SHNEAKO - The Lone Journalist with WiFi inside Iran - Propaganda and Co. Uncovers the Lies

00:00:00.000 All over Iranian society, they have pictures of their martyrs.

00:00:03.700 And even in the mosques, you see pictures of the martyrs.

00:00:07.060 And so the society has been, the society is like conditioned to honor the memory of their martyrs and to seek martyrdom themselves.

00:00:16.080 And that's something I think Donald Trump simply could not understand.

00:00:19.600 The Americans clearly could not understand.

00:00:22.840 We left that night from our hotel. 0.55

00:00:25.100 Shortly after we left, they bombed right in front of the hotel.

00:00:29.420 literally right in front of the hotel so they tell us like as we're driving from Boucher to the next

00:00:35.420 city they say hey um we just want to let you know that like everywhere we went today got bombed

00:00:39.580 including like right in front of the hotel so we're not we don't know if you're being targeted

00:00:43.820 or not uh but we just want to let you know that so I'm like okay well thanks for letting me know 0.97

00:00:48.420 you know you know I was born in Baghdad I'm from Baghdad it's disgusting it really is you know 0.82

00:00:53.920 iran is not like that though and like iran is super clean and one of the first things they do 0.86

00:00:59.440 whenever they get bombed the first thing they do is they have street cleaners come and clean it up

00:01:04.000 right like they cover it up and then they clean it up hello hello hello can you hear me how are

00:01:09.360 you how are you man good to hear from you again and glad you're safe i was kind of worried about

00:01:16.360 you for a while i was wondering if you'd be able to come back into the america safely like how it

00:01:21.440 be at the border when i saw that straight of four moves video great work by the way i was like man

00:01:25.940 it's got to be difficult you're there vlogging the straight of four moves while it's closed

00:01:30.400 and americans are seething that it's not open i'm like bro this imagine him at customs

00:01:35.360 yeah well i haven't come back to the states yet so i don't know what will happen but uh hopefully

00:01:44.640 i haven't violated any laws or anything like that just exercised my right to freedom of speech i

00:01:49.980 just happened to do it in the Strait of Hormuz during a war. But yeah, man, I'm safe and sound.

00:01:57.020 I'm in Turkey now. I left Iran a couple of days ago. And I want to go back, but I couldn't get

00:02:03.680 my visa extended. The foreign ministry processing the visas apparently during war, it's difficult

00:02:10.420 for them to extend it. And so I don't know if I get a chance to go back, I will. But for now,

00:02:16.720 i'm safe and sound and uh yeah i look forward to trying my best to come back to the states soon

00:02:22.320 how long since you left iran

00:02:24.600 uh it's been a couple of days now i forget maybe like uh five six days okay and what was it like

00:02:34.760 for i mean overall i want to hear about your trip and maybe you are going to go back seems like you

00:02:40.980 want to but what was it like right before you left so that was a couple days before the ceasefire

00:02:46.160 that now it looks like it's been violated and they seem they're pointing out i think galiboff

00:02:51.380 said that they violated three of the main points they attacked lebanon and they have sent drones

00:02:56.260 into the airspace and they have ignored their ability to enrich uranium so what has what's the

00:03:04.040 atmosphere like in iran right before you left

00:03:06.060 man right before i left the morale was so high people and we talked about this the first and

00:03:16.920 second time we spoke but but people are very very supportive of the government right now you know

00:03:22.760 there's a rally around the flag effect so even people that are critical of the government are

00:03:27.700 either um softening their position or just kind of holding their tongue right now because they

00:03:32.780 understand that they're under attack from demonic external forces that want to destroy them and so

00:03:38.080 they're all coming together and every night they have these war rallies around the country

00:03:42.640 all over the cities people get in their cars they drive around they honk people go on foot

00:03:47.960 and you know they they listen to poetry they listen to speeches they listen to music they

00:03:53.400 pray together uh they you know pass out snacks and and so it's like a very communal experience

00:04:00.000 all across the country millions and millions of people are doing this and the morale is very high

00:04:05.480 um i i don't know if you saw this clip but i i interviewed the governor of the hormuz region

00:04:14.300 saw that and my hair was all crazy because we were on the beach and the wind was blowing really

00:04:19.940 tough so i look ridiculous in there but the question i asked was very important i asked him 0.50

00:04:23.640 are you prepared to potentially be nuked by the state of israel and really cool really calm really

00:04:31.180 collected he responded very simply he said iran prepared comprehensively so meaning

00:04:38.740 we prepared for every scenario and he said if they were to attack us i think they'd be surprised by

00:04:46.700 our response and that clip went viral because i think people interpreted it as him saying either

00:04:52.300 they already have a nuclear weapon or they can very quickly make one and so they're not afraid

00:04:57.060 to be to be nuked potentially and a couple of days later trump made this big threat

00:05:01.840 which was supposed to be yesterday right he was supposed to end all human life or whatever which

00:05:06.640 was trump's way of saying i'll drop a nuke um so up until that point morale was very high and

00:05:12.660 honestly i felt like man iran has got this in the bag my perception hasn't changed all that much

00:05:20.040 because I think Iran militarily still has the ability to fight back

00:05:24.500 and they control the Strait of Hormuz still.

00:05:27.680 That hasn't changed.

00:05:29.080 But I think yesterday, whatever happened with the ceasefire,

00:05:32.520 they kind of fumbled the bag.

00:05:34.220 I feel like the way I'm describing it is like they intercepted the U.S. pass

00:05:39.680 and they were running it back for a touchdown

00:05:41.500 and they sprinted 99 yards and on the one-yard line they fumbled.

