Breaking Bad Boys

The U.S. sanctions on Iran have succeeded only in forging a tighter trade partnership with Iran and the rest of the world. Instead of isolating Iran, it has created an indispensable relationship between Iran and China because China now buys 91% of Iran’s oil. What China does with Iran’s oil is beyond U.S. control but what it has done with its market position is 1. Secure it and its trading route, and 2. Create partnerships with other countries, from the UAE to Malaysia. This has not only helped Iran, it has helped all other countries in the region by creating something that Trump has not accounted for when it comes to the global oil market – stability. 

What is the U.S. still looking for? Israel took out the regime’s leadership on the first day of the war, but left the son of the supreme leader alive, disfigured and with a bounty on his head.Why would the U.S. and Israel do that if they wanted to topple the regime? What has been exposed through this war is how wide the network is that sustains the regime, even without leadership and even as the country is being obliterated on the ground. The regime’s network has a stronghold on Iran’s oil and without being able to identify who the trustees are, the U.S. can do nothing but watch the Iranian oil market cut down America’s oil market and keep a group of very rich exiles in power.

The war in Iran is hinging on a media narrative, at the centre of which is a myth about the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. has maintained this myth for years, seeing this passage of water as a political asset and a potentially commercial one because it represents competition for their own oil trade and oil market. The Strait of Hormuz has never been closed and can’t be closed. The U.S. has, in its insistence that Iran closes the strait to cut off the global oil supply, revealed its own intention to exercise power and control over the supply of oil in order to inflate its price.   

The war is having its intended effect, which was to inflate the price of oil by cutting off global supply to the rest of the world. The plan rests on one carefully guarded media narrative about the Strait of Hormuz, which the U.S. will maintain for as long as it takes until it can fulfil its own lie. The Strait of Hormuz was not closed by Iran and never has been but the dream of turning this strait into  the latest Trump Toll relies on the public’s unwavering belief that only the U.S. can keep it open. 

The Strait of Hormuz⁠ is currently experiencing a severe operational blockade following the outbreak of the war on 28th February. The waterway is effectively impassable for most commercial traffic as of 9th March due to targeted Iranian attacks and the withdrawal of war-risk insurance.  Iran's Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) has issued VHF warnings that no ships are allowed to pass. Commercial tanker traffic has dropped by 90%, with most major shipping firms suspending all transits.

Israel’s role in the Middle East is one that Trump aspires to in the rest of the world. Iran, however, presents a problem to both countries. Iran has singularly remained the only country in the region that will not yield to the plans being forged around it, will not give up its sovereignty, will not capitulate when attacked, and will not allow itself to be exploited by a bigger superpower. 

Why did the atrocities committed by the regime in Iran not warrant a humanitarian intervention? Why did the international community wait until the U.S. government took matters into its own hands by launching a unilateral attack on Iran in a covert operation with Israel? What is it that Trump really wants from Iran?

The tactical analysis that was removed from TikTok twice. It is a real sign of the times that my TikTok coverage of this war – over a social media platform, not even on an official communication channel – is being so heavily monitored and censored. 

While the U.S. may take credit for the regime fall in Iran, the truth is that Iran’s corrupt and blood-soaked regime was already in its final act and would have crumbled with or without U.S. intervention.

The U.S. had been dialling up the notch in Iran until the country could only reach breaking point. The airstrike launched on Iran that has since resulted in a war between Israel, U.S., Iran and its proxies in the Gulf was planned long before February. In the months leading up to this, tensions in Iran had been escalating because of external pressure that had been placed on the regime and the people of Iran by none other than – the U.S.

The idea that Trump doesn’t believe in international law is a joke, considering that Trump’s justification for the war on Iran is based on Iran’s non-compliance with international law.

The U.S. and Israel’s air strikes on Iran have now led to the involvement of Europe, the Middle East and even Sri Lanka. How did we get here? While the war against Iran might seem like it came out of nowhere, it was in fact a long time in the making. 

What happens next? What we keep getting wrong about Iran and the question about regime change.

There are so many misconceptions around poor people that are perpetuated by the media and by rich politicians who have no idea that their constituents have now become poor people too.Poor people aren’t free-loaders who milk the system by living a cushy life on government benefits. Poor people aren’t opportunistic criminals either. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, both these things are rich people traits.

There are two types of men. The men who are used to making excuses for other men and the ones who try to do better than them. We forgive and pardon and overlook tbe things we are used to having to compromise on – leadership that comes at the cost of transparency, stability that is won only through destruction and loss. At its core, there is a hypocrisy in a leader who will hold others to a standard they will not uphold themselves. Men can do better than this.

There are some things money can’t buy. Struggle is one of them. What happens when you’ve never had to fight for anything?In this episode, we unpack entitlement, inherited power, and the strange paradox of extreme privilege: when money can buy access, influence, and insulation — but it can’t buy character, resilience, or struggle.What happens to men raised inside systems that protect them? What does it mean to grow up shielded from consequences? What does power do to empathy? And what happens when the world finally stops bending?

Tom Silvagni, son of AFL legend Stephen Silvagni and TV celebrity Jo Silvagni, was convicted on two counts of rape in 2025, despite pleading not guilty. He received a six-year jail sentence, after the judge remarked that the 23-year-old did not appear to show any remorse or understanding of wrongdoing. His parents filed an appeal to overturn his conviction this year.