day one-hundred thirty (13. 608)

At least as far as we know publicly, Mojtaba Khamenei’s absence from his father’s six-day funeral may signal shifting dynamics in the leadership of the Islamic Republic and questions of the legitimacy of his succession and authority. The US economic pressure campaign intensifies with more sanctions on Iran’s financial networks. A bill advances through the US senate to expand sanctions on Russia as Ukraine continues to strike Russian energy infrastructure, damaging tankers transiting the Azov Sea. The UK and the EU is reconsidering a scheme to allow voluntary tolls for the Strait of Hormuz as Washington seeks assurance from Tehran to stop firing on ships taking the American sponsored Omani route through the passage. The ceasefire is over, as Trump declared, but talks continue—though ready to destroy Iran in case of an attempt against his life with “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran with thousands more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Glove, to assassinate—or attempt to assassinate—the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case ME! ”