's been any, uh, threat to resign for a particular issue like if this deal wasn't signed, uh, that they, that he would resign. But, uh, he, he does have that sort of personality. He's a, he's a person who, I think, uh, probably regrets being, uh, elected president of the country. But that's not really what the ultimate calculations are. The Supreme National Security Council, the leader, um, they, their decision to, they were not going to agree to the ceasefire. I, they were not going to agree to the, uh, if you, I'm sure you recall, uh, and because there were, there were significant differences between Iran, the Iranian position, and the American position, and, uh, Iran refused to budge. And then Netanyahu bombed Beirut, and Iran was on the verge of bombing Israel, and then it was, uh, then Trump immediately capitulated and accepted key Iranian demands and filled that gap that existed between Iran and the United States, and that's what led to the, uh, and one part of it was Lebanon, another part was the siege on the Strait, on the Strait of Hormuz. The Americans were going to lift it after a month, but they immediately lifted it. There were some, there were some substantial concessions that Trump gave, uh, in order to prevent Iran from striking Israel, and that led to Iran accepting the deal. So the deal wasn't accepted because anyone threatened to resign or, um, or the government had a particular position. And at the end of the day, that event that, uh, caused Iran to accept the, uh, was, uh, Netanyahu's foolish act in Beirut, and then Iran's response being imminent, that caused Trump to accept the, the Iranian demands, and the deal was signed.

Um, I've read this, uh, and I'm quite puzzled because it looks like Iran has won on every point here. And I'm going to focus on point three here, the economic and sanctions relief. Now, if I'm to believe, uh, this is the Americans lifting sanctions. Now, to do that, you would probably also connect Iran back to the, um, Swift banking system as well, that money can flow, especially if you are supposed to sell oil in dollars. Um, so it says the immediate oil export waivers, the release of frozen assets, it's their money, it's Iran's money, they should get back $300 billion in reconstruction fund, permanent sanctions termination, and status quo safeguards. So to me, after all this horrific fighting, and, uh, for the US government that says that they have a knife to the neck of the Iranian military, that agreement shows a much different story. So adding to that, what we hear in the West is we always hear Iran has inflicted 47 years of terror. So maybe first, if you could clarify what that 47 years of terror means, because I'm still trying to find answers for that. And has the US, uh, pretty much capitulated in this agreement?

>> Or sorry?

>> Yeah, what, what you stated.

>> Yeah, what you stated was a, I mean, the agreement is in two parts. The, uh, is in two parts, and ultimately, if there's a final agreement, >> then you'll see some of these, uh, uh, these, these things happen. But at the moment, we're in the first stage. So, the US is supposed to, uh, release 12 billion of stolen Iranian assets, uh, to, uh, to lift sanctions on Iran's energy exports, and to lift the siege and to end the occupation of, of Lebanon. Uh, and, um, so far, in, in, they, the Americans have, uh, done a couple of things. They've lifted the siege. They've lifted the sanctions, uh, on Iranian energy exports, but they haven't released Iran's funds, and I don't know if that is how that is going to play out. But the Iranians, on the other hand, they can sort of slow down the pace of shipping that goes through the Strait of Hormuz too. So Iran has its own leverage. If the Americans hurt Iran, the Iranians hurt the Americans. But ultimately, if all these are played out, then they go on to negotiate the nuclear program, which they're not doing now because the Americans haven't carried out their side of the bargain. They would negotiate the nuclear program and the sanctions, all the sanctions, and then we would have that comp, that, uh, final deal. But we're not there yet. Uh, I, I think it's a, it's, I think the very fact that the Americans signed this agreement shows the weakness of empire. I think Iran obviously has the upper hand. Although I don't believe this war is over. We are at war in a way. It's, it's economic warfare. It's, uh, they're, they're, and in the, in the Strait of Hormuz, and I mean, on multiple fronts, they're, they're in conflict, and it, we could go back to hot war. So, I, I would, if I was a betting man, I wouldn't, uh, I'm, I'm not, but I wouldn't bet on war not, uh, uh, you know, the military attack by the United States not happening. I wouldn't bet on that. I, I think it's, there's a chance, a significant chance that by the end of the year, the Americans will attack Iran. And that's why the Iranians also wanted the, uh, too. They wanted to be able to export oil, import goods, and prepare themselves for a potential, uh, war by the Americans. I don't think it's, I'm, I'm sure the Americans would fail. The Iranians are more confident about their position today than they ever were before because they won a war against the United States and its alliance, and that gives the country more confidence. And, uh, and also their experience in this war has, uh, is going to help them prepare themselves for, uh, for any potential future conflict. So I don't think the Americans will win a war, but I think that the Israelis may push them to war, or the Zionist lobby may push them to war. But about Iran in the last 47 years, uh, one thing that I can tell you, I think last time we discussed that book, Going to Tehran, and I, I thought I advised your, your viewers, uh, to, to purchase the book, to read the book, by Flint and Hillary Mlever, both worked in the White House under George W. Bush. It's Bush. It's a very good book. Uh, he, the husband resigned over the Iraq war. So, they're both knowledgeable scholars. They're American. They worked in the White House, but their book on Iran is very good, and it deals with many of these myths. But, um, during the past 47 years, three wars have been waged on Iran at the behest of the United States. Saddam Hussein's invasion of the country, where the West gave him chemical weapons. I survived two chemical attacks, a mustard attack and a nerve agent, I think in 1984, 1983, 1984, because it's, I know the Iranian calendar, the Iranian calendar is different from the Western calendar, um, than last year's war, the 12-day war, and this war. But Iran has never actually launched a war against a foreign country for almost 300 years. And, so when they speak about terror, all you have to do is go to, um, uh, Iranian cemeteries, and you'll see that, uh, the dead from our war from Saddam Hussein, or last year's war, this year's war, or terrorism or armed insurrection in this country has taken a huge toll. And, uh, I, I did a, a walk through a, a cemetery, uh, uh, the, the Tan War cemetery a couple of years ago, maybe last year, a year and a half ago, with Max Blumenthal. And I, I explained this in detail, and he, uh, he published it on The Grayzone. It's, it may be worth watching if people are interested. And I explained that our graveyards are full of people who died because of US policy. But the United States doesn't, its graveyards are not full of people who've been died at the hands of the Iranians. I mean, whenever the Americans complain about Iran, it's Afghanistan. Well, they occupied the country, and they have to attribute some agency to the Afghan people, or Iraq. Again, when they occupy a country, they do have to attribute agency to the people of Iraq. They can't just say it was the Iranians. They illegally occupied the country. And also Lebanon. And the Americans blame Iran for, uh, the death of 240 or so Marines there. But the fact was that they were illegally occupying that territory, and the people of Lebanon wanted them out. In fact, they were there when the Israeli regime invaded Lebanon and cap, and ultimately they captured the capital of Lebanon, Beirut. And they were so brutal back then that President Reagan, President Reagan, of all people, said what the Israeli regime was doing in Lebanon was a holocaust. So, I mean, it's amazing right now after what they've done to Gaza, they, in the Western media, they still won't call it a genocide, but Reagan said it was a holocaust. And, so the people of Lebanon were resisting foreign occupation. And Reagan, to his credit, did the right thing after the soldiers were killed. He, he pulled out of Lebanon instead of doubling down like Trump and like, you know, like this current regime in Washington. He just saw that this was not smart, and he, he immediately left. So it's not as if Iranian soldiers have been, or the Iranians have been, you know, taking over countries surrounding the United States or invading them. The United States invaded countries in our region, and the people of the region, uh, resisted, and the United States wants to blame Iran for the fact that people don't like foreign occupiers in their country.

