Aug 14, 2026 · 38 min · 11 segments
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Jiang XueqinHost
On the evening of August thirteenth, twenty twenty-six, two commercial vessels belonging to ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, were transiting the Strait of Hormuz when they were attacked.
The UAE confirmed the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as the responsible party, but that's not the important part.
Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran's Central Military Command, declared, and I'm quoting directly, "That the Strait of Hormuz is fully under the management and control of Iran." Rear Admiral Ali Asmae, commander of the IRGC Navy, declared the strait closed, and the Persian Gulf Strait Management Authority posted on X that the strait would not reopen until, quote, "Iran's conditions are accepted." Right? Think about what that actually means.
Iran declared a closure as a completed fact, and tanker traffic through Hormuz dropped from a normal level of one hundred thirty to one hundred forty ships per day down to fewer than twelve ships per day.
At the same time, inside the Iranian parliament, a bill was being voted on, drafted by the National Security Committee.
It proposed a transit tax of five to seven percent on all dry cargo passing through the strait and a complete ban on any vessel connected to United States or Israel.
The reformist bloc and President Pezeshkian's government opposed it, warning it would amount to an economic self-blockade.
Iranian state media on August fourteenth was running simultaneously across every platform leaked intelligence claiming that President Trump, during his visit to Turkey the previous month, because of credible security threats.
Iranian broadcasters called it a humiliation and proof that America is running scared.
Does a country that is scared declare a strait closed as a completed fact? Does a country in a position of weakness draft legislation to tax every ship that passes through international waters? Iran is not behaving like a country that is losing.
And to understand why, you need to understand the card they are not showing publicly.
Advisor Mojtaba Khammadiyeh, speaking for the Supreme Leader, declared Iran's strategy to be converting the war into an offensive posture.
Vice President Majid Ansari stated plainly that war and negotiation are two complementary instruments.
On the evening of August thirteenth, twenty twenty-six, two commercial vessels belonging to ADNOC, the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company, were transiting the Strait of Hormuz when they were attacked.
The UAE confirmed the IRGC, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, as the responsible party, but that's not the important part.
Lieutenant Colonel Ebrahim Zolfaghari, spokesperson for Iran's Central Military Command, declared, and I'm quoting directly, "That the Strait of Hormuz is fully under the management and control of Iran." Rear Admiral Ali Asmae, commander of the IRGC Navy, declared the strait closed, and the Persian Gulf Strait Management Authority posted on X that the strait would not reopen until, quote, "Iran's conditions are accepted." Right? Think about what that actually means.
Iran declared a closure as a completed fact, and tanker traffic through Hormuz dropped from a normal level of one hundred thirty to one hundred forty ships per day down to fewer than twelve ships per day.
At the same time, inside the Iranian parliament, a bill was being voted on, drafted by the National Security Committee.
It proposed a transit tax of five to seven percent on all dry cargo passing through the strait and a complete ban on any vessel connected to United States or Israel.
The reformist bloc and President Pezeshkian's government opposed it, warning it would amount to an economic self-blockade.
Iranian state media on August fourteenth was running simultaneously across every platform leaked intelligence claiming that President Trump, during his visit to Turkey the previous month, because of credible security threats.
Iranian broadcasters called it a humiliation and proof that America is running scared.
Does a country that is scared declare a strait closed as a completed fact? Does a country in a position of weakness draft legislation to tax every ship that passes through international waters? Iran is not behaving like a country that is losing.
And to understand why, you need to understand the card they are not showing publicly.
Advisor Mojtaba Khammadiyeh, speaking for the Supreme Leader, declared Iran's strategy to be converting the war into an offensive posture.
Vice President Majid Ansari stated plainly that war and negotiation are two complementary instruments.
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