00:05:45.520 like that they had the strategy you know is in their favor they have the straightforward moves

00:05:52.340 in their hands and they're applying all this pressure on the energy industry and trump was

00:05:57.520 panicking you could tell like every other day he was changing his tone and tweeting all these

00:06:03.440 ridiculous things and it was like nothing he did could move iran out of their favorable position

00:06:09.000 and then yesterday for some reason that's what they did they agreed to a ceasefire or at least

00:06:14.160 the beginning of a potential ceasefire. And not even 12 hours later, they get slapped in the face

00:06:19.740 and kind of humiliated because it looks like they just abandoned their ally in Lebanon. And so I

00:06:24.120 don't mean to take like such a critical tone. I think obviously up until this point, Iran has 1.00

00:06:28.780 done very well, but I was baffled and bewildered. And I think many people in Iran are as well.

00:06:34.900 You're asking about the mood in Iran. You see it all over social media and you see it on the

00:06:39.460 streets. People are really pissed off now. And the people in Iran want to keep fighting. They're

00:06:45.760 not afraid of death. They're not afraid of the inconveniences of this war. They want the war

00:06:50.360 because they want revenge. They want justice. And they want to make sure this doesn't happen again.

00:06:55.320 They've already been, they've already had temporary ceasefires. They've already had

00:06:59.100 negotiations. There's nothing left to talk about. You know, either the U.S. and Israel shows Iran

00:07:04.260 the respect it deserves or they duke it out until until one side comes out on top and so the iranian 0.86

00:07:12.300 people i think their mood is still defiant and there's a lot of morale they're just pissed off

00:07:16.940 i think that this kind of came to this like anticlimactic ceasefire that isn't even really

00:07:23.380 a ceasefire so did that surprise you i think it definitely surprised the administration and a lot 0.74

00:07:29.020 Americans did not understand just how strong the Iranians were mentally. The Venezuelan regime

00:07:36.060 change seemed like it was preparation for this. And Trump seemed like he thought it was going to

00:07:40.200 last a couple of weeks, maybe, maybe even a couple of days that would have been in and out.

00:07:44.460 I think they thought that first attack, Epic Fury would have just been one and done. It would have

00:07:49.280 killed the Ayatollah and then it would have been over. Were you at any of the protests or did you

00:07:54.120 see anything firsthand about Iranians linking up and forming a human shield around the power

00:08:00.740 plants? Because that was super inspiring to see. Yeah. Yeah, it's incredible. They

00:08:11.220 want to put their lives on the line. And I do think it's a concept that maybe America doesn't

00:08:18.720 depreciate. And you see it from a lot of people, even who are like maybe sympathetic to Iran's

00:08:24.220 cause. People like to interpret things way too much, I think, from a materialist perspective.

00:08:29.000 So they think so much about money, you know, especially like when they talk in the lead up

00:08:34.260 to it, for example, there's like a group of people online that thought there wouldn't be a war

00:08:39.980 because it, you know, disrupts the interests of BlackRock or, you know, the capitalists and the

00:08:45.000 bankers and it's like you're you're thinking too much about money about materialism and and these

00:08:50.940 elitist like ideology matters too and on the one hand you have zionists who have this like really 0.95

00:08:56.460 unhinged delusional ideology they believe in extreme victimhood but also extreme chosenness 1.00

00:09:03.400 you know and that's a cocktail that's an ideal that's a cocktail for disaster and narcissism

00:09:09.780 and it's in but it is a powerful ideological force and it's produced so much of the violence

00:09:16.080 we've seen over the last few decades and particularly over the last two years and

00:09:20.260 then on the flip side you have this other ideology you know this revolution committed to

00:09:24.940 kicking out these imperialists and colonial forces from the region and being committed to

00:09:30.640 the destruction and the defeat of zionism in the region and so that's a very powerful ideology as

00:09:36.100 well and then you know you've been i think learning more and more about like the concept of martyrdom

00:09:41.040 and for shia you know in islam regardless of whether you're sunni or shia martyrdom is a big

00:09:46.320 deal with like muslims believe in jihad they believe that's the greatest form uh that's the

00:09:51.260 greatest way to leave this world and transition to the nexus to fight for a righteous cause in 0.99

00:09:56.500 the path of god um but you know shias take it to another level like they're obsessed with martyrdom 0.97

00:10:03.080 And in Iran, especially, like anywhere you go in Iran, if you ever get to visit one day, you'll see this yourself. 1.00

00:10:10.200 Wherever you go in the city, you could be inside of a mosque.

00:10:13.460 You could be walking down the street.

00:10:15.200 You could be passing underneath an overpass like a bridge.

00:10:19.220 And you will see pictures and portraits everywhere of martyrs, martyrs who died 45 years ago in the Iran-Iraq War or the revolution, martyrs who died 10 years ago, martyrs who died in the 12-day war last year, martyrs who died this year.

00:10:31.460 All over Iranian society, they have pictures of their martyrs. And even in the mosques, you see pictures of the martyrs. And so the society has been, the society is like conditioned to honor the memory of their martyrs and to seek martyrdom themselves.

00:10:50.460 and that's something i think donald trump simply could not understand the americans clearly could

00:10:57.020 not understand they just felt like you know these okay these people claim to be committed to something

00:11:03.680 like in venezuela they're committed to a revolution as well um i think in venezuela it's a little

00:11:09.060 different because venezuela doesn't have like a choke point like the straighter form moves that

00:11:12.900 they can control you know so they were unfortunately surrounded by aircraft carriers and there just

00:11:17.380 wasn't much for them to do but actually the venezuelan people are committed to their revolution

00:11:22.020 in their ideology like hugo chavez and then obviously you have simon bolivar right so there

00:11:29.240 is an anti-colonial ideology like revolutionary ideology in venezuela that people are very

00:11:34.960 passionate about they just don't have the conditions uh and maybe the religious motivation

00:11:39.620 as well to fight and die for that where in iran they do right it's it's a fusing of these

00:11:45.700 revolutionary ideas plus the religion and the concept of paradise and martyrdom

00:11:51.380 combined with the Strait of Hormuz and it's just like a perfect storm you know it's like okay this 0.70

