Iranian Regime tv Channel One hacked while it was airing Khamenie speech

A sloppy AI disinformation campaign by the Iranians:

Mojtaba Ali Khamenei, son of Sayyid Ali Khamenei, says:
“In the name of Allah, greetings to the brave people of Iran who stay strong in hard times. As we take on this leadership, we promise to follow the path of our martyrs, working for honor, freedom, and dignity.”

https://x.com/TheAbdulSamad/status/2029310288164524180

This video is a combination of the supreme sh-t and his son, but they accidentally simulated Ali’s right arm as well. In 1981, a bomb exploded inside a mosque in Tehran, permanently paralysing his right arm. If MK succeeds his father, it will establish a dynastic Shiite kingdom.

How a Shadow Oil Empire Helps Iran's Regime Cling to Power | Bloomberg Investigates.

How did the soft-spoken son of a key adviser to Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei become a major player in international energy markets? Bloomberg Investigates goes inside the Iranian shadow fleet, uncovering a sprawling, multibillion-dollar empire dealing in oil and weapons. From Dubai to Russia, this investigation follows the trail of money that has fueled Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and allowed the regime to maintain its grip on power despite mounting international pressure, and now war.

Learn more: Secretive Trader ‘Hector’ Seen as Global Kingpin for Iranian Oil https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2024-08-30/iran-oil-secretive-trader-called-hector-seen-as-global-kingpin?utm_medium=social&utm_source=youtube&utm_campaign=originals&utm_content=article

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NylwnKcwAr4
30 min video

If I remember correctly Ari Reza Arafi, who is mentioned on the first line of paragraph #4, is the father of Khamanei’s son’s wife. He is the son now being considered for the leadership. His wife and one son have just been killed by our or the Israeli bombs. Boy will he be a great guy to have a good relationship with after all that.

Iran Update Evening Special Report, March 5, 2026

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has continued strikes targeting Iranian ballistic missile infrastructure in order to degrade Iranian missile capabilities. The IDF reported on March 5 that Israeli aircraft had struck hundreds of missile launch sites across Iran and rendered over 300 ballistic missile launchers inoperable since February 28. Degrading Iranian air defenses allows US and Israeli aircraft to operate with less risk and greater freedom of operation over Iranian airspace.

The US and Israeli combined force has advanced to the next phase of their campaign, which will focus on targeting Iranian defense industrial assets, especially missile production facilities. The first phase of the campaign suppressed Iranian air defenses, decapitated its command and control, and limited its ability to retaliate with ballistic missiles and drones. The IDF issued an evacuation warning on March 5 for the Abbas Abad Industrial Zone and Shenzar Industrial Zone in Pakdasht, Tehran Province, likely in preparation to target Iran's defense industrial base.
The combined force continues to conduct airstrikes targeting key internal security sites in and around Tehran City as well as Kurdish-populated areas of northwestern Iran. These targets range from regional Law Enforcement Command (LEC) and Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) headquarters to local police stations in areas that have been hotspots for unrest.

The combined forces have continued to strike the IRGC Ground Forces’ special forces and rapid response units in southwestern Iran. The combined force has not yet struck other IRGC or Artesh special forces bases or infrastructure at scale across the country. The internet shutdown may be affecting ISW-CTP’s ability to observe these strikes, however.

US President Donald Trump said on March 5 that he would support Kurdish forces conducting an offensive into Iran. Trump told Reuters that he would be “all for” a Kurdish offensive into Iran but did not commit to supporting the operation with airstrikes. Senior Iraqi Kurdish officials have denied that Kurdish forces are deploying or planning to deploy into Iran, however.

US President Donald Trump told Western media on March 5 that the United States must be involved in the process of selecting a new supreme leader in Iran. Trump stated that he will not accept a new Iranian leader who will continue former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s policies.

The Artesh and Iranian state media claimed that Iranian forces carried out drone strikes against US forces at Camp Buehring, Kuwait, on March 5. The Iranian Artesh separately launched drone strikes that targeted a US base in Erbil, Iraq, on March 5, according to Iranian media.

https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-evening-special-report-march-5-2026/

Iran Update Morning Special Report, March 6, 2026

The combined force has targeted the Iranian internal security infrastructure on March 6 to degrade the regime's ability to maintain domestic control. The combined force targeted several law enforcement command and paramilitary facilities, including police stations in Kurdistan and West Azerbaijan Provinces, and two Basij Resistance bases in Tehran Province on March 6.

The combined force has targeted key Iranian military infrastructure across multiple provinces, including missile sites, command and control institutions, and naval facilities. The combined force struck a ballistic missile site in Zanjan Province and the Imam Ali Missile Base near Khorramabad in Lorestan Province.

Hezbollah claimed that the group conducted 18 attacks targeting Israel Defense Forces (IDF) positions and forces in northern Israel and southern Lebanon since ISW-CTP’s last data cutoff at 4:00 PM ET. Hezbollah claimed on March 5 that its fighters engaged and shelled Israeli ground forces in Markaba, Khiam, and Wadi al Asafir, Marjaayoun District.

https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-morning-special-report-march-6-2026/

Iran Update Evening Special Report, March 6, 2026

Russia is reportedly sharing intelligence with Iran to support Iranian attacks against US forces in the Middle East, which highlights the deepening cooperation between two major US adversaries. Three officials familiar with the intelligence on Russia's support for Iran told the Washington Post on March 6 that Russia has given Iran the locations of US military assets, including warships and aircraft, since the US-Israeli February 28 strikes against Iran.[1] One of the officials characterized Russia's provision of targeting information to strike US forces in the Middle East as a “pretty comprehensive effort.”[2] The Washington Post noted that analysts indicated that Russia's reported intelligence sharing fits the pattern of Iran's strikes against US command and control infrastructure, radars, and temporary structures. The Center for Naval Analyses (CNA) Principal Research Scientist Mike Peterson stated that Russia could be giving Iran high-quality satellite imagery with which Iran could identify what bases the United States and its allies are currently using and other information, such as the location of aircraft, intelligence stations, and logistics flows.[3] Iran may not have regular access to high-quality satellite imagery, even from commercially available sources, and may be relying on Russia to get such imagery. Prominent commercial publisher of satellite imagery, Planet Labs, enacted a policy on March 6, subjecting all new imagery collected over the Gulf States and adjacent conflict zones, excluding Iran, to a mandatory 96-hour delay before making it publicly available, and other companies have held policies to never release images of US or allied bases.[4] Russian intelligence sharing, thus, may be supporting Iranian strikes on US military assets.

China may be preparing to provide Iran with support, according to multiple people familiar with US intelligence on this issue.[5] The intelligence suggests that China may be preparing to provide Iran with financial assistance and missile components.[6] China has historically provided Iran with sodium perchlorate to support Iran's ballistic missile program.[7] Sodium perchlorate is a chemical precursor for solid missile propellant. European intelligence sources told CNN in October 2025 that Iran received 2,000 tons of sodium perchlorate in several shipments that arrived in Bandar Abbas, Iran, from China.[8] These shipments came amid Iranian efforts to rebuild its ballistic missile program following the June 2025 Israel-Iran war.[9]

The US-Israeli combined force has continued strikes targeting Iranian ballistic missile infrastructure in order to degrade Iranian missile capabilities and ultimately destroy the Iranian ballistic missile program. US Central Command (CENTCOM) Commander Admiral Brad Cooper stated on March 5 that ballistic missile attacks from Iran have declined by roughly 90 percent since the strikes began. A campaign that destroys Iran's ballistic missile launchers, stockpiles, and production facilities would accomplish the US stated objective to “raze or level Iran's ballistic missile industrial base” and systematically dismantle Iran's missile production capability.

The combined force is continuing to target Iran's defense industrial base, especially facilities that support drone development. The IDF targeted the Shokouhiyeh Industrial Zone in Qom Province and the Esteghlal Industrial Zone in Tehran Province, as well as an ammunition production facility and an ammunition depot in Tehran and Fars provinces.

Iran has continued to retaliate against Israel, US bases in the Middle East, Gulf states, and other regional countries for the joint force strike campaign. Iran has launched at least six waves of ballistic missile attacks in the previous six days. The lower number of missile attacks further demonstrates the joint forces’ success in degrading Iran's number of missile launchers.

more + maps: https://understandingwar.org/research/middle-east/iran-update-evening-special-report-march-6-2026/

The Invisible Siege: How Insurance Markets, Not Missiles, Closed the Strait of Hormuz And Why the Disruption Will Last Four to Sixteen Months Longer Than Any Model on Wall Street Currently Prices by Shanaka Anslem Perera
Mar 03, 2026

https://shanakaanslemperera.substack.com/p/the-invisible-siege-how-insurance

Long important article

06MAR2026 Everyone talks about Iranian oil in barrels. Nobody talks about what is inside them. That difference is why Western refineries have been running shadow networks through Dubai for twenty years to get it despite the sanctions.

