𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐓𝐓 𝐁𝐄𝐒𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓 𝐉𝐔𝐒𝐓 𝐂𝐎𝐍𝐅𝐈𝐑𝐌𝐄𝐃 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐎𝐈𝐋 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐒 𝐇𝐀𝐕𝐄 𝐒𝐓𝐎𝐏𝐏𝐄𝐃 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐀𝐓 𝐊𝐇𝐀𝐑𝐆 𝐈𝐒𝐋𝐀𝐍𝐃 — 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐒𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐈𝐒 ‘𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐓𝐒 𝐋𝐀𝐒𝐓 𝐋𝐄𝐆𝐒”
Bessent, on the blockade:
‘𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘯 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘢𝘤𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘐𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘰𝘪𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘒𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘨 𝘐𝘴𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘯𝘰 𝘭𝘰𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘦 𝘥𝘢𝘺𝘴. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘶𝘭𝘭. 𝘕𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘶𝘵, 𝘯𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺’𝘳𝘦 𝘨𝘰𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘶𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 — 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘪𝘵 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘦 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘵𝘰𝘴.”
‘𝘛𝘩𝘶𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘦𝘹𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘵𝘦𝘥 30,000 𝘵𝘰 40,000 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦, 𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘧𝘶𝘭 𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴. 𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘥𝘦𝘢𝘭 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘨𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵? 𝘠𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘦𝘻𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘦𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺. 𝘚𝘰𝘭𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘢𝘳𝘦𝘯’𝘵 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘱𝘢𝘪𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘸𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘤𝘬𝘴 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘢𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘢𝘥. 𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘴.”
What the satellite picture confirms. 𝐀 𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥-𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐞, 𝐳𝐞𝐫𝐨-𝐥𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐮𝐬 𝐚𝐭 𝐊𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐧𝐬 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐡𝐚𝐬 𝐫𝐮𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐢𝐥 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 — 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐜 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞, 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐧𝐞. The regime is simultaneously executing protesters on a mass scale and failing to pay its own military. 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐜𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐬 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩’𝐬 𝐛𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐚𝐝𝐞 ‘𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐜𝐞𝐬𝐬”.
𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐀 𝐓𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐘 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐂𝐀𝐍 𝐏𝐎𝐈𝐍𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐒𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐋𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐄 𝐏𝐇𝐎𝐓𝐎𝐒 𝐎𝐅 𝐀 𝐅𝐔𝐋𝐋 𝐎𝐈𝐋 𝐓𝐄𝐑𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐔𝐍𝐏𝐀𝐈𝐃 𝐒𝐎𝐋𝐃𝐈𝐄𝐑𝐒, 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐐𝐔𝐄𝐒𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐒 𝐍𝐎 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆𝐄𝐑 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐓𝐇𝐄𝐑 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐑𝐄𝐆𝐈𝐌𝐄 𝐒𝐔𝐑𝐕𝐈𝐕𝐄𝐒 — 𝐈𝐓 𝐈𝐒 𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐋𝐎𝐍𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐀𝐏𝐒𝐄 𝐓𝐀𝐊𝐄𝐒