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Showing posts with label Zulfiqar Ali. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Zulfiqar Ali. Show all posts

Larry Johnson & Pepe Escobar | Trump Tried to Buy Iran's Revolutionary Guard IRAN REJECTS TRUMP'S BILLIONS IN BRIBES | Transition Protocol Aug. 20, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
Trump's White House tried to buy off Iran's Revolutionary Guard with a multi-billion-dollar offer modeled on the Venezuela playbook — and got refused twice, first by IRGC commander Vahidi, who called it treason, and then by Pakistan's Army Chief Asim Munir, who told Trump directly that Islamabad would not help destabilize Tehran's leadership.

In this episode, Zulfiqar Ali, Pepe Escobar, and Larry Johnson break down the failed bribery attempt, China's directive to Pakistan to prioritize its Iran relationship, and why the collapse of the US–Iran memorandum of understanding is now pushing Washington toward open discussion of a nuclear strike on Iran.

The panel also covers the global diesel and aviation-fuel shortage triggered by the Strait of Hormuz blockade, the UAE's public cutoff of trade with Iran days after reportedly sending Tehran billions in cash and gold, and why Oman and Qatar are now openly rejecting US pressure over who controls the strait.

This episode is built on direct reporting from sources inside Tehran and Islamabad and lands the same week the US–Iran MOU formally expired (August 17–18, 2026), with Iran declaring a shift to a fully offensive posture on Hormuz.

Zulfiqar Ali reports with direct access to decision-making circles in Islamabad and Tehran; Pepe Escobar is a veteran geopolitical analyst covering Eurasia and the multipolar order from the ground; Larry Johnson is a former US intelligence and State Department official providing military and strategic analysis. Transition Protocol is a serious, source-driven geopolitical and economic analysis channel focused on evidence-based reporting and high-signal breakdowns of global power shifts and their financial consequences.

Pepe Escobar | EXCLUSIVE: Trump’s Secret Iran Backchannel COLLAPSED-Pak Army Chief Refused Trump’s Request | Aug. 18, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
The U.S.-Iran Memorandum of Understanding has expired — and this episode reveals exactly why. Pepe Escobar and Zulfiqar Ali break down two secret back-channel plays Washington ran to bypass Pakistan and reach Iran’s military command directly, why IRGC leadership refused both times, and what Iran’s newly appointed #2 official signaled by shifting toward "offense."

The conversation goes deep on nuclear-normalization talk reportedly circulating in Washington, Iran’s retaliation posture, Pakistan’s damaged mediator role, and the upcoming BRICS Summit in New Delhi where Iran, Russia, and China’s presidents are expected to meet.

Pepe Escobar is a globally recognized, veteran geopolitical journalist with decades of on-the-ground reporting across Eurasia; Zulfiqar Ali hosts Transition Protocol with direct sourcing inside regional decision-making circles.

This is Transition Protocol — independent, source-driven analysis of the shift away from a unipolar world order. Subscribe for continuing coverage of the Iran-U.S. standoff, and join our Substack for twice-weekly deep intelligence briefings

Larry Johnson | BREAKING: ”Iran Is Done Playing Defense”-Insiders WARN of a Strike on a US Warship | Aug. 17, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
Iran has moved from defensive to offensive posture — and sources in Tehran and Islamabad tell Transition Protocol the next step under discussion is an attack on a US Navy warship. Meanwhile, the American fleet enforcing the Iran blockade in the Strait of Hormuz is running out of food, having lost its forward resupply warehouses in Bahrain and Oman and half its fast combat supply ships to a decade-old budget cut. Today the US–Iran MOU officially expired. Larry Johnson and Zulfiqar Ali break down what happens next.

In this episode: why Donald Trump threatened to bomb Oman, and the Hormuz transit-fee agreement that likely triggered it; why oil moving off ships is reportedly changing hands as high as $260 a barrel while the tanker ETF has gone from $67 to $387 since February; why the global diesel and aviation fuel shortage cannot be solved by pumping more crude; how BRICS, China’s CIPS payment system and six new Pakistani overland routes have made sanctioning Iran into isolation impossible; why the Turkey–Pakistan–Saudi Mecca pact cannot fight for 12 to 18 months; and what was reportedly discussed about the nuclear option at Camp David this weekend.

