Description:
Professor Robert Pape joins to discuss Trump's nightmare scenario unfolding as the Iran War escalation trap squeezes US hegemony to the breaking point. Iran has just launched a devastating preemptive strike and the trap isn't just set, it's igniting a global fire storm unseen in the history of geopolitics.
Description:
Iran told Trump "get lost." Sources with direct contact to Islamabad and Tehran tell Transition Protocol that Trump offered Iran a 10-day cessation of hostilities this week — and was refused. Then, through Qatar, the White House asked Iran to allow "performative strikes" with no retaliation. Iran refused again.
Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir has stopped returning Trump's calls after being sent to Tehran twice and reneged on twice. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed despite official claims it is "wide open," CENTCOM has re-stood up a 24/7 battle staff, and Iran's retaliation doctrine is now 2-to-1, 3-to-1, 5-to-1 with a war plan built to run through the US midterms.
Larry Johnson explains why the bond market — not the Pentagon — is forcing Trump to back down: Treasury yields are rising and, in his words, "nobody's buying." Pepe Escobar breaks down the tanker-for-tanker gamble that could detonate global shipping insurance, Ghalibaf's warning that "if we cannot export oil, nobody will," and the SCO development bank being built outside the US dollar at Bishkek and Vladivostok ahead of the BRICS summit in India. Zulfiqar Ali reports Tehran's final position: diplomacy only through the Islamabad MOU — no more negotiations.
Guests: Larry Johnson, former CIA analyst and State Department counter-terrorism official; Pepe Escobar, veteran geopolitical correspondent covering BRICS, SCO and Eurasia from the ground; hosted by Zulfiqar Ali. Inside-source claims in this episode are attributed and identified on screen as developing; nothing unverified is presented as settled fact. Transition Protocol is a serious, source-driven geopolitical and economic analysis channel — evidence-based reporting on global power shifts and their financial consequences. Subscribe and join us on Substack for twice-weekly briefings
Larry Johnson and Col. Lawrence Wilkerson with Danny Haiphong on Iranian strikes on US bases after a reported attack on a wedding party in southern Iran, and claimed heavy US Marine casualties.
Description:
In this episode of Silk and Steel, Carl Zha speaks with Dr. Warwick Powell about Trump's renewed campaign of maximum economic pressure against Iran, the threat of secondary sanctions against countries doing business with Tehran, and why China may be the critical factor that determines whether the strategy succeeds or fails.
Powell argues that decades of sanctions and the latest military campaign have failed to achieve Washington's stated objectives. Now, with the US facing economic and political pressures at home, the Trump administration may be trying to create the appearance of action while avoiding an escalation that could produce even greater economic pain.
The discussion goes far beyond sanctions.
China's growing economic relationship with Iran, Russia's position, the Strait of Hormuz, and the emergence of new regional partnerships may be pointing toward something much larger: the beginnings of a post-US Persian Gulf security and economic architecture.
The conversation examines whether Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran could become part of a new regional configuration — and what role China and Russia could play as economic and strategic backstops.
The episode also explores the deeper problem facing Washington: what happens when a declining hegemon tries to prevent the emergence of a new international order?
And with a potential Xi Jinping–Trump summit approaching and the US midterm elections looming, Powell explains why escalating rhetoric against China may be driven as much by American domestic politics as by foreign policy.
Topics Covered
Trump's new “economic D-Day” against Iran
Why decades of sanctions have failed to force regime change
The limits of US secondary sanctions
Why China is central to Iran's economy
China's response to US sanctions
Russia's potential role
The strategic importance of the Strait of Hormuz
The changing Persian Gulf security architecture
Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iran
China's rapprochement between Iran and Saudi Arabia
China's expanding role across Eurasia
The emergence of a possible post-US regional order
Why Washington may be accelerating the changes it wants to stop
American exceptionalism and the struggle to accept a multipolar world
The US military-industrial complex
Trump, Xi and the next phase of US-China relations
US sanctions and tariffs ahead of the midterm elections
America's increasingly fragile economic picture
The AI investment boom and the US economy
Description:
Trump called Pakistan's army chief Asim Munir repeatedly — "find me an off-ramp" — according to a source close to Munir cited by Zulfiqar Ali.