>> Right. Yeah. Dr. Dr. Morande, you've, you've provided us some amazing insights and, you know, this is why we're so honored to have you on the show because this is, uh, really getting down to the deep, deep structural problems that we're seeing in, in just the framing in Western media. And I want to talk about a couple points you mentioned. Um, you'd mentioned, you know, just the similarities, actually, I find is very interesting because Alex and I are both in, in China. Uh, we, we know that actually some similarities. For example, there's multiple political parties here in China. Uh, there is a very big expression, you know, again, towards the government if there's policies that need to be changed, if there's changes that need to be made. Uh, there's an interesting thing you mentioned about why Iran wants to negotiate. You talked about the importance of, you know, really helping out their partners, China is certainly one of them. Uh, the Iranian government has come out and saying that, uh, China will get special considerations in any new Hormuz, uh, fee agreements, you know, so again, we're seeing that strategic shift. U, you know, again, China having a lot of leverage. This is something that I mentioned at the start of this war, that, um, you know, there was a big, there was a big narrative being driven in the US that this war is not about Iran. It's actually trying to weaken China. That's our goal, right? If we can cut off China, we're going to weaken them. The United States, we're going to emerge so much more powerful. And I said, no, actually, from it's going to backfire, and again, you might find this funny. In China, you know, we have a saying for Trump, he's called Tiangua, that's his nickname, which means to build a country. You know, a lot of Chinese actually say, thank you, Trump, because you're actually, every policy you do, whether it's the tariff war or launching a war in Iran that you can't win, usually backfires and actually helps China get better and stronger in the future. But you, you mentioned something important. You mentioned that, you know, most Iranians, or a lot of people, are believing that there will be an attack from the United States, uh, in the future. I think we've seen JD Vance, vice president, he recently came out and said that they're trying to use this, uh, as a time to really stockpile the the reserves of oil. He, and he said, he actually kind of gave some clear indication here. He said, you know, if we can get those oil reserves back up in the future, if there's a conflict, it's not going to inflict this, you know, pain on the global economy. So essentially, I think what he's really referring to then is, you know, we're going to use the 60 days, we're going to try to gain as much oil as we can in those reserves that, you know, we could potentially double down and launch, you know, another invasion and really an escalated conflict. I would imagine that the, the sentiment in Iran is that you have to prepare for an Israeli or an American attack in the future. What is the country doing right now, almost considering the fact that, you know, that it's coming? It's, it's definitely going to come. I, I think we see Israel will continue to push the United States and Donald Trump towards this. Uh, and I, again, we've have some some experts saying that there's going to be a ground invasion in the fall. I mentioned that at the very start of our thing. So what is that sentiment and how are, how is Iran preparing for that next move from the United States?

