Iran’s Security Chief: Trump’s actions are driving the world closer to nuclear proliferation

Iran’s Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezai has issued  warning to gulf countries.

Iran’s top security official warned regional countries against taking part in Trump’s economic pressure campaign, arguing that such policies could further destabilize the region and encourage more countries to seek nuclear weapons.

Trump’s recklessness, with his attacks on Iran, increased desire of people around the world to acquire nuclear weapons esp when they saw that membership in the International Atomic Energy Agency & NPT was ineffective in preventing attacks from the US.” says Iran’s security chief.

 “America has waged economic war against itself, nit the Persians”  said Major General Rezaei

US President Donald Trump’s war of aggression against Iran has placed a heavy debt burden not only on the American people, but also on US allies such as Japan, Major General Mohsen Rezaei, Secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, told IRNA.

💬 “He came with the campaign slogan ‘Make America great again,’ but what has he made great? He has made their debts great,” Rezaei stressed.

The US now has to borrow at a rate 3.7 times higher than in 2020, meaning an additional $3.7 billion in annual costs for every $100 billion of debt, the major general highlighted.

He also pointed to Japan, saying the rise in its 10-year bond yield to around 3% marks the end of the US “free ride.”

Rezaei said the Mecca Joint Defense Agreement, signed by Saudi Arabia, Turkey and Pakistan, was a sign that the United States had told them it wanted to leave the region.

“The United States told them, ‘Goodbye, we are leaving,’” Rezaei said in a televised interview.

Rezaei added that Iran supported broader Islamic unity and said Iran and Egypt should be founding participants in any such regional alliance.

“Our friends come and say, ‘We have made a pact, come and approve it.’ What are we supposed to approve? We don’t even know what you signed,” he said.

We will defend Iran resolutely and will not allow American forces to set foot in Iran.

I advise the Americans not to deploy any additional forces, because we will strike them.

The Americans have completely lost hope in military attacks and now imagine that an economic blockade can support their military efforts.

Netanyahu has promised Trump that if Iran is placed under an economic blockade for six months—or even two or three months—it will surrender.

The world has realized that Trump’s bluster is empty talk.

Iran has learned over the years how to overcome sanctions and continue selling oil.

After the U.S. military attack on Iran, the world saw that possessing a nuclear bomb is more effective than hundreds of F-35s.

The F-35s lost their aura of power in Iran, and Arab countries no longer trust American weapons.

The American people actually oppose the war with Iran and do not support the U.S. military or government.

In Iran, however, the people and the government stand united behind the armed forces."

Reforms must be made in Iran's diplomatic behavior

Evolutions have occurred in Iran's defense strategies. Today's Iran is not the Iran of before the war; this also holds true for the boastful America, and the image of the peace-seeking and embellished America has changed in the minds of Iranian youth.

At the same time, the whole world is looking at Iran in a new way.

After several rounds of negotiations and repeated breaches of promises by the United States, it is necessary to make changes in the diplomatic behavior of the Islamic Republic of Iran in its relations with the world.

"We have not attacked any of America's economic interests so far. So far we have only targeted military bases. But if they are going to advance the economic war, we are ready to target all American oil and economic companies in the region."

Iran's Army chief visits underground ballistic missiles production base as Gulf countries seek security cooperation with Tehran

Iran's media on Saturday released footage of the Armed Forces Chief of Staff and the commander of Khatam al-Anbiya HQ, Ali Abdollahi, visiting the underground ballistic missiles base.

 Iran's military chief visited an underground ballistic missile production facility, showcasing what he called a major ramp-up in weapons output since the war began with United States and the State of Israel.

Major General Ali Abdollahi is the current Chief of the General Staff of the Islamic Republic of Iran Armed Forces. He was appointed to this top military position on August 10, 2026, by Iran's Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei

Ali visiting the underground site said, by God's grace, they have been able to produce equipment far better than in the past, with greater capabilities and superior quality. 

In terms of quantity, they have managed to scale production significantly higher than before.