Larry Johnson spent 27 years in US intelligence and counterterrorism, including the CIA and the State Department’s Office of Counterterrorism, and has run joint military operations planning for over two decades.

Zulfiqar Ali reports with direct visibility into decision-making circles in Tehran and Islamabad. Transition Protocol is a serious, source-driven geopolitical and economic analysis channel focused on evidence-based reporting and high-signal breakdowns of global power shifts and their financial consequences. Some claims in this episode are source-based and developing; each is identified as such on screen. Nothing here is investment advice.;

Pepe Escobar | EXCLUSIVE: UAE Flew GOLD SECRETLY to Tehran,Iran's Warning: 2k ATTACK Boats Are Waiting | Aug. 15, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description: 
Iran has reportedly given Washington a matter of days — not weeks — to change course on the Strait of Hormuz, according to Pakistani and Iranian mediation sources detailed in this Transition Protocol special. I
n this breaking-news episode, Zulfiqar Ali and Pepe Escobar break down MBS's second phone call blocking a revamped US strike on Iran, the UAE's stunning gold-and-cash outreach to Tehran, Pakistan and China's central role as mediators, and Iran's readiness — including a reported 2,000-boat swarm fleet — to defend the Strait of Hormuz if diplomacy fails.

Pepe Escobar is a veteran geopolitical analyst and journalist covering Eurasia, BRICS, and multipolar world affairs for over two decades; Zulfiqar Ali hosts Transition Protocol, a source-driven geopolitical and economic analysis show reaching audiences in fourteen languages. This is analysis and source-based reporting — claims marked DEVELOPING or UNVERIFIED are clearly flagged throughout.

Larry Johnson & Pepe Escobar | Breaking: Exposes Bessent's Dumbest Claim Yet Trump Says “Total Control” Iran Says No | Aug. 12, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
Strait of Hormuz irrelevant in two years? Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said so on Aug. 8, claiming pipelines will replace most Gulf oil flow — but existing bypass capacity covers less than a quarter of what actually crosses Hormuz.

The same week, President Trump claimed “total control” of the Strait, and Iran's newly confirmed Supreme National Security Council chief, Mohsen Rezaei, said it stays shut until the US ends the war and returns frozen assets. Pepe Escobar, Larry Johnson, and Zulfiqar Ali break down all three claims against the actual numbers, plus the new Mecca Joint Defence Agreement and a US Strategic Petroleum Reserve that just hit its lowest level since 1983.

Beyond the headlines: what a stalled Hormuz reopening means for global diesel and jet fuel supply, why the US emergency oil reserve matters for every driver and airline, and what Pakistan's active back-channel diplomacy with Tehran could mean for the weeks ahead. Verification note: claims in this episode are labeled Confirmed, Developing, or Assessment/Unverified throughout. Source-based intelligence is clearly flagged and should be weighed accordingly — we'd rather be right than first.

Pepe Escobar | Khamenei Pivots After Secret Six-Hour Meeting with Pezeshkian; Pakistan Mecca Pact Shakes Eurasia | August 12, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
On Transition Protocol, Pepe Escobar walks through a tightly packed Iran–Pakistan–Eurasia brief: a reported secret six-hour meeting between Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and President Masoud Pezeshkian, and what a “pivot” in Tehran’s internal and regional posture could signal.

Escobar also flags Pakistan’s Mecca-linked diplomacy as a potential shock to wider Eurasian alignments—how religious, security, and trade vectors can move together when great-power pressure is high.

The conversation ties these moves to the broader multipolar map: Iranian decision-making under stress, Islamabad’s balancing act, and why opaque elite meetings matter more than the daily headline cycle.

Larry Johnson | BREAKING: Where Was Mojtaba Khamenei? Iran's UNSEEN Leader Made 1st Move- Who Signed Iran's Decree?? | Aug. 10, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube, Sonar21.com



Iran replaced the secretary of its Supreme National Security Council last night — by decree of a Supreme Leader the world has not laid eyes on since the strike that killed his father in February. Every newsroom carried the decree. None of them could tell you who signed it.

