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Iran's NSC Statement Challenges US Military Dominance
Judge Napolitano interviews Alastair Crooke, 10 August 2026
I love your podcasts, but I wish you could provide a transcript. I can only very rarely take the time to listen all the way through. I can read an hour long interview in under five minutes.
Thank you.
It is interesting to listen to this interview. I have to look at this from as neutral a position as possible. I am looking at Iran's economy, and question the number of these advanced missiles that they have in inventory. It doesn't matter how clever they are, cost is cost, and even if labor is pennies versus dollars, the cost of materials is pretty much the same. So inventory is going to be controlled by money.
I would like to point out the Mecca agreement. It is NOT just about Israel. Pakistan is certainly NOT likely to be attacked by Israel. Turkey might be in time if necessary, and Saudi was expected to back Israel with money. I can't help but notice that Erdogan said the Mecca Accord is open to others in the Gulf community. Does Oman, as an example, have to worry about Israel? Not really. And as Alastair talks about the conflict between Yemen and Saudi, you have to remember what the Mecca Accord is about.
Now pivot to the war with Iran. I am tired of the same bull droppings that the US cannot win this war. The REAL issue is can the US fight the war that is there? Iran is confident in that it can and will weather this conventional war, and it is correct to say that the US cannot win this conventional war in the middle east. That does NOT say the US cannot win the war with Iran if it chooses to take the controls off of what it can or cannot do.
Trump's intermittent attacks into the Iranian infrastructure are probably quite effective in many ways. Alastair talks of the young, but the young are not the dominant group in Iran. They may dream of a renewed Persian Empire, and I want to remind people that this looks more like what the IRGC wanted than did Ali Khamenei. But as yet, the young do not dominate Iran, so disruption of meager to moderate internal supplies and energy will be far more aggravating for the older generations. Young people, in general, have little to nothing, and older people have struggled hard for what little they have. They WILL become disenchanted with the government in time, and that is NOT as completely on the IRGC's side as they think.
the real problem here is not Iran or the US, it is what this war is doing to the world in general. And I will not pretend that the US is faultless in what is happening, nor will I pretend that Iran isn't in the driver's seat on what is happening to the world. The US blockade is against Iran, the Iranian blockade is NOT against the US, it's against the entire world community. It is the entire world community that is suffering and you can pretend all you want that it is the US that controls what is happening in the Strait, but it isn't. Not a single ship exiting the Strait other than an Iranian ship or a ship carrying Iranian oil has been attacked by the US. If the US blockade is doing anything, it is keeping ships from entering an area that they cannot leave.
The fact that Israel has continued its attacks on Lebanon, the West Bank, and Gaza since the ceasefire started and Iran has demanded they stop but done nothing, suggests that their arsenal is not as great as we have been lead to believe by both the MSM and the alternative news. I question the content of those "missile cities." Again, you don't spit out high tech missiles and control systems for peanuts, by the dozen. I think Iran has been using its high tech against the US bases, and doesn't have the quantity available to prevail in attacking Israel, and they are aware of Israel's nuclear capabilities. Whereas the US can destroy Iran with nuclear, Iran knows it won't. Israel is another can of worms. It is almost like there is a backroom agreement between Tel Aviv and Tehran to leave Israel out of the attacks during the ceasefire.
And that brings us back to the Mecca agreement. I do not see the agreement as a defensive agreement between the 3 - and possibly more to join - countries solely against Israel - I think it is intended to stand against a budding "empire wannabe." The litmus test is being supplied by Yemen for both sides. We will find out fairly soon, I suspect, if there is going to be an effective defensive alignment as Yemen continues to expand its conflict with Saudi Arabia. I personally think this IS the reason for the agreement between Turkiye, Pakistan, and Saudi Arabia. There are two bullies in the middle east China Shop, not just one, and one is far more aggressive than the other. Israel cannot implement "greater Israel" without Armageddon, the dream of empire reborn, on the other hand, is not limited to Erdogan and Turkiye. It lies east of there as well.