State media highlighted a threefold increase in kamikaze drone production since the start of the conflict and claimed Iran now ranks among the world's top 10 missile powers and 6th in drone capability.

This is in line with what another senior military adviser to Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said, that Iran’s armed forces should be prepared to respond preemptively to future threats rather than wait to react after an attack.

Major General Yahya Rahim Safavi said in a message marking Defense Industry Day that Iran’s military response should not be “passive,” but instead “preemptive, powerful and calculated” to deter its adversaries from attacking.

Safavi said the recent wars with the United States and Israel had demonstrated the need for Iran to equip its forces for both asymmetric and full-scale conflict and develop what he described as a more active form of deterrence.

 Iran’s army spokesperson saying the country’s military doctrine is shifting from defensive toward offensive, including preemptive operations and responses that could exceed the scale of an initial attack.

US President Donald Trump on Friday said Iran could be destroyed within minutes if he gives the order, as American leader declared Strait of Hormuz as American territory.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi pushed back, pointing to Iran’s thousands of years of history and decades of resistance to U.S. sanctions.

The rhetoric between Washington and Tehran remains sharply escalated.

Iran's weapons production has doubled in the past year despite US and Israeli strikes

Brig. Gen. Reza Talaei-Nik, Iran's Defense Ministry spokesperson, says output of weapons and defense equipment increased 2x over the last 12 months.

"This is despite the fact that during the 12-day war, some limited and specific parts of our defense industry were also among the targets of the enemy's strikes."

 The US claimed it was degrading Iran's military capabilities. Meanwhile, US interceptor stockpiles are down by 65%.

Trump is now leaning on economic pressure, claiming the shift is a strategic choice — not an admission that military action failed.

Tehran has been survive more than seven decades of economic terrorism of the United States and allies.

Iran's parliament Speaker was in Iraq where memorandum of understanding on security cooperation was signed between Iran and Iraq.

Gulf states are now quietly reaching out to Iran for new security arrangements — a direct consequence of the U.S. war against Iran, which has left America's allies questioning whether Washington can still protect them, Iran's Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf said.

"We've received numerous messages from neighboring countries about shaping new security arrangements and economic cooperation in the region," Ghalibaf said. "The United States put the security of every single one of its allies at such risk — through bullying and pure disregard for their interests for the sake of Israel — that they briefly saw their entire existence on the line."

Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, and Bahrain are now privately reaching out to Iran for new security arrangements, sending multiple messages almost daily to Iran out of concern that the US cannot protect them anymore due to interceptor shortages and the vulnerability of hosted US bases,  Iran's Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf and a senior Iranian source in Tehran familiar with the matter can confirm.

Working Theory: Why the FBI is still locking down the Tinubu files after 33 years - Mike Arnold

The FBI is fighting to keep parts of the 1990s investigative file on Bola Tinubu sealed under FOIA Exemption 7(F) — claiming release could “endanger the life or physical safety of any individual.”

Thirty-three years later. That claim only holds if something in those records is still dangerous today.

Here’s the cleanest theory that fits every known fact:

In the late 1980s–early 1990s, a Nigerian-run network was moving **high-purity Southeast Asian white heroin** (“China White”) from the Golden Triangle — primarily sourced and staged in **Bangkok, Thailand** — into Chicago and northwest Indiana.

Adegboyega Mueez Akande ran the organization. His nephew Abiodun Agbele handled U.S. distribution and sales. Lee Andrew Edwards was a major street-level customer in Gary. Tinubu’s Chicago bank accounts were frozen because investigators believed they held laundered proceeds from the same SEA white-heroin pipeline. Agbele got arrested in 1990 selling to an undercover agent and cooperated. Tinubu was interviewed by phone, made partial admissions about knowing the players and moving money, later contradicted himself, fought the civil case, and settled in 1993 by forfeiting $460,000 with no criminal charges.

The working theory is that Tinubu provided information during that process — enough to walk away without an indictment. The records of that cooperation (or the identities it protected) remain in the file.

