World War III Update

Chinese Electronic Surveillance Ship in the Persian Gulf

Here is my prediciton… Donald Trump will change his mind at least three times in the next three days. Trump did nothing to calm fears that he has lost touch with reality when his press secretary, Ms. Leavitt, announced that Trump would make the decision on US participation in a war with Iran within two weeks, since there was still a chance for negotiations. That makes sense. The Zionist crowd in Washington and Tel Aviv are chirping that Iran is just a week away from building a nuke, so Trump wants to delay action until Iran has a nuke?

This would be high comedy in a Monty Python sketch, but Trump is literally playing with nuclear fire. Some suggest he’s just doing his art-of-the-deal shtick, but creating uncertainty about his intent to start a new war with Iran strikes me as insane.

Making matters worse is that CIA Director, John Ratcliffe, reportedly told colleagues he believes Iran is pursuing nuclear weapon capabilities. He compared the situation to football players at the 1-yard line attempting to score a touchdown. This is a complete betrayal of the intelligence community and an insult to Tulsi Gabbard. In March, when Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, briefed Congress that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon, she presented the consensus judgment of the analysts from the CIA, the DIA, the NSA, Department of State Intelligence and Research, and the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency. If the CIA did not agree with the briefing presented by Tulsi, Ratcliffe should have issued a written dissent. Tulsi then would have been obliged to inform the Congress that there was no agreement within the intelligence community about Iran and its progress on building a nuke. That did not happen. What we are seeing now is Ratcliffe pandering to Donald Trump and undermining the credibility of Tulsi Gabbard.

Vladimir Putin made some news on Wednesday, while speaking to a group of foreign officials in Moscow, when he explained Russia had offered to sign a defense pact with Iran, but Iran declined to do so. According to Alastair Crooke, President Pezeshkian still held out hopes for improved relations with the West and believed that signing such an agreement would antagonize Washington. He now realizes he was foolishly naive. Putin has made it clear that it is prepared to help Iran defend itself by providing air-defense systems. I mistakenly believed that Russia provided some S-400 systems to Iran last October, but Putin said that was not the case. So far, according to Putin, Iran has made no request for additional assistance.

China and Russia spoke on Thursday about the situation in Iran. Both leaders “strongly condemn[ed] Israel’s actions” against Iran, stating they violate the UN Charter and international law. They affirmed that the current crisis, including Iran’s nuclear program and recent strikes, “must be resolved exclusively through political and diplomatic means." Xi called on “major countries”—implicitly the U.S.—to step up diplomatic pressure for de-escalation, seek an immediate ceasefire, and ensure civilian evacuations. Both leaders agreed on mediation efforts, with Putin offering Russia as a mediator—a proposal Xi endorsed "as a means to de‑escalate"—though China’s own statement did not explicitly confirm this. Ushakov added that Putin and Xi will “keep in close contact in the coming days”, particularly as the situation evolves.

But Russia and China are doing more than just talking. A senior Russian defense official arrived in Tehran earlier this week and met with Pezeshkian and his Iranian military counterparts. We have no readout on what they discussed. The Chinese, for their part, dispatched two ships — i.e., the PLA 815A and 855 Electronic Surveillance ships — to the Persian Gulf. 815A, for example, can track planes, missiles, guide missiles, and conduct electromagnetic interference and intelligence analysis. I do not believe that either country will remain passive observers if the US decides to launch an attack.

Israel erupted in a flood of crocodile tears today, claiming that the dastardly Iranians bombed a hospital. Man, talk about chutzpah! The Soroka hospital was damaged by a blast wave from an Iranian missile that directly hit the adjacent “Israeli army’s Command and Intelligence headquarters, known as IDF C4I, along with a military intelligence facility located in the Gav-Yam Technology Park.” No one in the hospital was killed by the blast wave.

This is a drop in the bucket compared to the carnage the Zionists have inflicted on Gaza. At least 36 hospitals in Gaza have been “bombed and burned” by Israeli military strikes since October 7, 2023. According to the UN Human Rights Office, between October 2023 and December 31, 2024, there were 136 confirmed attacks on 27 hospitals (plus 12 other medical facilities). The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that nearly 700 attacks on health care facilities occurred during this period—averaging about one hospital attack every 16 hours. Over 94% of all hospitals in Gaza are now damaged or destroyed, per UN statements.

Garland Nixon and I discussed Trump’s latest actions: