Larry Johnson, Zulfiqar Ali: Bessent’s “Biggest Sanctions” FAILS; Iran Moves Toward Mecca Pact as Trump Begs Pak for an Off-Ramp
by Transition Protocol(opens in new tab) [8-24-2026] Larry C. Johnson(bio)(opens in new tab). Iran has been formally invited to join the Mecca Agreement – the trilateral defense pact between Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey – with enthusiastic engagement already underway between Islamabad and Tehran, according to sources detailed in this episode. The same day, Treasury…
Pravin Sawhney, Zulfiqar Ali: Iran Answered BESSENT Before He Spoke; SANCTION US and You Are an Enemy; China, Russia Told Bessent NO
by Transition Protocol(opens in new tab) [8-24-2026]. Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary went on state television on 22 August and said that any country joining the American economic war will be treated as an enemy, and that Iran will strike its interests. Two days later, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announces what he has called…
How China destroyed US sanctions against Iran, Russia, and North Korea
by Inside China Business(opens in new tab) [8-22-2026]. Iran has been the target of economic sanctions for decades. North Korea and Russia are also under heavy sanction, and locked out of most of the USD and SWIFT financial networks. But China has developed comprehensive alternate platforms, and massive volumes of global trade are now conducted…
Pepe Escobar, Zulfiqar Ali:Maximum Pressure Just BACKFIRED in Bessent’s Face; Iran Secretly Invited Into the MECC PACT
by Transition Protocol(opens in new tab) [8-23-2026] Pepe Escobar(bio)(opens in new tab). Ten minutes before we went to air, sources inside the office of Iran’s Supreme Leader told us that Speaker Ghalibaf was discussing Pakistan’s invitation for Iran to become the fourth member of the Mecca Pact – hours before Field Marshal Asim Munir landed…
Larry Johnson: Feeding the Enemy – How Washington’s Obsession With Iran Subverted Its Own War on Sunni Terror
by Larry Johnson(opens in new tab) [8-22-2026] Larry C. Johnson(bio)(opens in new tab). (RAD: If you ever thought that the US Government was moral & looking to do the right things, then this analysis will certainly abuse you of those thoughts. When convenient, the US government will use the most corrupt & vile groups to…
Pepe Escobar: Exclusive- How Trump Tried to Bribe the Head of the IRGC
by Pepe Escobar(opens in new tab) [8-21-2026] Pepe Escobar(bio)(opens in new tab). Mafia, piracy, bribing, extortion: talk about a flexible Empire at work Empire of Chaos, Lies, Plunder, Piracy. And bribes. Mike Pompeo, former aspiring Tony Soprano, admitted: “We lie, we cheat, we steal.” And we bribe. A Transition Protocol source, as we revealed live(opens in…
Larry Johnson: The Cushion Ran Out – Bessent’s Oil “Mystery” Isn’t One
by Larry Johnson(opens in new tab) [8-21-2026] Larry C. Johnson(bio)(opens in new tab). Scott Bessent says he doesn’t understand why oil is going up. On Thursday, hours after announcing that Washington would keep its naval blockade and hit Iran with the toughest sanctions in history, the Treasury Secretary watched crude climb and told CNBC, “I’m…
Iran’s Weapons Production Doubled in Past Year Despite US, Israeli Strikes
by Sputnik(opens in new tab) [8-22-2026]. Iran’s weapons and defense equipment production has doubled over the past year, a senior defense official announced, even as the country’s military industry came under repeated US and Israeli strikes during the conflict. Brigadier General Reza Talaei-Nik, spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Defense, made the announcement in a televised…
Iran’s intelligence apparatus: sword and shield of the Revolution
by Geopolitics Prime(opens in new tab) [8-20-2026]. (For 47 years since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, The West, primarily the US & Israel, have tried to destroy Iran & subject it to Western rule. Iran has sufferred immensely, yet it is now much stronger and was even able to defeat the Feb 28 invasion of the…
Pepe Escobar, Zulfiqar Ali: TRUMP’S “MAXIMUM PRESSURE” ON IRAN JUST GOT REJECTED; 440kg Missing; Trump Lost His Only Window
by Transition Protocol(opens in new tab) [8-21-2026] Pepe Escobar(bio)(opens in new tab). 440.9 kilograms of 60% enriched uranium are unaccounted for – and according to sources inside the Pakistani command, the only remaining channel with visibility into where it went runs through the mediator Donald Trump has just discarded. Pepe Escobar and Zulfiqar Ali report…
Vijay Prashad, Zulfiqar Ali: Pakistan’s 6 Corridors Are Keeping Iran Alive; Why Won’t America Sanction Pakistan?
by Transition Protocol(opens in new tab) [8-21-2026]. Trump’s people tried to buy an Iranian general – and were refused. In this episode, Vijay Prashad joins Zulfiqar Ali to explain why the United States cannot win, cannot exit, and cannot even discipline Pakistan, the one country keeping Iran’s economy alive. Pakistan has opened at least five…
Larry Johnson: Bessent Doesn’t Understand that He Can’t Weaponize the Dollar with Iran and Bank On It with China
by Larry Johnson(opens in new tab) [8-21-2026] Larry C. Johnson(bio)(opens in new tab). Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had a schizophrenic Thursday. Asked on CNBC why oil had jumped on the administration’s latest Iran threats, he professed bewilderment: “I’m not sure why oil has popped up on this.” In separate remarks the same day he went…