That is why the Bureau is still invoking a life-safety risk in 2026.

Look at what happened next. In 1995–1996 the U.S. launched **Operation Global Sea**, the first major effort that took down an entire Nigerian SEA-heroin chain from Bangkok source to Chicago streets. It targeted a sophisticated syndicate based in Bangkok that had been moving hundreds of kilograms of the same high-purity white heroin into the Midwest via Europe, Guatemala, and Mexico. Dozens were arrested in Bangkok, Chicago, New York, Detroit, and Pakistan. The Bangkok-based leader, Musiliu Balogun (aka “Olopa” / “The Policeman”), was charged as a primary supplier from Thailand/Cambodia. He stayed a fugitive until 2006, was extradited, and was sentenced in Chicago in 2013 to nine years.

Other follow-on operations (including elements later rolled into Shadow Towers) kept hitting Nigerian groups still importing SEA white heroin from Bangkok into Chicago and other cities.

Most of the original 1988–1993 players are now dead or neutralized: Akande died in 2024, Edwards years earlier. Balogun served his time and is no longer an active kingpin. But the broader Nigerian transnational networks that controlled the Bangkok-to-Chicago SEA white-heroin pipeline never fully disappeared. Residual associates, family members, or successor cells in Thailand and West Africa still operate in the drug trade. Identifying who cooperated in the original Chicago case — or revealing the exact techniques and sources used against the Bangkok suppliers — could still put people at real risk of retaliation.

That is the only explanation that makes the 33-year “endanger lives” claim coherent. The files are not being blocked over ancient bank records. They are being blocked because someone in them was protected, the protection still matters, and the Southeast Asian white-heroin networks that fed Chicago in the 1990s left behind people and structures with lasting lethal potential.

The public record is silent for a reason. The FOIA fight is the government’s way of keeping it that way.

#EarthShaker

New US Sanctions: Tehran says maximum pressure, military aggression, state terrorism against Iran will not stand

Economic pressure is the 'most effective tool' the US has on Iran — Vance

The Islamic Republic of Iran has on Thursday said no amount of U.S. maximum economic pressure, brutal military aggression and state terrorism against Iran will crumble the Iranian people and government.

The Iran's ministry of foreign affairs in a statement responding to the new US economic sanctions said the US ruling establishment has announced the imposition of sweeping economic and trade sanctions against the Iranian people, coinciding with the anniversary of the disgraceful coup d’état of 28 Mordad 1332 (19 August 1953).




This action is not only another indication of the continuation of 73 years of hostility and animosity by US policymakers toward the Iranian people, but also further demonstrates the anti-human, lawless and hegemonic nature of the US ruling establishment.




Undoubtedly, the US economic sanctions against Iran, which target the fundamental human rights of every Iranian citizen, constitute “economic terrorism” and “crimes against humanity.” Those responsible for these sanctions deserve to be prosecuted and punished for committing such heinous crimes.




These sanctions, imposed in the aftermath of the US-Israeli wars of aggression against Iran over the past year and a half and their failure to achieve their malign objectives of forcing the Iranian people to surrender to their illegal and inhumane demands, will merely add to the long list of crimes committed by the United States against Iran. They will, however, undoubtedly have not the slightest effect on the determination of the Iranian people to safeguard Iran’s independence, dignity and national sovereignty.




Economic sanctions and pressure are the other side of the same coin as war and military aggression. America’s pathological addiction to these two instruments has not only placed global peace and security under an objective threat, but has also subjected human civilization to an unprecedented moral decline. Accordingly, no government that believes in the principles and purposes of the Charter of the United Nations—including the principle of respect for the national sovereignty of states—can remain indifferent to the continued lawlessness and overt belligerence of the United States toward fundamental international norms.




The US decision to announce new sanctions, while constituting an explicit admission of the commission of crimes against humanity, is also a continuation of a policy that has already been tried and failed. Repeating it will certainly produce nothing but a repetition of past failures and further discredit the architects and leaders of this policy. The US government and the architects and implementers of this policy will, of course, bear responsibility for its consequences and repercussions.




