{"id":8892,"date":"2026-03-25T03:26:52","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T08:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/?p=8892"},"modified":"2026-03-30T04:19:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T09:19:51","slug":"8892","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.acu.edu\/coatesn\/2026\/03\/25\/8892\/","title":{"rendered":""},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cIranian military says US is ‘negotiating with itself’ after Trump says Tehran wants deal ‘so badly’,\u201d<\/a> BBC, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cUS deploys troops to Middle East while pursuing Iran talks on Thursday,\u201d<\/a> i24, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n

There may not be recorded\/documented evidence.\u00a0 \u201cJudge Orders Records Search After Trump Ties Cole Attack to Iran,\u201d<\/a> NYT, 3-25-26.\u00a0 “The bombing of the ship by Al Qaeda killed 17 U.S. sailors in 2000. President Trump has said Iran was \u201cprobably involved.\u201d\u00a0 But we don’t know for sure.\u00a0 Until then, there are other known ties between AQ and Iran such as harboring.<\/p>\n

No ransom required for this tanker, but what about the others?\u00a0 Remember, if one thing is ingrained in the Regime, it is taking people and ships (and now oil) hostage.\u00a0 \u201cThai tanker passes Hormuz safely after coordination with Iran,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 3-25-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cA Thai oil tanker has safely transited the Strait of Hormuz after coordination with Iran, a Thai official and the vessel\u2019s owner said. \u201cThey responded that they would take care of it,\u201d Thailand\u2019s foreign minister said after requesting safe passage for Thai ships. The tanker was not required to make any payment and is now on its way back to Thailand.\u201d\u00a0 I suggest that someone close to Pres. Trump remind him of what Pres. Jefferson did with the Barbary Pirates, the first U.S. war after Independence.\u00a0 The Ottoman Empire and its four pirate deys along the northern coast of Africa held 20% of the new U.S. country’s budget paid to ransom for our ships to pass through Gibraltar and trade in the Mediterranean.\u00a0 What did the Navy and Marines do?\u00a0 That’s right.\u00a0 The other part of that story which is often not realized is that the countries of Europe, all paid the annual tribute payments for many years and were too afraid to fight.\u00a0 Many ships were taken and thousands of persons were taken into slavery or killed over the years.\u00a0 Thank you Pres. Jefferson.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Iran War, Cheap Drones Remain Wild Card,\u201d<\/a> NYT, 3-25-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIran was still able to launch 70 to 90 drones per day. That was down from more than 400 drones launched on March 1. \u2026 Many are intercepted. The Saudi Defense Ministry said on Saturday that it had shot down dozens of drones overnight, while sirens warned of another incoming attack in Bahrain. The United Arab Emirates\u2019 Defense Ministry said it intercepted three more ballistic missiles and eight drones on Saturday. \u2026 Estimates of how many Shaheds Iran had at the start of the war vary widely \u2014 from thousands to tens of thousands.\u00a0 \u2026\u00a0 There are many different models of the drone known as the Shahed, but the most commonly used is the delta wing Shahed-136, which is in many ways a slow, rudimentary cruise missile. Just over 8 feet wide and around 12 feet long, with a top speed of 115 miles per hour, it launches from a rail-based rack off the back of a military or commercial-grade truck. Once in the air, the Shahed has a range of up to 1,500 miles and uses GPS to find the target for its 90-pound warhead. All at an estimated cost of $35,000 per drone. To combat the threat posed by the Shaheds, Gulf States are firing interceptors that cost millions apiece and scrambling fighter jets that must slow down almost to stall speed to deal with the puttering low-tech machines. They also have Apache attack helicopters machine-gunning them out of the sky. Even if Iran\u2019s ability to manufacture drones were to be severely degraded, it may be able to count on assistance from Russia. Gordon B. Davis, a senior fellow at the Center for European Policy Analysis who served as a deputy assistant secretary general for NATO\u2019s Defense Investment Division after retiring from the U.S. Army as a major general, said in a briefing on Thursday that Russia was working to produce as many as 1,000 drones a day. Iran is not trying to defeat the United States in any traditional sense, Mr. Davis said, adding, \u201cIran has adapted quickly, targeting air defenses, radars and command-and-control nodes rather than simply trying to compete symmetrically.\u201d\u201d<\/p>\n

