What began as demonstrations triggered by economic grievances — with the rial plummeting to nearly 1.4 million against the dollar on the free market — quickly spiraled into wholesale political protests against the Islamic Republic itself.
Anti-regime slogans have echoed through multiple cities, with Iranians bravely risking life and limb to tell the world they refuse to bend to tyranny.
Peloni: The failure to implement judicial reform is the most vital failure of the present and past govts in Israel. The preservation of this juristic status quo led to October 7, delayed the govt’s response to October 7, and has crippled the attempt to prevent another October 7. As I said even before the previous election, judicial reform will succeed, either in this govt or in the next, because it is a grass roots movement which has real practical needs for the safety, security and future of the Israeli nation.
Peloni: Netanyahu addresses the importance of the return of the Jewish people to defend themselves by themselves with the re-constitution of the Jewish state. It is the strength and spirit which is changing the face of the Middle East by recognizing what the right and needed path and the capacity and will to walk that path. In a continuation of the spirit of the press conference at Mar-A-Lago, Netanyahu goes on to recall the strength of support offered by the Trump administration in another political bear-hug which lends itself to the political futures of both Netanyahu and Trump in the coming year. In closing, Netanyahu offers the Jewish community of America the advise that they should not bow to attacks which are raised against them, but that they should “Fight, Fight, Fight, and Win, Win, Win”. A powerful, but short speech, which speaks of truths and politics by one of the most dynamic speakers and insightful politicians of the modern age.
Peloni: The Mullahs are biding their time, but mention has already been made regarding Afghan forces which may be used to end the protests. It will be a real test of the character of the protest and to the international community as led by Pres. Trump when the regime comes to truly push to end the protests. Will the protesters respond by dispersing? Will Trump respond by supporting them? Much rides on the answers to these questions, and it is most unfortunate that such protests as these were not spontaneously mounted during the 12 Day War, as the outcome of that war might have been very different if it had been.
Peloni: Trump signals that the protests are well based, but that he will not come to support regime change in Iran. While the former aspect of this approach is contrary to that put forward by Obama and Biden, the latter point remains unchanged. The Iranian people are on their own, at least as far as the Americans are concerned.
In stark contrast to the unprincipled reactions of both Barack Obama and Old Joe Biden when the Iranian people took to the streets in previous years to protest against the bloodthirsty mullahs of the Islamic Republic, President Donald Trump didn’t hesitate to remark on the unrest in Iran on Monday, and to declare his support for the courageous Iranians who are putting their lives on the line for freedom after enduring 46 years of tyranny.
Peloni: This is a very important undertaking by the govt, one which has been long ignored. It is essential that enforcement of the law in the Negev be successfully undertaken or this long prized land asset will continue to be squandered to the encroachment of the lawless Bedouin who have no regard for the law or the state.
Multiple vehicles were torched in Negev towns overnight, with police linking the incidents to reprisals following ongoing operations in nearby Bedouin communities.
By SETH J. FRANTZMAN |
Five vehicles were set ablaze on Wednesday in Lehavim in the Negev, in what police are investigating as a retaliatory arson attack linked to escalating tensions in nearby Bedouin communities.
The incident follows another only days ago in the community of Giv’ot Bar, where cars were also attacked. Another town, Mishmar Hanegev, was also the site of an attack on cars. The Israeli police have carried out a number of operations in the Bedouin town of Tarabin al-Sana in response to the incidents.
Peloni: The lack of treating crimes as criminals is the best evidence of the decline of the West. This fact is made all the more substantive as the crimes include weaponization of selective applications of the law, and complacency amid systemic election fraud, and the unhindered use of medical countermeasures which are shown to be toxic and contaminated. Legal redress should not require civil law suits by the public, but by full enforcement of the law regardless of the political arrangements held by those who committed these and other crimes, great and small. Perhaps 2026 will see the law better applied to these past crimes by the current administration, or, perhaps, it will see the established protections afforded to the established elites maintained indefinitely as the decline of the West continues unhindered on a bipartisan basis.