00:11:57.100 is why Iran can do what it does and I do think it like you pointed out it took Donald Trump 0.86

00:12:02.960 who's obviously like even if he claims to be a believer of God I don't think anyone would 0.74

00:12:09.500 really take him seriously he's obviously a materialistic like atheist essentially so he

00:12:15.240 could never grasp that these people would would fight you know to the end like this and so yeah

00:12:22.040 they completely yeah they that's something that we could all agree upon this was a complete

00:12:28.900 underestimation of the supposed enemy what was it like in the strait of hormuz so we keep hearing

00:12:34.880 this term i think this is if you check the google trends it's definitely sword i was speaking about

00:12:38.840 this a lot during iranian or during the venezuela regime change i said the reason that they are

00:12:43.080 trying to get the oil for Venezuela is because they understand that the Strait of Hormuz will

00:12:46.720 be closed if they attack Iran, which is what they really want. What was it like over there? You had

00:12:51.460 a really good vlog. And from the vlog, you see tons of tankers. You could see just surrounded

00:12:57.620 by all these ships in a really small, it's pretty narrow straight. I don't know how many kilometers

00:13:02.060 it is exactly off the top of my head, but what was it like over there? It was filled with oil

00:13:09.940 tankers man it's like ship after ship after ship like as as far as the eye can see as as near as

00:13:18.780 the eye can see just all over the bay and a lot of them were just parked because they're like they

00:13:24.200 don't know if they have permission to go yet and and some of them are just waiting for permission

00:13:28.560 and they have to like reach out to the IRTC navy and they have to tell them who they work with and 0.75

00:13:34.740 the IRGC Navy has to like confirm it because you know the Israelis love to uh claim you know they

00:13:40.260 love to like have their own ships pass through and under a different flag and claim like it's

00:13:44.500 from Malta or it's from this country or that country but really you know after if you follow

00:13:50.320 the chain of paperwork you'll find that actually the Israelis own it so you know the IRGC Navy

00:13:55.840 has these ships parked basically at gunpoint in the Strait of Hormuz and and they're investigating

00:14:02.040 getting to see like who they really work for and then if they're not Israeli or they're not American

00:14:07.140 they say okay you can pass through but you got to pay up and you got to pay two million dollars worth

00:14:12.480 in the Chinese Yuan or I've heard potentially they may also be accepting a stable coin on the Tron

00:14:19.140 network this blockchain I don't know why Tron that's such a weird network of all the networks

00:14:24.420 like if you know anything about crypto like why the hell would you do Tron but yeah apparently

00:14:28.980 they'll accept that, maybe Bitcoin, maybe some gold. But the point is, they're not taking US

00:14:33.840 dollars, and they want $2 million per ship. And today, I saw somebody posting about how much

00:14:41.860 money Iran could make doing this, even if they split it with Oman, which they will do. It's 0.95

00:14:47.980 going to add a 10% boost to their GDP, which is significant given that they've been under...

00:14:54.180 Like that's without sanctions getting lifted. And so that does a lot for Iran, a country that as I think we all agree by now has built up a very impressive military.

00:15:04.120 They've been able to do that and build a very well-developed society. If you go to Iran, you'll find it's clean. It's beautiful, like nice roads.

00:15:11.580 They have trains. They have subways, free health care, free education.

00:15:17.180 You know, it's it's not easy to make money there because of the sanctions. And people are kind of annoyed by that.

00:15:22.720 They want to travel freely around the world and do all the things that free people get to do who aren't under sanctions.

00:15:29.260 But despite that pressure, Iran has done an incredible job.

00:15:34.060 And so just imagine, you know, a 10 percent boost to their GDP.

00:15:38.060 It would do wonders for their people. 0.81

00:15:40.120 So that's the power that Iran has. 1.00

00:15:44.560 And they still have. I mean, even though they agreed to the ceasefire, they still control the straits. 1.00

00:15:48.640 It's not like they gave it up.

00:15:50.020 And I don't think there's anything the US could do within these two weeks to kind of undermine what Iran has prepared 40 years for. So it's not like the worst thing in the world that they agreed to this potential ceasefire, but I think it was just handled sloppily and they kind of left Hezbollah out to dry. But anyway, I digress.

00:16:09.880 so i really think your coverage was interesting to see what iran is like because the narrative

00:16:16.120 here is that they're religiously backwards this is a horrible country i think people

00:16:19.640 if they listen to the propaganda from trump hegseth rubio you would think that iran is just 0.99

00:16:25.240 filled with all these savages and you see your vlogs and you see the infrastructure the historical

00:16:31.600 buildings the beauty of the architecture and you're like wait you really understand that this

00:16:36.040 is an empire this is civilization that has existed for far longer than the american empire this is a

00:16:40.740 place where people are existing fine they're not just shoving burkas down women's heads a lot of

00:16:46.200 the footage it looks like it's like williamsburg brooklyn they are civilized people it's like

00:16:50.840 it really breaks down that propaganda what was the biggest eye-opening thing you saw

00:16:57.080 uh in iran during this wartime

00:16:59.580 uh how clean iran is iran is like you've probably been to other parts of the middle east so

00:17:09.560 there are i mean i don't want to make it sound like the middle east is like

00:17:13.460 filthy all over um you have the gulf countries because of their wealth it's pretty clean there

00:17:19.400 um and and but i don't know if you've ever been to egypt or iraq no okay well unfortunately they 1.00

00:17:30.300 they give us a bad reputation as muslims and brown people you know they just kind of make 1.00

00:17:34.520 it look like we don't respect the place that we live because it's just trash everywhere it's like 1.00

00:17:40.280 a landfill that people have built homes into and i said it's not like i'm exaggerating or

00:17:46.200 being disrespectful i'm not really trying to be but you know i'm i was born in baghdad i'm from

00:17:50.160 baghdad it's disgusting it really is you know iran is not like that though and like iran is super