Yes, Ghalibaf is a likely suspect to be speaking for Iran.\u00a0 Also the FM, Araghchi.\u00a0 Not the president though.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGhalibaf warns US over troop deployments in region,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cPakistan passes US proposal to Iran as fighting continues,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 3-25-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTwo Pakistani officials said separately that Iran had received a 15-point US ceasefire proposal covering issues including sanctions relief, nuclear limits and access through the Strait of Hormuz, the Associated Press reported, though Iran has denied holding negotiations with Washington.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump\u2019s \u2018absurdly incoherent\u2019 Iran pleas leave allies befuddled,\u201d<\/a> Politico, 3-25-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIn practice, Europe could deploy destroyers to help Washington escort convoys through the strait, said Sidharth Kaushal, a senior research fellow and naval military expert at the Royal United Services Institute, since the U.S. only has around 25 of the heavily-armed, missile-capable type of vessel available to immediately deploy worldwide. Europe could also supply counter-mining capabilities, he argued, one area where the U.S. is\u00a0 \u201cquite constrained.\u201d Germany, Estonia, France, Romania, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Netherlands and the U.K. together operate roughly 40 counter-mine vessels, he said, compared to America\u2019s four.\u201d<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t want this to become a regional war.\u00a0 Russia does.\u00a0 Iran does.\u00a0 \u201cMoscow finalizing drone and aid assistance to Iran \u2013 report,\u201d<\/a> i24, 3-25-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDeliveries of humanitarian aid and drones reportedly began in early March and are expected to be finalized by month\u2019s end as Moscow moves to support Tehran.\u201d \u2026 If verified, the move would be the first known case of Russia providing direct lethal aid to Iran during the current conflict. Officials cited in the report say Moscow has already been assisting Tehran behind the scenes with intelligence sharing, including satellite imagery and targeting data.\u201d\u00a0 The Gulf states are going to remember they have been getting slammed by drones made not only in Iran but in Russia.<\/p>\n

So who else besides Ghalibaf and Araghchi is speaking for Iran?\u00a0 Leave it up to Iran International to tell us.\u00a0 And guess what, as some of us have predicted, it appears the IRGC now rules Iran.\u00a0 ***I suppose this is the moment Iran is no longer a theocracy but officially a military-led regime because Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr is the new head of the Supreme National Security Council.<\/strong> \u00a0I do, though, have the question if Zolghadr has asked the Pakistanis to ask Israel and the U.S. to protect his life, as they have accomplished (for the moment) for G and A.\u00a0 Which would be an embarrassment for a military leader to take such action.\u00a0 See \u201cZolghadr, the IRGC insider at the heart of Iran\u2019s power structure,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 3-25-26.\u00a0 Hmm.\u00a0 We will have to change the name from the “Islamic Republic of Iran” (it was never a republic) to the\u00a0“Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps of Iran.”\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>To mark this moment, I have pasted the entire I.I. article.\u00a0 \u201cA foundational figure of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr\u2019s rise signals not a shift, but a moment of clarity \u2014 the same hardline system, now accelerating and more visible than ever.\u00a0 The longtime hardliner is the new chief of the Supreme National Security Council to replace his slain predecessor Ali Larijani, state television said Tuesday.\u00a0 Zolghadr is not a new figure emerging in a moment of crisis, but a product of the Islamic Republic\u2019s original revolutionary security networks. A man whose career spans armed militancy, senior command within the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and influential roles across Iran\u2019s political and judicial institutions.\u00a0 \u201cHe is one of the last remnants of the radical revolutionaries that armed themselves against the Pahlavi monarchy,\u201d historian Shahram Kholdi told Iran International. A former deputy commander of the IRGC, Zolghadr belongs to the generation that helped transform the Guards into the backbone of the Islamic Republic not only as a military force, but as a political and economic power center. Over decades, the IRGC expanded its reach across the state, embedding itself in key institutions from the interior ministry to the judiciary. Kholdi traces Zolghadr back to the early networks that evolved into the Quds Force \u2014 the IRGC\u2019s elite unit responsible for managing Iran\u2019s proxy militias and projecting power across the Middle East placing him alongside the system later commanded by Qassem Soleimani, the architect of Iran\u2019s regional strategy.\u00a0 His appointment following the killing of Larijani underscores what many analysts see as an accelerating trend: the consolidation of power by hardline military figures. What has been a gradual shift over decades appears to have intensified amid the current conflict, with the Guards tightening their grip over both national security and political decision-making. The Quds Force, the IRGC\u2019s external arm, has been at the center of Iran\u2019s regional power projection, training and directing militias from Iraq to Syria, where it helped sustain Bashar al-Assad\u2019s war in a conflict marked by widespread civilian suffering.\u00a0 \u201cHe is part of the three to four thousand families that have been forming the power core of the Islamic Republic,\u201d Kholdi said. Zolghadr\u2019s rise does not mark a departure from that system, but a continuation of it, reflecting the enduring dominance of a tightly knit network of insiders drawn from the Islamic Republic\u2019s revolutionary and security institutions. His role in internal repression also stretches back decades. During the 1999 student protests \u2014 a pivotal moment in the regime\u2019s violent suppression of dissent\u2014 Zolghadr was among a group of senior IRGC commanders who signed a sharply worded letter to then-reformist President Mohammad Khatami. The message warned that if the government failed to decisively crush the unrest, the Guards would act on their own. The episode is widely seen as a turning point, marking a more overt willingness by the IRGC to intervene directly in politics and, for many Iranians, cementing the reform movement\u2019s ultimate failure. His political trajectory has long aligned with Iran\u2019s most hardline currents. He played a role in the rise of former hardline president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and later acknowledged that conservative factions had carried out coordinated efforts to secure that victory. In office, he adopted a confrontational posture toward the United States, warning that Iran would respond to any attack with overwhelming missile strikes. During the Iran-Iraq War, he led units he fought in cross-border operations, which is experience that would help shape the regime\u2019s enduring emphasis on asymmetrical warfare. According to Kholdi, Zolghadr was among those who helped design that doctrine alongside figures like Qassem Soleimani \u2014 building a decentralized system capable of operating even under sustained attack. \u201cThey created this asymmetrical hierarchy where units can act independently\u2026 and continue operating even if leadership is cut off,\u201d Kholdi said. That system is now visible in Iran\u2019s military posture, with dispersed missile and drone capabilities across the region. Kholdi also points to Zolghadr\u2019s deep institutional knowledge as a key factor in his significance today. \u201cThe fact that he hasn\u2019t been eliminated is bad news \u2014 he is one of the main people who knows a lot about how this system works,\u201d he said, adding that Zolghadr likely has insight into sensitive areas including the country\u2019s nuclear program. For ordinary Iranians, his rise is much the same as his predecessor Ali Larijani, who was eliminated in an Israeli airstrike overnight on March 16 in Tehran. \u201cNo, he is much the same,\u201d Kholdi said when asked whether Zolghadr differs from figures like Larijani. His appointment underscores a consistent reality: power in the Islamic Republic remains concentrated within a small circle of entrenched insiders \u2014 many of whom have been at the center of the system since its earliest days.\u201d<\/p>\n