Looking back at 2025, the most stunning takeaway is the sheer, almost incomprehensible scale of Democrat criminality: high crimes committed openly, systematically, and with total impunity—without prosecutions, without reforms, without consequences. Power insulated itself from law, corruption was normalized as governance, and accountability was erased as an operating principle. In a functioning republic, crimes trigger investigations and punishment; in 2025 America, they triggered silence, cover-ups, and escalation. What shocked the nation was not merely the wrongdoing, but the unmistakable message it sent: the law no longer applies to Democrats
Peloni: Netanyahu addresses the leaders of the Evangelical community in the US. While recognizing and thanking them for their support, he raises the fact that both the Jews and Christians are facing a common threat, and indicated that he could expand Israel’s security arrangements to include new areas of operations so as to help safeguard Christian communities in Africa and the Middle East.
Peloni: The current crisis in Iran marks an escalating threat to the regime, but the lack of coordinated organization provides the Iranians with the same advantage upon which previous revolts have crashed and dissipated upon. As Pres. Trump recently referenced, the revolts in Iran appear to be intense and substantive, but after the regime reacts with violence and force, which is forthcoming, the protests demonstrate the lack of earnest capability or will to suffer casualties while maintaining much less escalating the threat to the Iranian regime. The lack of a coherent organized opposition in Iran has kept the Iranians transfixed in their position of capture, and all that it would require is the stamina to endure the onslaughts of the violence by the regime forces, which will soon be brought to bear. Perhaps, however, this revolt will be different. Perhaps, despite the lack of cohesion in the Iranian opposition and its limited organization within the totalitarian state of Iran, the people will rise to the moment to secure their own future while enduring the savagery which will soon be facing them. Time will tell.
Widespread, Economically-Driven Unrest Has Engulfed at Least a Dozen Major Cities, but So Far Lacks Organization to Overthrow the Regime
The latest demonstrations in Iran, now in their fourth consecutive day, mark a significant escalation in the Islamic Republic’s internal pressure cooker. While not yet a regime-ending event, the unrest drawing upon a combination of economic collapse, post-war fatigue, and eroding legitimacy could begin a cascade toward regime collapse.
UN peacekeepers from the Pakistani Democratic Republic of the Congo. Photo by MONUSCO Photos – Ziralo, Province du Sud Kivu, RD Congo: Des casques bleus du contingent pakistanais sécurisent la base de la MONUSCO de Ziralo., CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikipeidia
These examples demonstrate how freely Hamas operatives function within Pakistan. Allowing Pakistani troops into Gaza would therefore pose serious infiltration and counterintelligence risks. Unlike a genuinely neutral peacekeeping force, Pakistani soldiers may be unwilling — or ideologically disinclined — to confront Hamas. In a worst-case scenario, some elements could covertly assist Hamas fighters in evading disarmament.
UAE & Saudi Arabia narrowly avoid crisis over Yemen dispute as UAE agrees to withdraw its forces
Screengrab via X
The Middle East narrowly avoided a major crisis on Tuesday, as the United Arab Emirates (UAE) announced the withdrawal of its forces from Yemen under massive diplomatic pressure and after an airstrike from Saudi Arabia on its forces.
Peloni: A thorough description of the segmenting interests of the various regional powers in the Middle East as 2025 comes to an end.
Amb. Alberto M. Fernandez | Memri | Dec 30, 2025
There are, as usual, some narratives out there on the Middle East. One of them has Israel and the United Arab Emirates as predatory powers preying on the innocent. Another has the forces of light in the region warring against a rising Islamist tide orchestrated by Turkey and Qatar and their allies.
Both narratives are largely false, relying on established prejudices for and against certain countries. But they do illuminate a very concrete reality, which is an ongoing, intense struggle for power, for spoils, for wealth, and for influence by the greater Middle East’s “Middle Powers.” But while ideology – the promotion or opposition to Islamism – does play an important role in several cases, the struggle is more complex, as geographic or historic interests all come into play. This means that sometimes old adversaries find themselves more or less on the same side supporting or opposing a certain regime. There are wheels within wheels in the struggle.