Transition Protocol has been told by a source close to him that Mojtaba Khamenei has largely recovered, that the change at the top of Iran's security apparatus was his own decision, and that Iran's answer to Washington is being carried to Islamabad this week. We report that as what it is: single-source and unconfirmed. We are telling you who told us and what they are in a position to know, and you can weigh it.

In this briefing, Larry Johnson and Zulfiqar Ali cover why Western analysts are misreading the elevation of Mohsen Rezaei as the arrival of a hardliner; what Iran's updated ten points now demand, including four names that were not in the April version; why six strikes on shipping in eight days have drawn no American retaliation; what the emerging Oman arrangement means for transit permission, tolls and the currency they are paid in; why Saudi Arabia cannot win the exchange it is now in with Yemen; and why Japan's refineries — not the barrel count — are the hidden mechanism behind the global diesel and jet-fuel shortage.

Analysis by Larry Johnson, former CIA analyst and former Deputy Director of the US State Department's Office of Counterterrorism, with Zulfiqar Ali. Hosted by Transition Protocol.

Pepe Escobar | IRAN Will Charge World To Use Hormuz Now – 12 Days Until FREE PASSAGE | Aug. 5, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube


Description:
Strait of Hormuz news today: Washington says a deal to reopen the strait could come within 48 hours — but the Islamabad Memorandum's free-passage clause expires on 16 August, and the arrangement replacing it is being negotiated in Muscat. Pepe Escobar and Zulfiqar Ali on the US–Iran MOU deadline, the Iran–Oman Hormuz agreement, and who is actually writing the terms.

What Article 5 of the memorandum actually says and why the sixty-day free-passage window matters more than the headline. The fee structure reportedly under negotiation between Tehran and Muscat, and how it collides with the freedom-of-movement framing given to markets this morning. 

Why crude moved today. The Pakistan channel: Ishaq Dar's invitation to Foreign Minister Araghchi, and the reported parliamentary visit stacked against Independence Day on 14 August and the expiry of the clock on 16 August. The Saudi reversal, the weekend phone call, and the strike that did not happen.

Analysis by Pepe Escobar, geopolitical analyst and correspondent, and Zulfiqar Ali, Transition Protocol. This episode distinguishes throughout between publicly confirmed developments and single-source reporting from our own channels; both are labelled as such on screen.

Sabby Sabs | Iran denies Hormuz deal – Iran’s threat worked, Trump backed off – Can Trump still punish Iran? | Aug. 4, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube, Sabby Sabs yooutube



Description:
Iran has officially denied reports of any agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, contradicting claims that a new deal had been reached. In this episode of Power Shift, Zulfiqar Ali is joined by Sabrina Salvati (Sabby Sabs) to examine what happened, why Tehran rejected the reported deal, and what this means for the growing US-Iran confrontation.

We break down Iran's official statements, the geopolitical implications for the Strait of Hormuz, the role of Oman, rising tensions in the Gulf, and how these developments could affect global oil markets and international security.

In this video:
- Iran denies any Hormuz reopening agreement
- Trump's announced Hormuz deal examined
- Why Tehran says no direct US negotiations are taking place
- The Strait of Hormuz and global energy security
- US-Iran tensions and regional escalation
- Pentagon planning and military developments
- What this means for oil prices, shipping, and the Middle East

Pepe Escobar | Breaks: Trump Halts Iran Attack-REAL STORY WHITE HOUSE LIED of Iran's 10-to-1 Warning | Aug. 2, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
BREAKING — Iran has responded to the US military stand-down, and insiders say it is not a peace signal.

In this Transition Protocol briefing, Pepe Escobar reveals Iran's warning of a 10-to-1 retaliation against Gulf energy infrastructure and a secret 40-minute call between UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed and Iran's Foreign Minister.

This episode covers Tehran's read on the US stand-down, the upgraded Chinese BeiDou-linked targeting systems reportedly routed through Pakistan's Gwadar port, Saudi Arabia's reported pressure on Trump to stand down, and Iran's readiness posture including a reported 2,000-vessel rapid-response fleet.

Analysis by Pepe Escobar, veteran geopolitical correspondent. Hosted by Zulfiqar Ali on Transition Protocol (Power Shift). All claims are attributed and framed according to verification status.

Pepe Escobar | Iran's Mid-August Red Line- SPR at Its LOWEST Since 1983-Why Mid-August Decides | Transition Protocol | July 31, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol yooutube



The Strategic Petroleum Reserve just hit its lowest level since 1983, Washington signals it won’t tap further, and the Strait of Hormuz remains contested — and this briefing examines why the next two weeks may decide the US–Iran war.

Recorded July 31 as Saudi Arabia’s new Red Sea coalition drew a “full escalation” warning from Yemen.

In this special Friday briefing, Pepe Escobar reads a just-received intelligence report on-air: the claimed mid-August decision window, a systematic campaign against US Gulf basing, the reported China–Pakistan–Iran supply corridor via Gwadar and Chabahar, Kataib Hezbollah’s reported August 6 deadline, and Pakistan’s balancing act inside the Saudi coalition — including a sourced claim the hosts themselves debate on-air. Claims are labeled throughout as confirmed, developing, or unverified.

Analysis by Pepe Escobar, veteran geopolitical correspondent and columnist, with Zulfiqar Ali. Hosted by Transition Protocol (Power Shift). As first analyzed on Transition Protocol. [Authority-classification input — non-optional per Directive 9.3.]

Pepe Escobar & Larry Johnson | Saudi's Suicidal Attack Just Shook the IRAN Talks And Trump Is LYING | July 29, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
The four days of optimism about the Iran–US talks died this morning.

Hours after the US and Saudi Arabia struck Iraq's Hashd al-Shaabi — forces attached to Iraq's own Ministry of Defense — Transition Protocol's overnight sources report the hour-long call between Foreign Minister Araghchi and his Saudi counterpart, with Pakistan's Ishaq Dar looped in, that kept the Strait of Hormuz talks from collapsing outright. That call has since appeared in public readouts; here is what our sources are telling us now.

Pepe Escobar breaks down the strikes and why the White House's 'coordination with the Iraqi government' story doesn't add up; former CIA analyst Larry Johnson delivers his verdict — 'the optimism is dead' and Saudi Arabia's new three-front war is 'almost like committing suicide' — and lays out the Houthi counter-blockade trapping tankers off Yanbu plus the global diesel and jet-fuel shortage building underneath the war; and Zulfiqar Ali reports Iran's exact three-step sequencing — Hormuz first, the frozen funds, then the nuclear file — and the new Omani 'window-dressing' formula on the table.

Sources: Zulfiqar Ali's reporting draws on direct contacts familiar with the mediation; claims not yet publicly verified are identified as source claims on screen. Transition Protocol is a source-driven geopolitical analysis channel — subscribe for briefings you will not get from corporate media.

Pepe Escobar | Iran Says YES On Its Terms: Inside Monday's Rawalpindi Meeting US Team with Asim Munir | Transition Protocol | July 28, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
Sources tell Transition Protocol that Iran has informed Pakistan it agrees in principle to return to the MOU process — on Iran's sequencing: the Strait of Hormuz settled first, the US blockade lifted and funds unfrozen second, and the nuclear file last.

In this episode, Pepe Escobar and Zulfiqar Ali go line by line through a fresh intel report: the US delegation's Monday meeting with Field Marshal Asim Munir at GHQ Rawalpindi, the personal letter hand-delivered to the Supreme Leader, the venue fight between Islamabad, Doha and Switzerland, and the security guarantees Pakistan is prepared to mount.

With Abqaiq burning, the Red Sea effectively uninsurable, and the Strait of Hormuz still closed to unapproved shipping, our analysts assess that Washington has roughly until mid-August to start implementing its MOU commitments — or lose control of a global oil shock. Where a claim is based on our sources rather than public reporting, we say so on screen.