Munir went to Tehran and, Zulfiqar reports, persuaded a reluctant Iran to offer Washington a way out; Trump rejected it because he could not present it as a victory.
Days later the Strait of Hormuz tanker incident restarted the bombing. The call-level details are Zulfiqar's sourced reporting and have not been independently verified; the 14-point Islamabad MOU is public (link below).
Pepe Escobar then lays out what Washington won't: Iran's actual terms (return to the MOU or Hormuz stays shut), the timeline Tehran is reported to be planning for, the endurance contest over interceptors and resupply, and why the global economy cannot sustain a forever war at the world's most important chokepoint.
Then the story the West ignored this week: the SCO summit in Bishkek. The declaration on the attack on Iran and "indivisible security"; the proposed SCO energy consortium and development bank outside the dollar system;
Mongolia and Afghanistan moving toward membership; Pakistan's 2027 chairmanship; and the Saudi–Pakistan–Turkey Mecca Defence Agreement moving from paper to institution. What is confirmed, what is developing, and what it means for oil, the dollar and the next phase of the war.
Pepe Escobar is a veteran geopolitical analyst who has covered the SCO since its 2001 founding. Zulfiqar Ali's reporting draws on sources inside Pakistan's military and diplomatic leadership. Transition Protocol is an independent, source-driven channel; claims from insiders are labelled as such on screen. Subscribe and turn on notifications — tomorrow: Larry Johnson on Vladivostok and the Eastern Economic Forum.
Description:
BREAKING: US is attacking Iran as war spirals out of control. Journalist and filmmaker Abby Martin joins the show for the first time to tell us how her new film investigating the inner workings of the US military and its impact on the planet relates to the restart of the Iran war. She is joined by rapper and journalist Lowkey for a massive discussion on why Trump and the US empire's war is going worse than you think.
Description:
Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar discusses the US-Israeli war on Iran resuming after reports of a bounty on Netanyahu and desperate US attacks on Larak island that were met with massive Iranian response.
Description:
The US war on Iran keeps expanding into a regional conflict, as more countries get involved. Reports show that Donald Trump is getting desperate, and he is frantically seeking an off-ramp. Washington announced a "pause" to the fighting, but it lasted just four days.
Ben Norton explains the three main reasons why the United States is desperately seeking an exit: one, the Pentagon is running out of missile interceptors; two, the number of casualties among American troops is steadily increasing; and three, Yemen joined the conflict, attacking Saudi oil infrastructure, exacerbating the energy crisis.
Timeline:
00:00 Iran war expands
02:41 More countries join conflict
03:58 Trump is 'exasperated'
05:49 US 'pause' failed
06:19 Three main reasons
07:53 US violates agreements
09:53 USA lost. Iran won.
10:40 US military running low on missiles
12:36 Gulf monarchies
13:38 Patriot interceptors
16:07 Pentagon orders old missiles
17:54 Preparing for war on China
18:47 China vs USA: industrial capacity
21:02 Pentagon hides US casualties
24:26 Yemen joins war
26:21 Blockade of Red Sea
27:45 Houthi attacks on Saudi oil
29:20 Energy crisis
30:14 Oil reserves running low
30:44 Iran has won
32:14 Outro
Description:
Iran’s IRGC reported that missile attacks on the Muwaffaq al Salti Air Base in Jordan destroyed three U.S. F-35 fighter jets, and damaged three others. They say the attack also killed several U.S. officers and technicians who were on site.
Of course, Central Command was quick to claim the reports were false, and U.S. air defenses shot down all incoming missiles. They did the same earlier this month before they admitted that Iranian attacks killed multiple U.S. soldiers, and left more than 100 injured.
Veteran Lebanese Journalist Dr. Marwa Osman noted that we are entering “a catastrophic phase” of the war, as the Trump Admin’s frustration with the resilience of the Iranian people, pushes Iran to escalate its strategic response. The impact of this war is already being felt across the region and by the global economy, as the Axis of Resistance prepares for its next round of attacks…
Description:
Seyed Mohammad Marandi discusses why Trump is fuming after Iran's massive retaliation spanning the UAE, Jordan, Qatar and nearly every Gulf state as US attacks overnight blow back into all out war as Lindsey Graham's death sends shockwaves across the US and Israeli regimes.