00:17:57.540 clean and one of the first things they do whenever they get bombed the first thing they do is they

00:18:03.180 have street cleaners come and clean it up right like they cover it up and then they clean it up

00:18:07.840 and this is like right after you know like they're like nope we got to keep the society clean and so

00:18:13.100 that was something that stuck out to me another thing that stuck out to me man is like if you

00:18:17.040 look at a map iran looks brown and dry but actually iran is very green even in the south

00:18:24.820 where they're further away from the heavy rains and and the forest and stuff like that they plant

00:18:31.440 a ton of like they take their garden seriously and anywhere you drive in the city they have

00:18:37.520 this beautiful canopy of trees on both sides and they're so old they're like hundreds of years old

00:18:43.520 and so they've grown so tall that they cover the roads and this is in Tehran this is in Shiraz

00:18:48.820 this is in Isfahan this is in Mashhad you see it like all over the country in all their different

00:18:53.520 cities gardens and trees along the sidewalks and on the roads and this is a country that struggles

00:19:00.200 with water but they still make sure that they feed their plants and take care of them enough

00:19:05.480 And so when you're in the city itself, you don't feel like you're in a dry, brown, dusty place

00:19:14.700 You know, you find yourself in a very green city that comes to life through these flowers and these plants

00:19:20.680 And that was something else that stuck out to me

00:19:24.040 But the other thing, you know, before I went to Iran, I wasn't sure how united the population was

00:19:32.740 Right. I just didn't know enough to be able to say, like, could the Mossad flip the government?

00:19:38.760 Like, are there enough people that they could just pay?

00:19:42.760 Yeah, they've tried already and they failed. But if they kept trying, would they succeed?

00:19:48.120 Now that I've actually gone to Iran, I'm absolutely certain that there's no way.

00:19:52.900 There's no way because the majority of the people are devout believers in the revolution and in the government.

00:20:00.140 And, you know, beyond that, just Iran as a whole. And these aren't necessarily like super religious people to them, like they believe in the religion, they practice the religion, but they're also, I don't want to say secular, but they're just not as religious as some of like the diehards, but they still believe in the religion's mission. 0.99

00:20:21.240 And they stand for the country. And I saw that in enough cities now where I'm confident that the people will rise up and protect what they've built. So that was another observation that I really wanted to know for myself, especially because I'm making these analysis videos on my YouTube channel trying to tell my followers what I think is going to happen. 0.98

00:20:41.560 Now that I've actually experienced it and I've seen it from city to city to city, I'm confident in saying that I don't think they can flip the government internally.

00:20:49.900 I think that the people are, like you said, out there holding hands, protecting their infrastructure.

00:20:56.280 I mean, they would do the same thing for their government and protect it from from some kind of proxy war or uprising.

00:21:03.860 So now that you've been there and you saw the people firsthand, you're saying that they would not be able to be flipped by CA MSI, which they tried.

00:21:10.200 the narrative that americans in israel are freeing iran of the irgc this is something

00:21:16.280 that pbd keeps saying that they need a freedom of the ayatollah that this is oppressive this is

00:21:20.420 why caisson and the iranian diaspora that they're celebrating it's working is there any basis to

00:21:26.320 that where do people get this idea that the people 80 pbd keeps saying that 80 of them

00:21:32.320 want to flip their government yeah so he's exaggerating there are a lot of people in

00:21:43.220 iran that are critical of the government right now like i said they're kind of muted and they're

00:21:48.880 doing that in solidarity because they don't want to undermine their own nation and i would say the

00:21:53.300 majority of the people who are critical of the government are like that they're not traitors 0.53

00:21:56.880 like pbd and these others who are totally okay with israel bombing the country and murdering 0.53

00:22:01.920 people you know you could tell those people aren't really from iran and if they are from iran they're 0.94

00:22:07.620 not like empathetic or reasonable human beings they're kind of unhinged you know um for the most

00:22:12.520 part like okay you and i are critical of the u.s government there's no doubt about that fact but you

00:22:18.900 and i don't want to see america get bombed or attacked by anyone else no matter what we think

00:22:22.800 because we know that our friends and family live here and and we ultimately would like we would

00:22:30.120 like to see a change in the way that government does things but we don't want to support the

00:22:33.760 destruction of it right so pbd is exaggerating um but there are people who are critical and i

00:22:39.840 spoke to them myself and they they didn't want to get on camera they didn't want to do interviews

00:22:44.620 most of them were liberals and and when i say liberals you can't think of them as liberals

00:22:49.500 like liberals in america but i'm just using this very basic general term for you just understand 1.00

00:22:54.420 right um but women who are like very clearly dressed in a way where they're like 0.99

00:23:01.620 more western right so they're not wearing the abaya or the niqab or like you know the gown

00:23:07.560 or anything like that uh they have their hair out their hair is dyed a certain color um you know

00:23:13.240 it's just like visually you you identify them as like okay this is a liberal right westernized

00:23:19.560 might be the better term. They're westernized people. Right. Yeah, exactly. And they're usually

00:23:25.300 going to be, you know, women. They're their easiest to spot, I guess. And so I would ask 1.00

00:23:29.560 them, like, you know, what do you think of the government? And they would tell me, like, I don't

00:23:32.820 like the government. And I would say, do you support getting bombed by, you know, by Israel 0.96

00:23:37.640 and the U.S.? And they were wise enough to say no. Of course not. But they did say, like, I don't

00:23:43.320 like this government. And just telling you this is dangerous. Like, I shouldn't be telling you this.