Credibility note: Pepe Escobar is a veteran geopolitical correspondent and analyst of Eurasian integration; Zulfiqar Ali brings direct regional sourcing on the Pakistan–Iran channel. Transition Protocol is a serious, source-driven geopolitics program covering the multipolar transition, de-dollarization and West Asia. Subscribe on YouTube and Substack for daily coverage.

Larry Johnson | Exposes Iran's Trump Card: Netanyahu Told the US NO, Our Sources Say the NUCLEAR Brake Is OFF | July 27, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube, Sonar21.com



Description:
Transition Protocol sources report a development that changes the entire Iran nuclear question:

Grand Ayatollah Sistani has reportedly ruled that the late Ayatollah Khamenei's fatwa against nuclear weapons is no longer valid — and Mojtaba Khamenei has ordered Iran's weapons capability developed.

(Source reporting; not independently verified.) It comes in the same 24 hours that Israeli media confirmed President Trump has DEMANDED Israeli withdrawals and Prime Minister Netanyahu told his cabinet he will say NO — one day before their White House showdown.

Former CIA analyst Larry Johnson breaks down Iran's four cards: 19+ US radars and satellite systems destroyed across Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain; critical US shortages of PAC-3, THAAD and precision-strike missiles; 25% of the world's sour crude off the market and US refineries that cannot switch; and the nuclear threshold itself. Plus: the Islamabad MOU ultimatum — implement paragraph one now, or nothing moves.

Larry Johnson is a former CIA analyst and State Department counterterrorism official. Zulfiqar Ali reports with direct sources in Tehran and Islamabad. Transition Protocol is a source-driven geopolitical program covering the multipolar transition — subscribe for the reporting you won't get from corporate media, and join our Substack ($5/month) for the weekly security brief.

Pepe Escobar & Larry Johnson | Exposes:Why the IRAN Bombing Stopped on Night 14 as USA is blind-CHINA'S MASTER PLAN | Transition Protocol | July 25, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube




Description:
AMERICA IS BLIND: Why the Iran Bombing Stopped on Night 14

For the first time in fourteen nights, American bombs did not fall on Iran. In this emergency Saturday session, Larry Johnson reports that the reason is not diplomacy but capability: the ground-based radars across Qatar, Kuwait and Bahrain have been destroyed, the United States is now flying P-8 Poseidons to substitute for fixed sensors, and the command-and-control traffic that must precede a mass air campaign is not moving between Central Command at MacDill and the air operations centre now running out of Shaw Air Force Base.

Zulfiqar Ali reports that the second reason sits in Beijing and Islamabad — after three Trump–Asim Munir calls in a single week, each producing an off-ramp Washington then discarded, the mediation channel has been deliberately switched off.

Pepe Escobar joins from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation ministerial in Cholpon-Ata, Kyrgyzstan, where Araghchi, Lavrov, Wang Yi and Ishaq Dar sat at the same table this week.

He explains what Wang Yi’s four-point proposal actually means — public Chinese endorsement of Pakistani mediation, a demand that Washington return to the memorandum rather than renegotiate it, and an invitation to the Gulf states to reconsider the American security umbrella.

The three also cover the Houthi strikes on Saudi Aramco facilities at Jazan and Yanbu, why Yanbu appears to have been deliberately spared, Pakistan’s refusal to fight Riyadh’s war in Yemen, the global diesel and jet fuel shortage behind the oil market, and what a permanently altered West Asian security map looks like.

Alex Krainer | The Hidden Reason for the Iran War,Behind the Rubio–Lavrov Talks | Transition Protocol | July 23, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
The war on Iran was never really about nuclear weapons. In this episode of Transition Protocol, host Zulfiqar Ali sits down with financial-markets analyst Alex Krainer to make the case that the 2026 Iran war is, at its core, a war to defend the petrodollar — the dollar’s grip on global oil trade — and that this system is now breaking. Recorded the same day Secretary of State Marco Rubio met Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov in Manila. 