The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, while strongly condemning the US action to intensify its illegal and inhumane sanctions against the Iranian people, emphasizes that the Islamic Republic of Iran remains steadfast and determined in defending its security and national interests and confronting the US military, economic, political and psychological pressures and attacks.




Relying on its indigenous and national capabilities, and taking into account the experience of seven decades of comprehensive resistance against the US policy of maximum pressure, military aggression and state terrorism against Iran, the Islamic Republic of Iran will employ all available tools and capacities to counter the hostile actions of the American-Zionist enemy and safeguard Iran’s national interests.

Iran's Statement 

Economic pressure is the 'most effective tool' the US has on Iran — Vance

Iran could survive US economic pressure for “a couple of weeks or a couple of months or possibly longer,” Vice President JD Vance told Newsmax on Thursday. He said preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon remains Washington’s main goal.

“They’re under a ton of pressure. That pressure is conducive to our goal of ensuring they don’t have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said.

"What has been true over the last couple of weeks is they felt a lot more pressure than we have," the vice president said.

He said the administration has economic, diplomatic and military tools available to pressure Tehran and is focused on preventing Iran from rebuilding its nuclear program.

“Sometimes, you’ve got to use the economic tools. That’s what the president is focused on right now,” Vance said. “Sometimes, you’ve got to use the military tools.”

Iran has repeatedly emphasized that resuming commercial shipping through the Strait of Hormuz hinges on the US lifting its naval blockades.

China, a major partner of Iran condemned what it calls Washington’s “pressure tactics” after Trump announced the “draconian sanctions” against countries and entities cooperating with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Beijing said sanctions and pressure “are not the solution” and is calling on all sides to “act responsibly” and stick to a political and diplomatic approach.

U.S. threatens Iran’s trade partners with "economic oblivion" China is Iran's biggest trading partner. It accounts for roughly one-third of Iran's total foreign trade.

CHINA CALLS OUT US 'SANCTION CAMPAIGN' TO ISOLATE IRAN, NOT THE SOLUTION

Urges Trump admin to 'TAKE RESPONSIBLE MEASURES' & solve issues DIPLOMATICALLY

 

China has on Thursday condemned what it calls Washington’s “pressure tactics” after Trump threatened “draconian sanctions” against countries and entities cooperating with the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Beijing says sanctions and pressure “are not the solution” and is calling on all sides to “act responsibly” and stick to a political and diplomatic approach.

Tehran remains at the center of this tug of war between Washington and Beijing as the US President Donald Trump declared economic war on anyone keeping Iran alive.

Trump's “Economic D-Day” is an attempt to financially isolate Iran on a scale Washington says has never been attempted before and Treasury Sec. Bessent made the objective brutally clear, to cripple and collapse the Iranian regime.

That means targeting not just Iran, but the countries, banks and businesses that continue trading with it which brings Washington directly into collision with Beijing.

China is buying the overwhelming majority of Iran's shipped oil.

So if Trump genuinely intends to economically strangle Tehran, eventually he has to answer the question everyone is asking: What happens when China refuses to stop?

He faces two choices:

Don't enforce the sanctions aggressively against China, and Tehran retains the economic lifeline Washington is trying to sever. Enforce them, and what began as an economic war against Iran starts becoming an economic confrontation with the world's second-largest economy.

And China isn't Iran.

Beijing has economic weapons of its own: Rare earths, manufacturing, critical supply chains, and, crucially, an alternative financial architecture it's spent years developing precisely because it never wanted Washington to possess a permanent veto over Chinese commerce.

That's the part of this story that could become far more consequential than whatever happens in the Strait of Hormuz.

America's greatest economic weapon isn't an aircraft carrier, it's the dollar. Access to the dollar system gives Washington an extraordinary ability to punish governments, banks and companies almost anywhere on Earth.

But that power only remains overwhelming for as long as the rest of the world has no viable alternative.