00:23:48.340 I could get in trouble. I don't know if that's true or not, but they said it. And so, you know,

00:23:54.000 they have the right to express themselves. And I'm not going to sit there and debate with them

00:23:57.080 because I'm not from there. But, you know, when I would ask them why, they would say, well, you

00:24:02.480 know, they're forcing the religion on us. And I would say like, okay, well, you know, you have 0.99

00:24:06.460 the hijab on your shoulders, but you don't have it on your head right now. You're not covering your

00:24:10.060 hair. And one girl I spoke to was on a date with her boyfriend. So it's like, okay, you're on a

00:24:15.020 date with your boyfriend you don't even have to wear the scarf yet you're saying that the religion 0.79

00:24:19.280 is being forced upon you and she's like yeah there have been changes like there is progress but it

00:24:25.180 we fought for this like there have been protests over the years it took a long time to get to this

00:24:29.740 point uh and she's right about that there there has been a movement um actually so when i was in

00:24:37.340 isfahan i spoke to the governor and he gave us a tour of like this cultural site that we went to

00:24:43.040 It was actually the place where that got bombed while we were there.

00:24:46.880 Crazy.

00:24:47.400 Actually, I have a crazy story I got to tell you afterwards.

00:24:50.720 But, yeah, we were at this square and there was a bombing.

00:24:54.240 But before that, the governor gave us a tour of, like, the cultural site there.

00:24:58.200 And I told him, I said, hey, you know, I spoke to this chick and she told me that she doesn't appreciate the government, like, deciding for her what is best for her, you know, forcing her to, like, dress a certain way or whatever.

00:25:09.920 And he was very frank.

00:25:11.200 And this interview is online. I'll have to find it. It's from my colleague, Dimitri Lascaris, from Reason to Resist, who actually I would recommend that you get on here.

00:25:19.280 He came with us and he's a war correspondent. He's in Lebanon now, actually. So he's serious.

00:25:24.600 Like this guy goes around. He goes into war zones that are and he covers them. He's been in Lebanon like four or five times.

00:25:30.740 Anyway, so he recorded the interview and he shared it. And the governor said straight up, he's like, look, man, did she have the scarf on?

00:25:37.820 I said, no. He's like, did anyone do anything to her? Did anyone say anything to her? He's like, no. He's like, she's from a different generation. There's a gap just like any other society, even in families. You know, the father and the son are going to be very different. So he's like, we have those differences here in Iran and we've been making progress. We've been making changes. And so he's like, I get where she's coming from, but I disagree with her. Her life is not in danger or anything like that.

00:26:01.500 And so, you know, it's a, there's legitimate criticisms for sure. And I don't know how you feel about this. I mean, I, I don't know, like, I don't, I haven't lived there. I've been there to visit and I think it's totally fine, but I don't know if I live there, if I would appreciate living in a, I guess, a conservative theocracy, even if there was room to be more liberal and enjoy like certain things that we have grown up accustomed to experiencing in the West.

00:26:30.040 I don't know. I can't say because I didn't live there. But so for us from the outside, it's easy for us idealistically to say like, oh, yeah, that's awesome what Iran has done and whatever freedoms you may not have, it's worth it in the long run.

00:26:43.580 That's easy for us to say from the outside, even though I do think that. But, you know, to these some of these women, you know, they have these legitimate criticisms, but it doesn't justify what the U.S. or Israel is doing.

00:26:57.380 it is definitely not on the level that patrick beck david is saying it is 80 it's just nonsense

00:27:02.060 so then what are they criticizing if they're allowed to dress the way they dress if they're

00:27:05.780 going on dates with their boyfriends what is the grievance that they have with the government

00:27:09.540 so firstly i think even though they they those changes have been made either they feel like

00:27:17.500 it's not enough or it's just one of those things where they'll never be satisfied because they've

00:27:23.300 already made up their minds about this government like they don't like it so even though there have

00:27:26.980 change is made they're like it's not enough and we don't trust you and it's just not good enough

00:27:32.020 on the other hand there are people who say there's corruption they say that you know there's

00:27:35.620 a lot of bureaucracy and if you want to get anything done or climb the ladder you have to

00:27:40.340 engage in corruption you have to bribe somebody and i don't know if that's true but that's what

00:27:44.340 they say the person who told me that was very young like you know early 20s it's like how do

00:27:49.860 you know that it sounds like you're just hearing it and repeating it but it could be true um you

00:27:55.940 know every society struggles with corruption if you're in a society that's heavily sanctioned and

00:28:00.820 every penny counts then there should be no room for corruption and so if it is taking place and

00:28:07.540 i imagine that would be very frustrating but those are just some of the things that i heard

00:28:11.140 that's every country in the world every country has corruption every country has problems with

00:28:16.740 people getting into power and there's going to be this sort of complaints anywhere so i just i can't

00:28:25.620 figure out what it is specific to iran that they're saying is so evil all right you see

00:28:30.900 these people celebrating i'm like what is the difference between iranian government and others

00:28:36.180 why is this specifically evil why does it need to be bombed out of existence

00:28:42.180 yeah yeah and that's why i say those people are those people either lack empathy or are traitors

00:28:49.060 or both but there's no justification for it what was the story so you were almost bombed or it was

00:28:55.060 bombed right after you left so i'm glad you were safe maybe it was targeted because you were a

00:28:58.500 journalist you know that they love to target journalists what happened yeah so so um there

00:29:06.260 are two cities we went to one of them was bushair okay and bushair is on the it's in the south and

00:29:11.540 it's on the persian gulf it's on the coast and it's the coastal city that's like a two-hour ferry

00:29:17.060 ride from kharag island this infamous island that like everyone's talking about the u.s might

00:29:22.500 bomb or invade or whatever it's where like 90 of iran's oil exports move through that island

00:29:28.500 so we went to bushair and when we were in bush air we went to several sites to go document them

00:29:34.900 and so the every site we went to shortly after we left got bombed so we went to like a hospital

00:29:45.780 that was damaged nearby by shrapnel and shockwave there was a bombing like right next to it when we

00:29:50.820 left it got bombed we went to a meteorology site this is like the weather station in bushair right

00:29:56.900 completely destroyed like it's rubble okay like you know the the buildings you see in gaza that