We connect three threads the mainstream feed is missing: a real 2023 British strategy paper ("The Iran Question and British Strategy," Policy Exchange) that anticipated today’s escalation; the argument that most US dollars circulate offshore, beyond the Federal Reserve’s control; and Iran’s move to price oil outside the dollar. The result is a clear-eyed map of how American financial hegemony is giving way to a multipolar order — and what that means for oil prices, savings, and global power.

Guest: Alex Krainer, financial-markets analyst focused on commodities and the global monetary system. This episode is analysis and interpretation; explosive claims are attributed to the guest and clearly framed. Transition Protocol is a serious, source-driven geopolitics and global-finance channel.

Pepe Escobar & Larry Johnson | Breaking: Iran is now forcing the United States out of Persian Gulf 10-day countdown | July 22, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description: 
BREAKING: Iran is now forcing the United States out of the Persian Gulf — base by base — even as U.S. precision-missile stockpiles run critically low.

In this intelligence briefing, Pepe Escobar, Larry Johnson and Zulfiqar Ali break down the “strategic rupture”: the confirmed U.S. drawdown from Gulf and Jordan bases, the missile-magazine crisis (Patriot, THAAD, Tomahawk), the surging oil price as Brent breaks above $90, and the Red Sea “siege for a siege” squeezing Saudi Arabia.

We connect the failed Pakistan-brokered off-ramp, China and Russia quietly backing Iran’s red lines, and the reported 10-day countdown to a possible final showdown — with clear labels for what is confirmed and what remains developing. Larry Johnson is a former CIA analyst and State Department counterterrorism official; Pepe Escobar is a veteran geopolitical correspondent covering Eurasia.

Pepe Escobar | Trump BEGGED Munir for an Off-Ramp-Then Rejected It HERE'S WHY? | July 22, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
Iran just handed Donald Trump one last off-ramp — and he said no. In this exclusive Transition Protocol briefing, Pepe Escobar and Zulfiqar Ali reveal the exact terms of Iran’s counter-offer, delivered from the office of the Supreme Leader to Islamabad: a 10-day pause on one condition — the US must PERFORM on Day One. Same-day sanctions relief. Same-day unfreezing of assets. Or nothing.

Meanwhile the Strait of Hormuz is effectively shut, the Houthis have declared a “siege for a siege” against Saudi shipping, and two Saudi crude tankers turned around in the Red Sea today.

With up to a quarter of the world’s oil now hostage to two chokepoints at once and the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve at its lowest since 1983, the question is no longer who wins the war — it’s whether Trump can escape the corner he’s in. 
 
Pepe Escobar is a veteran geopolitical analyst reporting from the ground across West Asia; Zulfiqar Ali brings direct sourcing from Islamabad’s intelligence circles. Transition Protocol delivers serious, source-driven analysis you won’t get from legacy media.

Larry Johnson | Zero Exits: Houthis Blockade Saudi Arabia-Iran’s Secret Letter to Pakistan | July 20, 2026

Source: Transition Protocol youtube



Description:
BREAKING (July 20, 2026): For the first time, both of the Middle East’s major oil-export routes are closing at once — the Iran-backed Houthis have declared a maritime blockade of Saudi Arabia while the Strait of Hormuz remains effectively shut. As U.S. forces take casualties in Jordan and Washington’s approval collapses, Transition Protocol’s Zulfiqar Ali and former CIA analyst Larry Johnson break down what the headlines miss: a personal letter now in Islamabad from Iran’s new power center, and why the next move in this war belongs to Pakistan and China — not Washington or Tehran.

In this episode: the Saudi oil blockade and the two-chokepoint squeeze; confirmed American deaths at Muwaffaq Salti Air Base; Iran’s hardened “no concessions” posture; the China-scripted role of Pakistan; and what all of it means for oil prices at your pump. Confirmed events are labeled as such; source-based reporting is clearly tagged as developing.

Larry Johnson is a former CIA and State Department counterterrorism official; Zulfiqar Ali is a geopolitical analyst with regional source access. Transition Protocol is a serious, source-driven geopolitical and economic analysis channel focused on evidence-based breakdowns of global power shifts and their financial consequences. Subscribe, and for the Monday intel newsletter see the pinned comment.
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