Every time Washington weaponises it, it creates another incentive to build one. And Trump is now threatening to demonstrate that vulnerability on an enormous scale.

China doesn't need to overthrow the dollar tomorrow; it just needs enough infrastructure to continue trading when Washington says: Stop, or else.

And once that infrastructure exists, other countries gain access to the same insurance policy.

Trump's war on Iran exposed the limits of American military power. His economic war may be about to expose the limits of America's financial power too.

Various economic terrorism and sanctions by Washington against Tehran in the past decades have failed blatantly. The US military might also failed to compel and force  Iran obedient.

Iranian leaders have variously stated that they will not surrender until Trump bowled to their demands as the Strait of Hormuz remains a tangible weapon to force Washington to concede.

Iran on Thursday warned US warships to withdraw from the Strait of Hormuz region, stating that military action would be taken if they advanced further. 

Tensions between Iran and the US regarding Hormuz are indeed very high; however, there have not been an independent confirmation of the claim that "warships would be sunk."

In essence, Iran is warning the US that advancing into its maritime territory or the Strait of Hormuz could lead to a confrontation.

The earlier report was that the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed for nine months in the Middle East is heading home to California on Thursday, weeks after reports first emerged of tough conditions for sailors on board.

As the Carrier now heads home to San Diego — journey expected to take 4–5 WEEKS

UNIOSUN Lecturer Iyanuoluwa Adufe Wins ACDI Grant for Antimicrobial Stewardship Study

Dr Adufe

A lecturer in the Department of Public Health, Osun State University (UNIOSUN), Dr Iyanuoluwa Adufe, has won a research grant from the African Centre for Development Impact (ACDI) under its 2026 Research Grant Competition.

Dr Adufe’s research proposal, titled “The BRIDGE Trial: A Pilot Cluster Randomized Controlled Trial of a Co-Created One Health Behavioural Intervention to Improve Antimicrobial Stewardship in Nigeria,” was selected for funding following a highly competitive review process involving local and international experts.

In a statement issued by the University’s Public Relations Officer, Ademola Adesoji, the grant was made possible through the generous support of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and is intended to support a high-quality, policy-relevant impact evaluation that will generate evidence to strengthen policymaking and development practice in Africa.

The project, which will run from August 17, 2026, to July 31, 2027, is expected to generate evidence that will contribute to improved antimicrobial stewardship in Nigeria while strengthening collaboration between researchers and policymakers.

According to the award letter signed by the Executive Director of ACDI, Professor Charles Teye Amoatey, Dr Adufe’s project is expected to contribute to the growing body of rigorous, policy-relevant research required to promote evidence-informed decision-making across Africa. The organisation also indicated that the researcher would join its network of African researchers committed to generating evidence for improved development practice and public policy.

As part of the grant requirements, Dr Adufe and her research team are expected to provide quarterly progress updates and a final technical and financial report. The research is also expected to result in at least one scholarly publication, while its findings will be presented to relevant decision-makers at a dedicated dissemination forum.

Reacting to the achievement, the Vice-Chancellor of Osun State University, Professor Odunayo Clement Adebooye, congratulated Dr Adufe, describing the grant as another demonstration of the quality of research being undertaken by academics at the University.

Professor Adebooye said the achievement underscored the University’s commitment to promoting research that addresses pressing societal challenges and generates practical solutions capable of influencing policy and improving the lives of citizens.

He noted that the success further strengthened UNIOSUN’s growing profile as a research-driven institution whose academics are successfully competing for prestigious research grants and contributing to critical national and continental discourse.

The Vice-Chancellor commended Dr Adufe for her research excellence and urged other members of the University community to pursue innovative, interdisciplinary and impact-driven research capable of attracting international funding and contributing meaningfully to sustainable development.

The latest grant adds to UNIOSUN’s growing record of research achievements and externally funded projects, further reinforcing the institution’s commitment to research excellence, innovation, evidence-based policymaking and global academic engagement.