00:30:02.100 are just completely hollowed out and knocked over half of it and like rubble everywhere so it's

00:30:07.140 already destroyed there's nothing worth attacking again right we leave that place it gets bombed

00:30:12.820 we go to our hotel we left that night from our hotel shortly after we left they bombed right

00:30:20.340 in front of the hotel literally right in front of the hotel so they tell us like as we're driving

00:30:26.740 from bushere to the next city they say hey um we just want to let you know that like everywhere we

00:30:30.900 went today got bombed including like right in front of the hotel so we're not we don't know

00:30:35.460 if you're being targeted or not uh but we just want to let you know that so i'm like okay well

00:30:40.100 thanks for letting me know you know the next day we we arrive in bandar abbas which is like 14 hours

00:30:46.580 south by bus and we were going to go to minab where the girls school is so on that day we stop

00:30:53.860 at a radio station that got bombed same thing rubble okay can't get bombed again there's no point

00:31:00.100 we get there it gets bombed while we're there okay a drone bombs like a hundred yards away from where

00:31:07.780 we're at so now i'm like yo i'm not crazy i think we're being targeted right we get on the bus we

00:31:14.100 continue we go to the girls school in manab okay we get to the girls school and it's incredibly

00:31:20.580 emotional there because everyone we interviewed like there were people there just paying their

00:31:25.460 respects there was some guy who came there to talk to us because he was like one of the first people

00:31:29.020 to respond and i'll release this video in a couple of days this guy broke down he couldn't even

00:31:34.580 finish the interview because he saw he's like every body i picked up was in pieces you know

00:31:41.960 trying to save kids from the rubble and there's nothing to save like i'm pulling out their limbs

00:31:46.280 and they're severed heads and things like that so he just broke down very emotional sad scene

00:31:51.640 we leave in 10 minutes after we left it gets bombed again so at and at this point when they

00:32:01.420 tell me this i'm looking at my phone and i'm reading the news that these two journalists in

00:32:05.320 lebanon had just been killed that israel targeted them and assassinated them and then they tell me

00:32:10.640 like, hey, we got to go. We got to leave right now because the school just got bombed. So I'm

00:32:15.900 looking at this. I have all the knowledge about what happened the day before. And they just bombed

00:32:21.860 the two sites that we were just at, the radio station and the school. I'm like, okay, now I'm

00:32:27.560 not crazy. Till this day, I can't tell you for sure that we were being targeted. But at this

00:32:31.760 point, I was like, I'm not crazy for thinking this. I think we're being targeted. So now I'm

00:32:36.220 like, I'm not getting back on the bus because they could bomb the bus at any second. So I'm not

00:32:40.340 getting back on the bus and I don't even want my phone so I give them my phone and I'm like

00:32:43.880 I don't want any electronics near me and like just get away from me and we all spread out

00:32:48.980 eventually we split up into different cars and we have like an hour and a half drive back to

00:32:55.380 our hotel and I'm wired okay it's it this is better than any espresso shot I've ever had in

00:33:00.360 my life because I'm thinking these could this could be my final moment okay so we're like

00:33:05.680 making this getaway drive back to the hotel and i'm i'm staring out the window because i'm like

00:33:10.700 trying to see if there's a drone or a fighter jet and it's silly like what am i looking at it for

00:33:16.640 what am i going to do intercept it with my eyes but i guess i was just like i wanted to to see if

00:33:21.500 it's going to be my last moment or not and so i'm kind of like freaking out a little bit in the car

00:33:25.780 even though i went there knowing i could die i wrote my will before i left still like i want to

00:33:29.640 live you know and uh dude you'll never believe what the driver does man it's like the most

00:33:35.400 iranian thing ever the driver reminds you we're trying to escape for our life okay so he should

00:33:42.340 probably be driving this guy pulls over he pulls over he stops the car he gets out i'm like why

00:33:49.560 why have you stopped the car why did you get out we should be driving right now you know what this

00:33:53.780 guy does what he pops open the trunk he starts buying food he bought food from somebody on the

00:34:00.000 side of the road and he's filling it up and now look at him I'm like when are you planning to

00:34:03.560 eat this brother in the afterlife like we should be driving and escaping right now and you're

00:34:08.740 pulling over for food so and he doesn't speak English he only speaks Farsi sorry and I don't 0.97

00:34:13.760 speak Farsi so I just say the only thing I'm like yalla like get in the car let's go let's get the

00:34:18.860 hell out of here he gets in the car he drives off and of course he's texting while driving like he's

00:34:24.180 way too comfortable and chill uh for what is supposed to be an escape you know getaway drive

00:34:29.280 for my life um but you know this dimitri this guy was telling about this other journal of war

00:34:35.680 correspondent he's been in like worse situations and so i looked over at him and he's super calm

00:34:41.080 and he's like brother just embrace it if you're gonna die you're gonna die just relax you know

00:34:45.740 so um i was like all right you know screw it if we if we live we live thankfully nothing happened

00:34:52.700 we did live and till this day i don't know honestly truthfully if we were being targeted or not

00:34:58.540 uh but i i laid it out you know everywhere we went got bombed there's like five or six different

00:35:04.220 locations i got bombed either shortly after we left or literally while we were there so um i i

00:35:10.140 think i had good reason to think we were being targeted um but you know i'm alive and i'm

00:35:15.740 grateful for it so the morale is high in iran it seems like from your time there i think the morale

00:35:21.900 is getting pretty low in america people are really demoralized from this war and becoming

00:35:27.820 disillusioned with the government and what we're about if this drags on where what do you think

00:35:33.340 the outcome would be based off of your experience in iran so i'll be honest with you right now i'm

00:35:41.980 a little bit concerned i was i have not been concerned a single moment in this war until

00:35:47.980 the ceasefire agreement yesterday because like you spoke to professor merendi or you're gonna

00:35:56.620 speak to him so i'm curious to see how he's going to describe the ceasefire but right now it just

00:36:03.340 It seems like Iran was in the driver's seat, and there's very little reason to trust anything the U.S. or Israel says.