Well, first, I, I just like to, uh, stress on what you're saying about China. And, uh, I've traveled to China many times, and I've traveled to Chonin as well. And if you compare, I mean, it's a city that I, most people have in the West have never heard of, but it is an extraordinarily advanced city. And compare it to any city in, in the United States or in Europe, it's, it's decades ahead in my opinion. And the case, the same is true about, um, many cities in the country. I, uh, I'm, every time I go to China and I visit a new city, I'm astonished, really, as to how developed the country is. And obviously, they must be doing something right. And probably one of the things that they're doing right is, is not engaging in wars. Uh, it seems that it has a positive impact on, uh, the livelihood of people in that country. It, I, I don't know why, but it seems to have a positive impact. Maybe if, you know, the Americans had spent all those trillions of dollars on war, instead of spending it on war, they'd spend it on, on the American people, perhaps it would have had some sort of positive impact on, on the life in the United States. I mean, when I was a kid, I, I, I, I grew up in the United States till the age of 12. I can't say I'm an expert on the United States, but as a child over there, the United States was, was what China is today. Uh, I remember when we went, uh, to, and went drove through the Lincoln Tunnel, and that was like, you know, extraordinarily, you know, advanced, uh, uh, engineering technology that was used to create that tunnel when we drove through it. Of course, it didn't seem much to me because it was like underground, so I was a kid. I didn't, I, I, I couldn't, quite, uh, uh, appreciate what had been done. But in any case, it was a major technological advancement at that time. The United States, is, is the infrastructure that that existed when I was a kid, it's still functioning with that infrastructure. And the Chinese, which had nothing back then, or very little, now they are decades ahead of the United States. So, the, the, the Chinese way obviously has major advantages over the American, and that attracts, uh, Iranians, that, that makes it a, a partner that is attractive to the Iranian people because they see that China is not a threat to Iran. In fact, Iran and China have had thousands of years of relations. The Silk Road, uh, linked Iran and China both by land and by sea, and, uh, there is no historic, there's no history of war and violence between Iran and China. Yet, as I said, in the last 47 years, the United States helped attack you, or attacked Iran itself three times. It also participated in Saddam Hussein's war against Iran during the last months. It carried out a coup in Iran. It supported the Shah. You put all that together and compare that with what China has done to Iran, and obviously it makes China much more attractive. So, um, that's one issue. The second is that, yes, when, when, uh, the US Vice President makes such openly, uh, outrageous remarks that, yes, we're not sincere about negotiating. Yes, we're lying. Yes, we don't have the intention to have peace. We're just buying time. That is actually hurting the United States more than anyone else because it's telling the world that, you know, you shouldn't trust us. It reminds me of what Pompeo said, we lie. When he was the head of the CIA, he said, "We lie, we cheat, and we steal." And, uh, Vance is basically telling that to the global, and there was a lot of coverage of, you know, when he said this, because people across the world were, uh, were became worried about war. And you're right, the Iranians are preparing themselves. They, uh, they are, uh, expanding their underground military bases. They're, uh, their missile cities, their drone cities. They're building new, uh, missiles, new drones, incorporating new technology, bringing in new technology into into their missile and drone systems and anti-aircraft systems and anti-missile systems. And they are, uh, rebuilding their stocks. They're replacing thousands of, um, of decoys that were destroyed by the Americans. Many of those decoys are Chinese-made, and they're extraordinarily good. They, they even produce heat. So that when, and the Americans have, and the Israelis bombed many thousands of decoys, which costs nothing, almost, for Iran, and a lot for them. So the Iranians are preparing themselves for war. I'm not saying that war is inevitable, but I think the chance of war is quite substantial. I don't think it will probably last as long as any pre, previous war, because I don't think the global economy and the US economy can tolerate this. I mean, even if Vance wants to increase stocks, I mean, the, the, the global energy shortage is very significant, and opening the Strait of Hormuz for a few months is not going to, uh, bring things back to normal. I think that if there's another war, the, the fragility of the global economy today and in the weeks and months ahead will be much greater than before. And Iran is more powerful than it was back then. Economically, no. Iran is, has been hit. It is hurt. That's why Iran, one of the reasons why Iran had a best, had an incentive to sign the, uh, so that it could export oil and, you know, help people in this time of difficulty. But, um, uh, if there is another war, I think, uh, there will pro, quite possibly be a land offensive, uh, because after the ceasefire, the Americans brought in lots of, uh, equipment, and Iranian mil, the Iranian military say that a lot of that equipment is for land offensives. It is for troops, and so it, but now it's very difficult for the Americans because it's very hot in the Persian Gulf. You both, I'm sure you know the region very well. It's very hot and humid in the Arabian Peninsula. It's not at all good for American equipment either. But the sandstorms and the heat and the humidity, but after three months, when the temperature cools, uh, there's a possibility that there will be an attack and a land event, but it's not going to succeed. And I think the only reason why the Americans would do this is what is because of what you said, and that would be the, is the Zionist lobby pushing. Again, we have to go back to what Joe Kent said in his resignation letter. He was the head of U counterterrorism, a Trump appointee. When the war started, he resigned, and his, in his resignation letter said, Iran is not a threat to the United States. Iran is not developing a nuclear weapon. This is a war that's been carried out because of the Israeli regime and the, and the Zionist lobby in the United States. And so if there's going to be another war, it's going to be those same forces that impose it on the United States.

