#iran nuclear programme

I give 20:1 odds we go to war with Iran before January 20th

5:1 odds we bomb Iran and come to the brink of war, but they don't retaliate because they think the incoming administration will try to undo the damages

4:1 odds that Trump has to be escorted from the White House by secret service

100:1 odds they have to drag him out kicking and screaming. Odds are in his favor that he'll go quietly once the guards come. He'll walk out surrounded like a mob boss, he'll wave to the cameras and flash the double Nixon victory signs as he boards his private helicopter to Mar a Lago.

2:1 odds that he never formally acknowledges Biden's victory. I mean not only will he not concede, but he won't even talk about it, he'll say give a speech about how his first term is expiring and he’ll be leaving office, but he’ll pretend like he doesn’t know anything about his successor.  He’ll die before he says he lost and Biden won.  No calls, no letter in the Resolute Desk, no organized transition, Biden is left completely in the dark.

3:1 Pelosi introduces a bill to formalize the transition period between presidents, but McConnell refuses to vote on it

59:1 there are a significant number of faithless electors to change the outcome

6:1 there is at least one faithless elector, but the outcome doesn’t change

The Middle East has seen ceasefires before. It has seen diplomatic breakthroughs before. It has even seen moments that looked like the beginning of peace. Yet history has often turned those moments into temporary pauses rather than lasting solutions. That is why the emerging US-Iran peace deal is being viewed with both optimism and skepticism. After months of military confrontation, attacks on…

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi. File | Photo Credit: AP Iran said on Saturday (October 18, 2025) that it was no longer bound by restrictions on its nuclear programme as a landmark 10-year deal between it and world powers expired, though Tehran reiterated its “commitment to diplomacy”. The 2015 deal — signed in Vienna by Iran, China, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and the United States…

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/s-korea-summones-iran-ambassador-over-newspaper-article/

S.Korea summones Iran ambassador over newspaper article

Seoul (Times Of Ocean)- South Korea summoned Iran’s ambassador after a hardliner newspaper suggested Iran must block oil shipments route from the Strait of Hormuz, exporting to South Korea.

In an Op-Ed, Kayhan Newspaper, whose editor is appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader, has called on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz to block routes of vessels carrying oil shipments to South Korea.

Yeo Seung-bae, the deputy foreign minister of South Korea, summoned ambassador Saeed Badamchi Shabestari on Monday. Kayhan’s editor Hossein Shariatmadari had written: “We can and must close the Strait of Hormuz to South Korean cargo ships and oil tankers and all ships that carry South Korean commodities … and not allow them to navigate through the Hormuz Strait as long as they have not paid their $7 billion debt to our country.”

Kayhan Newspaper is Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei echo chamber as it is financed by Khamenei’s office.

Shariatmadari stated the nations which comply with US wishes and obey the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran should not be spared the consequences and high costs of their actions.

“Let’s start imposing sanctions on South Korea.” Hussein Shariatmadari

“As long as they do not release our assets, we can and should close the Strait of Hormuz to South Korean merchant ships and tankers, as well as to all vessels carrying goods or oil to or from South Korea,” he wrote.

“We should not allow them to cross the Strait of Hormuz.”

According to Yonhap news agency, Shabestari explained that Kayhan did not represent the Iranian government. South Korea says Seoul would like to see the money transferred but given US sanctions it needs Washington’s agreement.

A spokesman for Tehran’s foreign affairs ministry said Monday that arrangements for repatriating Iranian assets were “none of Washington’s business.”

Iran has once again threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to the freezing of Iranian assets in South Korea.

Keyhan’s chief editor, Hussein Shariatmadari wants to block close the most vital oil-trading route – located between Iran and Oman – so that nobody can export oil to South Korea.

Iran’s assets — about $7 billion — are frozen in two South Korean banks, which can’t be moved because of US sanctions.

Iran has repeatedly threatened that it may close a vital oil-trade route if the West imposes more sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme.

It was last in 2019 that Iran threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz if it could no longer export oil through the Persian Gulf waterway.

In January 2021, Iran detained a Korean tanker and in April 2021 banned imports of some Korean home appliances – apparently as a means to bring pressure on Seoul.

“If we are prevented from using it, we will close it,” Ali Reza Tengseiri, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps naval force, was quoted as saying by Iran’s Fars News Agency in 2019. “If there is any threat… to Iranian waters, we will not hesitate to respond.”

Iran repeatedly warned that “not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz” if sanctions are widened.

In 2011, then-Iran’s navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari claimed closing the strait would be “easy”.

FTO-IRGC threatens Azerbaijan and Turkey with its missiles

During the past week, Iran’s IRGC seized two foreign vessels loaded with smuggled diesel in the Persian Gulf waters, Times Of Ocean quoted Iranian news agencies.

Iran’s media say the Commandos with the naval force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have seized two foreign ships in the Persian Gulf, which were carrying more than 500,000 liters of “smuggled fuel”.

Over the past years, Iran has seized dozens of tankers, merchant vessels, and ships sailing in the regional waters in retaliation against Western financial sanctions.

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/iran-threatens-to-close-strait-of-hormuz-oil-route/

Iran threatens to close Strait of Hormuz oil route

Tehran (Times Of Ocean)- Iranian newspaper says we must block oil shipments route from the Strait of Hormuz, exporting to South Korea.

In an Op-Ed, Kayhan Newspaper, the echo chamber of the Islamic Republic’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, has called on Iran’s Revolutionary Guards (IRGC) to close the strategic Strait of Hormuz to block routes of vessels carrying oil shipments to South Korea.

Iran has once again threatened to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to the freezing of Iranian assets in South Korea.

Keyhan’s chief editor, Hussein Shariatmadari wants to block close the most vital oil-trading route – located between Iran and Oman – so that nobody can export oil to South Korea.

Iran’s assets — about $7 billion — are frozen in two South Korean banks, which can’t be moved because of US sanctions.

Shariatmadari stated the nations which comply with US wishes and obey the sanctions imposed on the Islamic Republic of Iran should not be spared the consequences and high costs of their actions.

“Let’s start imposing sanctions on South Korea.” Hussein Shariatmadari

“As long as they do not release our assets, we can and should close the Strait of Hormuz to South Korean merchant ships and tankers, as well as to all vessels carrying goods or oil to or from South Korea,” he wrote.

“We should not allow them to cross the Strait of Hormuz.”

Iran has repeatedly threatened that it may close a vital oil-trade route if the West imposes more sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme.

It was last in 2019 that Iran threatened to block the Strait of Hormuz if it could no longer export oil through the Persian Gulf waterway.

“If we are prevented from using it, we will close it,” Ali Reza Tengseiri, commander of Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps naval force, was quoted as saying by Iran’s Fars News Agency in 2019. “If there is any threat… to Iranian waters, we will not hesitate to respond.”

Iran repeatedly warned that “not a drop of oil will pass through the Strait of Hormuz” if sanctions are widened.

In 2011, then-Iran’s navy chief Admiral Habibollah Sayari claimed closing the strait would be “easy”.

FTO-IRGC threatens Azerbaijan and Turkey with its missiles

During the past week, Iran’s IRGC seized two foreign vessels loaded with smuggled diesel in the Persian Gulf waters, Times Of Ocean quoted Iranian news agencies.

Iran’s media say the Commandos with the naval force of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps have seized two foreign ships in the Persian Gulf, which were carrying more than 500,000 liters of “smuggled fuel”.

Over the past years, Iran has seized dozens of tankers, merchant vessels, and ships sailing in the regional waters in retaliation against Western financial sanctions.