00:36:11.560 And so they said they wouldn't accept any temporary ceasefires. 0.93

00:36:15.320 They just went back on their word and they accepted it.

00:36:17.920 And it seems like there's a disconnect between the military that wants to keep fighting and the foreign ministry, the civilian population, sorry, the civilian government, and their leaders are made up of what people are describing as moderates.

00:36:30.840 And so it seems like there's a rift between the hardliners and the moderates. 0.61

00:36:35.360 And they agree to the ceasefire when it like the whole world agrees that Iran holds a card. 0.86

00:36:40.520 So why not keep playing your hand? 0.92

00:36:42.720 I'm not saying Iran can't make an assessment and say, hey, maybe we shouldn't overplay our hand.

00:36:47.560 Maybe we've got enough here. Maybe we should just agree to a ceasefire.

00:36:51.220 Their infrastructure is getting hit. So maybe they're like, hey, like we have control of the strait.

00:36:55.760 they're willing to lift the sanctions and our infrastructure has been damaged, but it's not

00:37:00.700 completely destroyed. Like this is a good place to stop. Right. But that requires the U.S. being

00:37:06.240 honest, rational actors and they're not. So why would you trust them and make an agreement?

00:37:11.700 So that's the thing that kind of concerns me. It's like, are you making an agreement because

00:37:15.720 you're actually not in such a good position and that we're all misreading the situation

00:37:20.180 or potentially are there traitors in the midst? So I'm not saying that's the case.

00:37:25.540 I'm not even saying that it's likely. But now I think that question is in my mind and it has to

00:37:30.440 be asked. And so for the first time, I'm losing a little bit of confidence in the way that Iran 0.99

00:37:36.640 is handling this war. I'm reassured by the response of the people, though. I see them on

00:37:42.800 social media and we see them in the streets and they're demanding that they stand in solidarity

00:37:48.200 with Hezbollah in Lebanon. And if need be, they continue this fight. So how this might end, I

00:37:55.960 think, look, Trump, it's kind of hard to read like what he's doing because he's so retarded and he's 1.00

00:38:03.560 all over the place. But we know that the tactic he was doing for sure is that he would just lie 1.00

00:38:10.580 and say that they're engaging in negotiations and blah, blah, blah, blah, because he was trying to

00:38:15.320 use his tweets to control the energy prices and so he would push them down and that would buy him

00:38:19.480 more time to try to defeat iran um then it got to the point where like everyone saw through it and

00:38:25.640 they're like we can't trust anything he's saying anymore so then he started saying oh he started

00:38:29.960 putting words in the president of iran's mouth saying oh yeah we have an agreement and the

00:38:33.320 president to come out and say that it's not true so it's like trump was no longer trustworthy to

00:38:37.640 control the market he had to start lying and make putting making it seem as though iran is saying

00:38:42.280 this and then yesterday they just straight up lied about the ceasefire proposal like trump said

00:38:47.000 oh yeah iran sent me a 10 point proposal and i liked it and then like you said today three of

00:38:51.400 those 10 were violated and then trump's spokeswoman came out and she said uh trump has thrown all 10

00:38:58.280 points in the trash okay so it's like there is no agreement then and if that's the case then this

00:39:04.280 may have just been another ploy to push energy prices down which it did happen yesterday it

00:39:08.120 dropped to like 94 which is like 15 or 20 bucks cheaper than it has been for the last couple of

00:39:13.400 weeks right so it just seems like you know the u.s is not trustworthy at all and they have this

00:39:22.980 obvious tactic of of lying in order to just push the energy prices down to buy them more time so

00:39:28.020 they could try to succeed in defeating and destroying iran somehow which they're still

00:39:31.340 trying to figure out so if this keeps going i think what it's going to come down to is like

00:39:38.120 will there be any tricks left for the u.s to try and deploy in order to avert an economic disaster

00:39:45.360 which would be the end of their ability to fight and that's something iran could force which again

00:39:50.680 begs the question if if you have the ability to force that why aren't you doing it right you know

00:39:55.220 So we'll see. Maybe this goes on into the summertime. It's like basically two months left until, on average, gas prices in the U.S. usually go up in the summer because people want to drive around and take these road trips.

00:40:08.800 So I think there's like two months left before that natural rising in gas prices converges with the Strait of Hormuz pushing prices up, and then it just becomes unsustainable.

00:40:21.600 So I think there's two months left until this hits a critical point with the energy prices.

00:40:27.120 So I just had Professor Miranda on and he said that the U.S. betrayed the ceasefire. 0.79

00:40:30.920 I think we'll see in the upcoming days if Iran saw this coming and just allowed the

00:40:36.980 trap to happen because the straits already reclose.

00:40:40.660 It doesn't really seem like the ceasefire really even happened at all if it was betrayed

00:40:43.620 immediately.

00:40:44.040 maybe that was part of the negotiation tactics but mirandy was just on and was critical and

00:40:52.440 said that they shouldn't really negotiate that is surprising to see them negotiate i wouldn't

00:40:56.360 call that a loss because every part of the plan was abiding by their by their demands

00:41:02.200 i heard you say earlier that you were disappointed about what happened in lebanon you seemed like

00:41:07.820 were calling that a betrayal what did you mean uh well look

00:41:17.820 here's the thing iran is in a weird situation because they're fighting more than one actor and

00:41:28.460 you know to put the most pressure on the energy industry they have to attack the gulf

00:41:34.140 and so like every time Israel the U.S. escalates with them they just escalate in response with the

00:41:40.900 Gulf so this is a highly unusual war it's not like imagine you and I fighting one-on-one that's

00:41:46.740 pretty clear cut right but then you imagine you have one guy fighting 13 guys and the two biggest