Um, Cyrus, uh, I just wanted to just jump in here for a quick sec. Uh, yesterday I had a meeting here in Chongqing with a gentleman that, he ships furniture from China. And you and I, we always, we, we host this show, uh, Let's Talk Geopolitics, but it always involves the business aspect to it. This gentleman had said that he's been in the furniture business from shipping furniture into the Middle East for the last 10 years. And in the last three months, his business has been turned upside down. Uh, containers that used to go to, for example, Qatar from, uh, the ports of Shinjzhin or even Shanghai have gone up over 200%, and still delayed to this date, he has not been able to ship. So we are seeing that there are going to be repercussions. Of course, the first people that get dragged out in all of this is the small business owners, or mid-size business owners. This is where it hurts. We saw what happened with Apple just recently here, shockingly, said to the market, look, with all the leverage we have in Apple, prices are going up, guys. And I think this is a direct hit to what has happened in this region. We see on paper, we see, you know, okay, the price of oil, it's down to 72, 74, but that's not landed refined oil, is that refined for diesel, as you mentioned, earlier last week. You know, this has the ability, even if there's not a, a ground invasion, to still send ripples through the, um, financial markets worldwide. We haven't seen the end of this, I will call it trade yet. Now, another point, again, you mentioned China. The most important thing that I would like to ask is, you know, China does have representation in the region there. Its first and only, uh, established military base in, uh, Djibouti. I mean, this is quite a strategic area here. It's there to secure its maritime, uh, Silk Road. It's also there to protect, of course, Chinese citizens abroad, and it's also there to, you know, be there in case there are choke points. Dr. Randy, has there been any mention of China's, uh, representation within that region? Is, does anybody even know that there's a Chinese military base out there in that region?

>> It is known that China has a base, but unlike the United States, which has 850 or so bases across the world, China has, I think, >> I don't, I'm not quite sure, one, two, or three bases. Uh, yeah, so that, uh, itself is, is very significant. But, you know, one of the benefits that, one of, one thing that happened, and I know both of you know this, but I'm just saying this for your audience, is that Iran never closed the Strait of Hormuz. And, uh, it was only closed to the ships that were linked to the Kuwaitis and the Saudis and the Emiratis and the Qataris and the Bahinis, the regimes which were involved in the war against Iran. But, uh, Chinese ships or Russian ships, but it was mostly Chinese ships because they have a huge, you know, their fleet is enormous. Chinese ships were always going through the Strait, uh, and, uh, except for a number of days where there was, there was fighting near the Strait, uh, where the, it was completely closed. But throughout this four months, their ships have been passing through all the time. And that just shows that when you are not a country that wages war, that you are peaceful, that you want to do business, you reap the benefits. And, and the Yemenis, the Houthis, as they called them in the West, when they shut down the Red Sea, uh, because of the Israeli regime's genocide in Gaza, uh, as I'm sure you recall, they allowed Russian and Chinese ships to go through. So it was only the West that, uh, lost out because of their support for genocide. So when you're a peaceful country, you benefit. When you're a, a, a warmongering country, you, you gain more enemies. So while China, the world has been hit hard by the war that was imposed on Iran by the United States, China itself, uh, was suffered less because, uh, its shipping companies were functioning almost, uh, as they usually did. Not quite, but, uh, they were treated very differently. Um, and, but you're, you're also, you're absolutely correct. As I said earlier, the number of ships

that are going through the strait are are much fewer in number. I think they're like 1/3 to 2/5 of what we had before. And they're mostly tankers because that's what the Americans want most. But, you know, when you don't export helium, then that's why Apple gets into trouble because, uh, helium is used. Um, I mean, I learned this after the war. It's not as if I knew this beforehand. Uh, or what the limited information that I have about, um, uh, about crude oil and and and diesel and all that, that's that's that's what I've learned during the past few months. But, uh, the the shortage of helium, the shortage of all the petrochemical goods that are produced, uh, in in the Persian Gulf, the shortage of fertilizer, all of this is going to have long-term consequences. And the shortages are growing because again, the there's a limited number of ships that are passing through the Strait of Hormuz as we speak because of US behavior. If the United States had implemented the deal, if they had implemented the JCPOA to be more precise, then the Strait of Hormuz would have been more open to trade. But the Americans simply cannot behave normally because the Zionist lobby will not let them do so. So if the Americans had, uh, had forced the Israelis to leave Lebanon and if they had, um, and stopped the the genocidal attacks completely, even though I mean, they've they've stopped most of the killing, but they're still occupying Lebanon now, but they, if they had forced them to leave, and if the Americans had released Iranian assets, the number of ships that right now would be passing through the Strait of Hormuz would be double what it is now. So the American government brings it upon itself by obeying the Zionist, uh, by being obedient to the Zionist lobby and, um, so and and and so while diesel, there there's a there will be a problem with diesel, uh, but the problem, the other problems are going to be much more long-term and, uh, they're they're continuing to grow because as the helium shortages grow more, as the fertilizer shortage grows, as all these other shortages grow, that's going to have a very enormous impact on the world. So, they may be able to in the long term ease the problem with, uh, diesel fuel, but, uh, other shortages are continuing to grow.

