Vijay Prashad, Zulfiqar Ali: Iran’s Nuclear Material or America’s Bases; Who Blinks and Who Can Guarantee Trump
by Transition Protocol [10-31-2026] Vijay Prashad(bio).
America lost. Iran didn’t win. Vijay Prashad, back from Brazil and China, says that is why neither side will make the first concession — Iranian nuclear material or American bases.
Our host’s sources say Iran will ask China and Russia to act as guarantors of the Trump administration’s conduct — a task the host himself calls impossible. Meanwhile Saudi Arabia’s defense minister sat down in Tehran, and Prashad says what a real UN chief would do: “set up the UN headquarters in Gaza.”
- 25:53 “You can lose a war without the other side having won it”: Vijay Prashad’s verdict.
- 18:01 Who could guarantee Trump? China, Russia and the Islamabad MoU — per our host’s sources.
- 42:15 Move the UN to Gaza: “we dare you to bomb us.”
What you’ll learn: why Prashad says America lost the Iran war and Iran didn’t win it; what each side would have to give up first, and why neither will; why Iran wants Chinese and Russian guarantees; why Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Türkiye went to Tehran on 26 October; what Hormuz and Bab al-Mandeb mean for food importers; what Prashad says the next UN Secretary-General should do.
Sourcing note: The war’s verdict, the concession trade, the China-as-host forecast and the UN proposal are Vijay Prashad’s analysis. The report that Iran will ask China and Russia to act as guarantors, and that China backs a settlement only on the Islamabad MoU’s terms, is our host’s own sourcing and cannot be independently verified. “Move the UN to Gaza” is our label for Prashad’s proposal; his words are “set up the UN headquarters in Gaza”. The host’s warning about both straits is conditional (“if…”).
Public record: Saudi Defence Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman, Field Marshal Asim Munir and Türkiye’s intelligence chief İbrahim Kalın met in Tehran on 26 October. The US–Iran Islamabad MoU was signed in June and collapsed in late July; Pakistan says it is working to revive it. Israel’s 27 October election — Likud largest with 27 seats; Arab lists 19 (i24 count). Ansar Allah seized Mocha around 10 September; a closure of Bab al-Mandeb has not been confirmed. The FAO and WFP have warned that Hormuz and Red Sea disruption threatens food supplies. The UN Security Council is holding straw polls for Secretary-General; Guterres’s term ends 31 December.
Corrections shown on screen: Abdul El-Sayed won the 4 August Michigan Democratic Senate primary (the host says on air that AIPAC spending stopped him). Lula was jailed from April 2018 to November 2019 and his convictions were annulled in 2021. The Saudi-led intervention in Yemen began in March 2015.