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The relationship between Trump and Netanyahu is very strong. There is complete alignment on Hamas, Hezbollah, Syria and Iran. And Trump’s fondness toward Israel remains unshakable.
Peloni: There would be no greater mistake than granting Ukraine any security guarantees, which would only be manipulated by Ukraine to guarantee war with Russia by any nation so misguided as to align their own security with the failed state of Ukraine which has no greater interest than involving the US in a direct war with Russia.
Vladimir Putin’s residence in Novgorod, known as Dolgiye Borody, also known as Valdai and Uzhin, was attacked by waves of drones on December 29th. We know this from an official statement from Sergey Lavrov, and from President Trump who was informed by Putin himself in a telephone call. The Russian Defense Ministry subsequently also released a report after a Duma deputy provided preliminary details of the attack.
Peloni: It was very unsettling to hear that the US used this meeting to require that Israel should “calm things down” in Judea and Samaria, while using the pejorative term of ‘West Bank’ and making reference to the libel of ‘settler violence’. The importance of the Trump administration employing terms and statements is that it belies the reality that they are adopting and promoting the false narrative created to support the creation of a second Muslim Palestinian state while still ignoring the first Muslim Palestinian state in Jordan. Recall too that Trump has personally intervened in announcing that Israel would not be permitted to extend sovereignty in Judea and Samaria while also using the fake news phrase “annexation”, another plank in the Jihadi narrative. These are not subtle points of disagreement, but a frank adoption of the language promoted by the Peace Processors of the past 40 years in their never ending desire to rip a second Muslim Palestinian state from Israel’s heartland.
Netanyahu dismisses reports of strong disagreements with President Trump
President Donald J. Trump participates in a bilateral meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday, Jan. 27, 2020, in the Oval Office of the White House. Photo by The White House from Washington, DC – President Trump Meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Public Domain, Wikipedia
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected reports of strong disagreements during his meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump, in an interview with Fox News that aired on Tuesday, amid reports that Jerusalem and Washington agreed to give Hamas two months to lay down its weapons.
In 1979, when the Ayatollah Khomeini took power in Iran and the Islamic Republic began, one American dollar was worth 70 Iranian riyals. Today one American dollar is worth 1,250,000 riyals. Such is the state of Iran’s collapsing economy. More than 40% of Iranians now live below the poverty line. 60% of Iranian university graduates cannot find jobs. There are electricity blackouts across the country, because the drought has caused many hydroelectric dams to be rendered inoperative, no longer producing electricity. There is now talk of moving all ten million residents of Tehran out of the city, to places where more water is available.
Peloni: Hamas ignores the demand that it disband or disarm because this demands is itself being ignored by all those who agreed to this stipulated demand in the Trump 20 Point plan. Dubowitz indicates that Hamas is triumphalist, and the honest question is why they would not? They planned to prevent Saudi Arabia from entering into normalization with Israel, while forcing the other regional terror forces into a war against Israel. More than two years later, these goals have been met, so too has the Europeans recognizing a Pal state that has no basis in law, practicality or possibility. Additionally, the US persists in demanding that Israel forego any stated application of sovereignty over lands which are historically and legally her own indigenous lands. Where is the victory, decisive or not, over Hamas as it sits unopposed in half of Gaza with its foremost allies in Turkey and Qatar tightly embraced by the Trump administration?
Mark Dubowitz | Dec 30, 2025
Hamas has released an updated version of its apologia for its October 7, 2023, murder of 1,200 people in Israel in a renewed effort to rally Palestinians and Israel’s opponents abroad. The glossy manifesto — published online in English and Arabic — remains saturated with lies, moral inversion, and florid prose. It is unlikely to broaden Hamas’s appeal. But it does reveal something more important: a growing confidence that Hamas can retain power in Gaza, with international backing, as the ceasefire hardens into stasis.