Yeah. You know, one of the things you mentioned there that was really interesting and, um, you mentioned the fact that China really likes to invest in itself and the fact that it, because it has not been involved in a war, has been a very big strategic advantage for the country long term. Uh, it was very funny because we actually saw Marco Rubio, Secretary of State, actually come out and say the same thing. He said, "Imagine if Iran were to just invest in its country and and not, you know, be addicted to this war. Imagine what the what the country could be like today." And actually, it was very funny because somebody had tweeted that, wow, the jokes just write themselves, you know, this is literally, you know, how China has risen and it's a question that all of us in America ask, you know, if, if we, you know, what, what if we actually invested back into the people because, you know, America is a great place, you know, we have a lot of thriving businesses, but it's a big corporation, right? You have these billionaires and trillionaires now, you know, you have, uh, you know, everything is run when we look at our president of the United States making billions of dollars in crypto schemes and then saying this is great. You know, everybody wins in crypto. You know, we want to be the king of crypto and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. In addition to that, you know, we can control the markets by whatever we say and yes, I have my sons sitting on the board, um, which is great because they actually work with insider information, you know, because their father's the president and it's just remarkable this this contradictions, the hypocrisy. And again, it's the average American that has just left and, you know, not not benefiting from this society at all where, uh, agreed. Great. I'm actually, interesting enough, professor, uh, I was in Chongqing last week with Alex and so we had a chance to see that miraculous city firsthand and like you had mentioned earlier, it is it is amazing when you have a country that just invests in itself and really doesn't have that addiction to war. Um, you know, another interesting point I want to bring up, I want to make sure all of our viewers know, um, 92% of Israelis in a recent poll, this is Israeli media, have said that Iran has won the war. Uh, so that is that is the sentiment right now in Israel. Uh, overwhelming majority of people and again, 92% that is not, uh, any other source, that is a direct source from Israeli news saying that the sentiment there is 92% feel that Iran is in a much better position. So I think, uh, we're looking at a very interesting time here. We're seeing that, uh, Netanyahu, uh, his popularity in the country is going down. Uh, they obviously are continuing to occupy Lebanon. Um, what is the opinion right now, you know, with the Israelis and, you know, is there a big worry that that they are going to be the biggest hurdle to any type of longstanding peace in this region?

>> Oh, no doubt, no doubt. And, uh, but the problem is that Netanyahu has just really done more damage to the Israeli regime than, uh, Iran or anyone else could ever do. Netanyahu has, um, in order to stay in power, he, he needs crisis and that's why the these multiple wars continue. But what it has done, it is that it has destroyed the Israeli regime's image across the world. It's seen as genocidal. The global economic problems that we're seeing emerge today, they're being blamed on the Israeli regime. Uh, Americans don't like Israel. Young Jews in the United States don't like Israel. We saw the Democratic Party's, uh, primary elections in, uh, New York, how in Jewish neighborhoods, uh, candidates that were pro-Israel, they all lost. It was a clean sweep. And, uh, and Jewish and anti-Zionist Jews, Jews were voted in and and and others who were anti-Zionist. And, you know, the United States much better than I. New York is a has a high, a very large number of of Jews, the Jewish population. So, and and to the and this is very much to the credit of young American Jews and many older Jews, but primarily younger Jews because not only are they propagandized like all other Americans, it's the most propagandized country in the world, uh, to to support this genocidal regime, but they're also propagandized from within their own community. The Zionist lobby, the Zionist institutions in the United States, they're they're propagandizing their own youth, Jewish youth. But despite that, you see them turning against, um, this regime. And so this is terrible news for Netanyahu. It's terrible news for for the Zionist project. And, uh, and I think that the longer this continues, the the worse it becomes for the Israeli regime and the more the closer it, uh, I believe I don't believe this this Zionist project will last. But, um, but I think that the Israeli regime, uh, especially under Netanyahu, will continue to push the United States towards conflict. If Netanyahu is removed from power, the alternatives are just as, uh, genocidal as he is. But they, that may that change may provide them, uh, with an excuse to back down in Lebanon and on other fronts, and to blame Netanyahu for the failures. U but we'll see. But for the time being, I think that the Israeli regime will continue to to push the United States towards greater war. But there's also another factor that's very important, and that is, uh, Ukraine. The war in Ukraine is becoming, uh, a much more dangerous war. And as you know, the Iranians supported the Russians from the beginning for a host of reasons. The Iranians did believe that the the coup in Ukraine and the assault on ethnic Russians in eastern and southern Ukraine, uh, were immoral and that the the regime was not legitimate, but also Iran was opposed to the expansion of NATO. Not because, if I'm sure you recall, alongside NATO is also there was also Georgia that was supposed to become a part of NATO. And then if Georgia had joined, then it would be Azerbaijan and Armenia. Then Iran would have been effectively surrounded by NATO to the north and to the northwest because Turkey is, of course, a NATO state despite Erdogan pretending to be independent, but he's very much in the NATO camp. So Iran supported, uh, Russia and if, and you recall, the first place where Iranian drones became famous were in the war in Ukraine. And, uh, I should also add here that the West was always ridiculing Iran for its drones once upon a time and its missiles and, uh, and, uh, but these underground cities and these drones and missiles and Ayatollah Khamenei, he created this, this, uh, defense strategy. This is what led to the defeat of the the superpower and its coalition. But, uh, Iran's drones began to be used first in Ukraine. So the the Russians supported the Ukraine. The Iranians supported the Russians. The Russians also have supported Iran. And now with intensification of the, uh, the war in Ukraine, I think that's going to have an impact on our region too. Uh, it's going to make it more difficult for the United States to, uh, to deal with both conflicts simultaneously. And, uh, I think both the Iranians and the Russians will be coordinating in, uh, some way or form in the way in which they, uh, conduct them their themselves and their military and their alliances and and and how they work with their allies, uh, in in Europe and, uh, in West Asia. So, it's going to be, I think, even if the Americans want to revive war against Iran, it's going to be more difficult if the Russians are going to intensify the attacks on, uh, Kiev or advance on Kiev or Kyiv or Odessa and, uh, and other parts of Ukraine. I think this year is going to be a, the next few months in Ukraine is are going to be decisive. I think that the Americans are going to be and the Europeans are investing a lot more than, uh, than before and the Americans are investing a lot more than we're being told.