00:41:54.840 ones who are throwing punches at him when they hit him he turns around and he hits the smallest guys

00:42:01.080 in the bunch right uh so it's it's a very unusual kind of fight and what the u.s has just done by

00:42:10.920 making this you know ceasefire that iran still is abiding by iran hasn't responded yet

00:42:17.320 what they've just done is they've taken away iran's ability to to punch at certain people

00:42:22.840 right so now iran is not throwing any punches and it's hard for them to justify who they throw

00:42:29.240 those punches at now because if israel attacks iran how can iran then turn around and attack

00:42:35.800 the gulf it puts iran in a position where they just look unhinged how is it fair to attack kuwait

00:42:42.120 if the attacks are now coming from israel right even though strategically we know why iran is

00:42:48.200 attacking the gulf it's because one they were complicit in the the american attacks on them

00:42:53.320 but also that's just where the most the juiciest most fragile parts of the global economy are

00:42:58.680 connected to because of their position on the gulf and the amount of oil they have but now you

00:43:03.880 removed america from the equation but israel is still in the fight so now it's like it's gone back

00:43:08.120 to last year's tactics where it's the 12-day war but iran is not even attacking israel because

00:43:13.240 they're trying to abide by the ceasefire and so what that did was it freed up israel instead of

00:43:17.560 using their assets to travel all the way to iran and attack them now they can dedicate all their

00:43:21.720 intelligence they could dedicate all their air force and all their bombs on just hezbollah in 0.89

00:43:26.200 lebanon so they didn't like a ruchy the foreign minister agreed to a ceasefire that was just words

00:43:33.400 like achieved over text message and it it provided no guarantees so they abided

00:43:42.040 iran abided like in a like oh we have to honor the agreement and israel america didn't and and

00:43:47.960 lebanon is is getting pummeled because of it now where if iran said no we're not backing out of

00:43:52.520 this fight there's no way is dedicated a hundred strikes in 10 minutes in lebanon so what happened

00:43:57.880 today is a result of that foolish decision to agree that ceasefire now again i'm not saying

00:44:02.520 that iran can't decide to accept a ceasefire i just think that they went about it in the wrong

00:44:08.440 way and i do wonder why you would even consider agreeing to it now after all of the attacks all

00:44:15.160 all the humiliation etc i see what you're saying but regardless israel would have done anything to

00:44:20.440 expand into lebanon these attacks are inevitable but i do see how you think that they allowed that

00:44:25.720 to happen by agreeing to that ceasefire but it seems like it's almost unpreventable like this

00:44:31.560 is just what they do yeah but hezbollah is a very close ally the the closest ally that iran has and

00:44:40.760 they've paid a very heavy price being in a relationship with iran and they they paid a

00:44:46.840 heavy price to stand in solidarity with gaza they paid a very heavy price to stand in solidarity

00:44:51.960 with iran and so to just kind of you know even if it wasn't intentional to kind of be left out like

00:45:01.080 that is is is not right and the iranian people are rallying they're saying like we have they're

00:45:07.000 demanding that their government stand in solidarity with hezbollah and so it's not fair to outright

00:45:12.240 call it a betrayal but i i do think that it was handled in a sloppy way and as a result your best

00:45:17.520 friend your your most loyal ally has has just suffered a catastrophe today so hopefully they

00:45:25.120 they can rectify this and bounce back from it and i really hope that this this rift between

00:45:30.560 the moderates and the hardliners isn't as bad as some people are making it seem i hope that

00:45:36.000 internally iran is unified but we'll only time will tell like you've said i'm wondering so your

00:45:43.600 next moves would you go to lebanon or are you planning to go right back to iran now that you

00:45:48.960 have your your visa needs to still be renewed what's the next moves for propaganda and co

00:45:56.320 i think i do need to come back to the u.s at a certain point so i'll probably come back to the

00:46:01.520 u.s before embarking on another journey back to iran um i waited here in turkey for a bit to get

00:46:08.000 a chance to go back to iran doesn't look like that's going to happen so i i think i'm going to

00:46:12.720 head back to the states get back in my studio and start producing you know get back to my war

00:46:17.920 analysis content that i think people are my audience kind of misses me for so i'll probably

00:46:24.400 do that and then we'll see i mean if this war drags on then definitely i'll try to come back

00:46:28.160 to iran but you know my skill set is in making content and the traveling has been really

00:46:33.680 difficult like i told you because um in iran the internet was so poor and then i didn't

00:46:40.080 want to get tracked and so i wasn't using my phone a lot and uh and then when i really felt

00:46:45.760 like i was being tracked i just abandoned my phone altogether and so i didn't have access

00:46:49.520 to the internet i wasn't able to like do research i wasn't able to create content so i kind of was

00:46:54.080 it's like, why am I, I'm not really being useful or helpful right now.

00:46:57.500 So I need to get back in the studio, I think,

00:46:59.340 and get back to cranking out that content.

00:47:02.400 Safe travels. And again, if you need anything, just reach out.

00:47:06.920 I think the journalism that we saw was great.

00:47:10.180 I look forward to more and hope it's,

00:47:13.520 hope it's safe there at the U.S. Customs for you, man. Best of luck.

00:47:18.360 I really appreciate it, man. Thanks for all that you do.

00:47:21.040 appreciate you platforming me and and all the other voices that you're platforming the george

00:47:24.960 galloway conversation was amazing so you're doing excellent work i look forward to seeing what else

00:47:28.820 you got in the pipeline and if i get in trouble just tweet for me okay got you assalamu alaikum

00:47:35.120 talk soon i think i slam brother take it easy take care of yourself bye

00:47:39.380 all right i think uh that was great shout out to propaganda and co

00:47:51.040 We'll be right back.

SHNEAKO - April 10, 2026

The Lone Journalist with WiFi inside Iran - Propaganda and Co. Uncovers the Lies

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