For speed\u2019s sake, I am using initials of G and A and Z when looking at whose life is currently apparently protected.\u00a0 Uh oh, this is not putting them in well with friends.\u00a0 \u201cReports of Ghalibaf-Trump channel sparks political storm in Tehran,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cGroup behind European antisemitic attacks may be only a facade, warn experts,\u201d<\/a> AFP, 3-25-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cTargeting of Jewish sites in several cities raises concerns that Tehran may be behind newly-established, shadowy organization, already labeled \u2018Iranian-backed proxy\u2019 by Israel.”<\/p>\n

Attacks against Jordan by Iran continue.\u00a0 \u201cCivil Defense responds to thousands of incidents across Jordan in 24 hours,\u201d<\/a> Roya News, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe punish those who no longer allow us to control them\u201d seems to be the message.\u00a0 See \u201cIran missile hits Lebanon after Tehran envoy expelled from Beirut,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n

They are trying.\u00a0 \u201c50 arrested in northern Iran over alleged contacts with exile media \u2013 Tasnim,\u201d<\/a> Iran International, 3-25-26.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cIranian authorities have arrested 50 people in the northern Mazandaran province for allegedly sending information about military and security sites to the Persian-language broadcasters Iran International and Manoto, IRGC- affiliated Tasnim news agency reported on Wednesday. The arrests were made by the police intelligence organization in the province since the start of the war. The report said the suspects were identified through surveillance and technical intelligence measures. It also said arrests were being carried out across the country, including in villages and remote areas, and warned that those detained would face severe punishment.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIran launches missile attack toward Israel for 7th time in three hours | LIVE BLOG,\u201d<\/a> i24, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Narrow Path to a U.S.\u2011Iran Deal,\u201d<\/a> WSJ, 3-25-26.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cIranian military says US is ‘negotiating with itself’ after Trump says Tehran wants deal ‘so badly’,\u201d BBC, 3-25-26. \u201cUS deploys troops to Middle East while pursuing Iran talks on Thursday,\u201d i24, 3-25-26. There may not be recorded\/documented evidence.\u00a0 \u201cJudge Orders Records Search After Trump Ties Cole Attack to Iran,\u201d NYT, 3-25-26.\u00a0 “The bombing of the … <\/p>\n

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