>> The, uh, from my understanding, the CIA is funding, is putting a, I mean, the, uh, Pentagon has sort of pulled out, but the CIA is putting a lot of resources into Ukraine. So I don't think it's an ideal moment for the United States to go after Iran again for all these reasons. The global economy is much more vulnerable, uh, because of the war and another war could could sink the the global economy very easily. But at the same time, Russia is, um, Russia is, uh, uh, it is determined, uh, to bring about, uh, a change on the, uh, on the Ukrainian front.

>> Yeah. You know, professor, I, I wanted to talk a little bit about what you mentioned about the the image of Israel and kind of the movement in the United States. You know, it is July 4th, um, in in the United States and just yesterday, obviously, big 250 years celebration and was interesting. I was in, I was on Instagram and, you know, I was in, you know, looking at some political content and just going through some videos and it was very interesting the the kind of sentiment that I had saw on there where a lot of Americans said, you know, we're supposed to be celebrating our 250th birthday, but I feel we're an occupied land. We're ruled by this, uh, small country in the Middle East that, you know, owns our politicians, owns our government, you know, determines our foreign policy. I'm not really sure how I feel about celebrating this country on our important day. And, you know, and I also saw some more positive, uh, reels where, you know, where there was a Instagram reel was very interesting where it was a Jewish man in New York and he was on a playground and he said, you know, you finally meet another Jewish man that is not a Zionist. And they both opened their t-shirts up and they had the free Palestine. And so you're seeing the kind of engagement on these posts are hundreds of thousands of likes, you know, you know, tens of millions of views. And I'm like, wow, this is a this is a big change. And we see the polls coming out for young Americans, uh, you know, you know, the favor, you know, favorable views of Israel declining steadily, you know, with that. You mentioned that the elections happening in New York where, you know, the pro-Zionist candidates, all of them losing across the board, clean sweep. So I think that Israel has a very difficult PR program right now. U you know, trying to sell their vision or trying to sell, you know, whatever it is they're trying to sell. American people are not buying it right now. And there's a big change that I'm seeing here. Uh, you look at that, you factor in the Ukraine war. You factor in, like you mentioned, the global economy. This is not a pivotal, this is not a good time right now, you know, strategically wise for the United States if they're going to try to escalate this conflict. And like you said, you know, Iran has a lot more leverage than it had, you know, on February 27th. You know, the game has changed in that Strait of Hormuz that never really was, you know, a part of the equation, you know, now seems an inevitable part of the equation, you know, for the Iranians, you know, for the foreseeable future, probably forever, you know, really, if we're being honest. And so I think, uh, it's it's going to be a very interesting second half of the year as we're looking into these conflicts continue to develop. And just want to say thank you so much for your absolutely incredible insights. I'm going to pass it back over to Alex to to kind of close this out and you've been so generous with your time. I know you're a busy man, especially, you know, attending these funerals multiple days and I just want to say it's been an abs it's an absolute pleasure to just listen, most importantly, learn from you as well, professor.

>> Well, thank you.

>> You're very kind. It's a great pleasure to be on your show.

>> And thank you, uh, Dr. Morandi. Um, I just wanted to mention one more thing. You know, your point about the escalation going on in Ukraine. I've been down to the Donbas to the front line, uh, last May. I've seen the horrifying attacks that were, you know, shot on the eastern part of Ukraine, you know, and I asked a, uh, I got in quite a heated discussion this week. Um, Cyrus was there. We won't mention, uh, with the other party, but it was a discussion where I simply said, when a missile is shot from Kyiv and it lands into the eastern part of Ukraine in the year 2014, where's that missile landing? In Russia or Ukraine? And it is Ukraine. And that is the end of the argument from that one there, um, moving forward.

>> We all remember.