Crude oil is not a uniform commodity. It is a spectrum of hydrocarbons with different molecular weights, and the composition of a given crude determines how easily it converts into the products refineries actually want to sell: gasoline, diesel, jet fuel, heating oil. The measurement that captures this is API gravity. Higher API gravity means lighter crude with shorter carbon chains, which means lower energy cost to crack, lower processing cost to refine, and higher yield of the light distillates that carry premium pricing. Lower API gravity means heavier crude requiring more energy, more processing steps, more capital equipment, and producing a higher share of lower-value residuals.

Iranian Light crude runs at 33 to 36 degrees API gravity with sulfur content between 1.36 and 1.5 percent. That is the refinery sweet spot. It is light enough to yield high fractions of gasoline and middle distillates without excessive processing costs, but heavy enough to produce the full range of products that complex refineries are designed to process. It is what petroleum engineers call an optimal blend crude.

Now compare the alternatives.

Venezuelan Merey heavy crude runs at approximately 16 degrees API gravity with sulfur between 3 and 5 percent. Refining it profitably requires a coking unit, a hydrocracker, and an extensive desulfurization train. The equipment exists. The economics work for refineries purpose-built around Venezuelan feedstock. It is not a substitute for Iranian crude. It is a different product requiring different industrial infrastructure.

US West Texas Intermediate runs at 39 to 40 degrees API with sulfur below 0.25 percent. In theory, the cleanest and easiest crude to process. In practice, it is so light that it does not yield the heavier middle distillates a complex refinery needs to run at full capacity. European and Asian refineries built around medium crudes cannot switch to WTI without blending it with heavier crudes to achieve the molecular weight distribution their process units require. WTI is not a drop-in replacement for Iranian medium.

Iranian oil fits where both US shale and Venezuelan heavy do not. It is the liquid that flows through the middle of the global refining system without requiring either the coking infrastructure for heavy crudes or the blending operations for ultra-light shale. That molecular fit is why it commands a persistent premium above comparable grades. It is why Indian refineries maintained Iranian crude purchases through every round of sanctions and negotiated the logistics to keep that flow moving. It is why the Dubai shadow banking and trading network that the UAE is now considering dismantling existed in the first place.

The Strait of Hormuz does not just carry oil. It carries the specific category of oil that the global refining system was built to process most efficiently. Closing it does not just reduce supply. It removes the grade of crude that the system runs best on and forces every refinery in the world to run less efficiently on whatever it can find as a substitute.

That is the premium embedded in the $82 oil price. Not just volume. Molecular weight.

https://x.com/shanaka86/status/2029811061264896293

Are US refineries able to mix Venezuela heavy crude with lighter WTI and end up with a mix of the ideal API gravity for refining? What about those Canada tar sands? Can they be blended, or how are they refined?

No need to do any mixing. We have the refineries that love heavy Venezuelan crude.>>>>>>>>>>>
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-Yes, you’re spot on—Louisiana has several major refineries that are well-suited (and in many cases, historically built or optimized) to process heavy, sour crudes like Venezuela’s Merey, which runs around 16° API with 3-5% sulfur. These facilities feature the key units you mentioned: coking (for upgrading residues), hydrocracking (for converting heavy fractions into lighter products), and extensive desulfurization/hydrotreating trains (to handle the high sulfur and meet clean fuel specs).

Many Gulf Coast refineries, especially in Louisiana and nearby Texas, were designed during eras when Venezuelan (and similar heavy) crudes were a primary feedstock, before the shale boom shifted more supply to lighter oils. This makes them economically efficient for Merey-type feedstocks when available, often at a discount to lighter crudes.

Key examples in Louisiana include:ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Refinery (≈522,500 bpd): This large complex has previously processed Venezuelan heavy sour crude and was preparing to resume runs as of early 2026 reports, after sanctions limited it. It includes coking, hydrocracking, and desulfurization capabilities suited for heavy/sour feeds.

Phillips 66 Lake Charles Refinery (≈264,000 bpd): Explicitly noted as capable of running Venezuelan crude (part of Phillips 66’s system that can handle up to 250,000+ bpd of it across Gulf facilities). It has delayed coking, hydrocracking, and hydrodesulfurization units.

CITGO Lake Charles Refinery (≈460,000-463,000 bpd): Historically tied to Venezuelan feedstock (as CITGO was owned by PDVSA), optimized for heavy sour crudes like Merey. It has been positioned to resume or increase such processing post-sanctions changes, with appropriate upgrading and treating units.