>> We all remember. And sorry for interrupting right after the, uh, what happened in Odessa and how they burned people alive, uh, in a building simply because they were opposed to the coup and they were, Odessa is an ethnic Russian for the most part. So, it's clear what they were doing to the Russians. And, uh, you know, I hate war and I, I, I rather this the war in Ukraine and all wars come to an immediate end. But at the end of the day, uh, the Russians have much more justification for this war in Ukraine than the Americans have against Iran. The Americans have absolutely no justification when, as I said, this is the third war that they wage on the Iranian people and they helped, uh, chemical weapons, Saddam Hussein being provided with chemical weapons, and I survived that. It's, I, it's something very personal to me. But, um, but, you know, even Joe Kent, someone who was close to Trump, said there's no, you know, there's no justification at all. And, you know, the thing is that, uh, Iran and the United States could have had a very different sort of relationship despite the past. If the United States had behaved differently, we could have had normal relations. We could have had business ties. You know, in in Iranian schools, our second language is English. Um, many young Iranians go to the West to study. Um, many Iranians have, uh, relatives in the United States. Um, there is, I mean, the the cultural influence of of well, Hollywood, less nowadays than before, but in previous decades, uh, when Hollywood was perhaps more effective and more attractive. Uh, US American cinema had a great deal of influence. Uh, American, uh, music had influence, but, uh, they chose the the path of confrontation and, uh, it's again goes back to the the Zionist lobby and the Israeli regime that, uh, pushes these two countries in this direction and it's only costed the American people, uh, you know, it costed the Iranian people the lives of their children, but the American people have lost financially a great deal as well.

Well, thanks again, Dr. Morandi, and we will check in with you in the next few weeks. Hopefully, everything's going to be calm over the next little while here. And again, uh, we mourn for your nation that is going through a difficult next few days. Appreciate your time again. And once again, we will do everything in our power throughout our new media or alternative media to bring these horrific things that have happened here over the last few months to light so that the viewers can see it in a more balanced way. Thanks again.

>> Thank you very much for inviting me. It's a great honor.

>> Thank you.

>> Thank you. Thank you. Well, Alex, um, another fantastic discussion with, uh, the one and only Dr. Morandi. Alex,

>> Yeah, I mean, it's, it's always, uh, you know, I think it's an educational lesson for us as well, you know, as we're always trying to bring in the experts and really try to get you guys the best insights from on the ground. And, you know, it's, it's, it's really amazing when you can when you can connect with the professor from the University of Tehran who's on the ground, you know, again, attending the funeral, not once, but twice, you know, hundreds of thousands, some people say millions of people, you know, really attending this, uh, you know, funeral procession. Uh, it reminded me of, um, you know, in Singapore when Lee Kuan Yew died, you know, 80% of the country showed up, you know, to, you know, to celebrate his life. And I think it just shows, you know, there's there's a lot more than what we get exposed to in the West. I mean, Alex, a big story that just happened today. Uh, you and I were talking about this earlier. Um, Europe has now passed a law that says anybody that if you are to be able to reshare, if you even even if something is resharing or posting anything from Russia today, RT, uh, you are now going to potentially be arrested for that. Uh, so this is a blatant violation of free speech. I mean, we basically said, uh, there is nothing that is able to come from RT and that is, uh, remarkable. Um, you know, I saw some big Twitter posts on this today. I was doing some research on that and it's just, uh, quite amazing how they are going down this road of of the censorship. But, you know, we're grateful for alternative media. You know, we're glad that we can have YouTube channels like this and, you know, programs like Let's Talk Geopolitics that you guys can bring you the insights that you're never going to find on the CNN and BBC. Cyrus, I just want to bring in, uh, one last point here. Uh, we spent a few days here in Chongqing together. Um, got some great video content coming out. Uh, not going to give it away, guys. Not going to give it away at all what we get up to here in the city, but you will see it come out on the platforms here. Um, but Cyrus, um, when we did our walk around the city, I just want to bring in, uh, a slide here. Chongqing automakers report strong H1 growth. Changan is a very popular company here in Chongqing. It delivered, and we're always hearing this overcapacity, as we hear, 1.19 million vehicles in the first half with overseas deliveries up 35.1% to 402,000. Seres sold 196,580 vehicles while its NEV business grew 3.8% 8% driven by AITO models, which I personally been in. They're amazing, and Huawei backed smart EV technologies. Um, you know, I just want to say again, um, we see these vehicles everywhere in the city. We hear the same old narrative from, uh, you know, Western media, the same punchlines, overcapacity, China's potentially dumping these cars on the market because they're massively subsidized. Hey, my mom's in the in the market for a subsidized car. Bring it on. I mean, your thoughts. We walk the streets of this city for a few days. How is your feeling about Chongqing? Every year you come back. This year, you're what was it? A year later or second year later? Time flies, I can't remember.

>> Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, guys, we do have a a really great walk and talk that we did in Chongqing and it's spectacular. We, um, you know, have some really great footage for to share with you guys and that'll be coming out here within the next week or so. Uh, but, you know, Alex, I think, you know, Professor Miranda really hit the nail on the head there. You know, when you are standing in a city like Chongqing, um, I'm going to go on record and say it's one of the most spectacular skylines, uh, in the world. I, I think it can compete up there with any skyline that you'll find. But it's more importantly, you know, Alex, we hear those things like, you know, Chinese can't innovate. They have no creativity. They're a copycat nation. And you look at that skyline and you look at the topography of the land. It's a, it's a, it's one of the most unique cities in the world just on how it's built on the side of mountains. So you have all these staircases and, you know, unique architecture that is really uniquely Chongqing. But it's impossible to stand where we stood looking out on that skyline and not just be amazed at what China's been able to build there and how popular this has become. I mean, we saw loads of foreigners. There were so many foreigners in Chongqing, people from around the globe coming to that city, you know, really wanting to experience, you know, the new modern China. A big testament to you and your team there. I know you've been personally, uh, you know, working hard, you know, with Chongqing and putting that on the map with social media for the last five, six years. But, you know, Alex, it's, um, it, it's amazing because we hear the overcapacity and I, I think overcapacity is one of the biggest false narratives in geopolitics today. Um, every country has overcapacity. The United States of America has an overcapacity of iPhones, hence why we sell them to countries around the world. France has an overcapacity of Bordeaux wine. Uh, Norway has an overcapacity of salmon. Uh, we can go down the list. I mean, this is basic economics, guys. But, you know, a headline that caught my attention, Alex, was, you know, China has a personal assault on the German auto industry. They don't have an assault. It's not like China is going out there saying, "Let's take down the German auto industry." It's just the simple fact that the Chinese 25 years ago, Alex, again around the year 2000, you know, maybe '99, 2000. So 26, 27 years ago, China set out and said, "Look, we want to be the world leader in electric vehicles." This is not a decision they made a, you know, two years ago. This was nearly three decades in the making. And they invested, they, and don't forget, they also invested the most, the biggest successful EV company in the world, Tesla. And they had Elon Musk be a very big part of that ecosystem. And so again, you know, this is the strategic thinking of China. It is definitely the long-term vision and I think, um, it's exciting because the biggest thing is is, you know, I went to Azerbaijan last year and drove a BYD for the first time. Fantastic automobile, super popular, even in a country like Azerbaijan that has tremendous oil. So, uh, you know, the cost of petrol is very affordable, very cheap in Azerbaijan. Even that said, you know, the electric cars, you know, much less maintenance, more reliable, uh, they can't keep the cars on the shelf. You know, when I was filming that video, Alex, it was funny because I, I was like, "What about this model? What about this model?" It's like, "Yeah, we can't keep one in the showroom because as soon as we get one, it's out the door." So, uh, we can't have that in your video, Cyrus, cuz we don't have one. As soon as it comes, it's out the door. Uh, but, you know, it's exciting. I mean, I think guys, you know, Alex and I are very passionate about telling China's story. Obviously, we host Let's Talk Geopolitics to talk about everything from Russia, Ukraine, um, you know, obviously the Iran war. You know, we've had an unbelievable thing of stories, Alex. I mean, Venezuela, we've had, you know, to, you know, was it Greenland as well, potentially under attack? I mean, we've had so many different stories. Uh, we feel like a a decade worth of geopolitical stories in the first six months and it's not slowing down. You know, totally slow down. So, you know, Dr. Morandi mentioning the Ukraine conflict. I think that's a definitely cue for me to resend, uh, my email to Mr. Ritter to cue him up for next Sunday. Scott, if you're watching, we need you here, buddy. Next Sunday. But don't worry if Scott's not in the seat. We got somebody else that, uh, can, uh, stand in for him. But my goal is to get Mr. Ritter on the program next week. Cyrus Jansen, what an amazing pleasure to have you here in Chongqing. Miss you already, buddy. I'm going to let you, uh, take the show out.

Okay, pal. Sounds great. Well, everyone, I just want to say, um, you know, Let's Talk Geopolitics. You know, we've been very consistent over the last three months, you know, building the show up. A lot of, a lot of effort, you know, for Alex and I and our team, you know, to try to bring you guys the best graphics, the best quality show. A lot of great comments tonight from people saying, "Look at the quality of guests you're bringing in, the video production." This is our passion. You know, we want to help tell China's story to the world, but also, you know, break down the the biggest trending geopolitical stories. Um, I do have a really important video up, guys, out. So, it's coming out tomorrow night, uh, basically about, uh, you know, 22 hours from now. Uh, it's about the AI race between the United States and China. I've did a ton of research on this. I'm really excited to bring this story because I believe that China is going to pop America's AI bubble. I have some absolutely fascinating data behind this. I really did a deep dive into this, Alex, and I'm super excited. So guys, make sure you come back tomorrow night. Check out this new video on my channel. I'm super excited to launch this because, you know, China is winning the AI race and if you don't believe me, I've got the data to prove it and I've got a banger video that's coming out tomorrow. I'm so excited to, you know, share that with everybody. But yeah, we're going to try to reach out to Scott Ritter, get him on the show for next week. If not, we're going to get another high quality guest. But most importantly, we're going to bring you guys the best insights that you need. So, if everybody can like, you know, drop us a comment down below and just, uh, help us get out the stream so we can continue growing Let's Talk Geopolitics into, you know, the top geopolitical show that we're going to come and bring every single week for you.