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[winjer]

>Iran declares death to the West, acts as a terror state for decades, develops nukes, massacres tens of thousands of its own people when they resist
>America and Israel attack regime
>Regime does terrorist stuff, attacks Arab neighbors, cluster bombs civilians, blackmails Strait
>We ask Europe to help open the Strait, they decline, stating it is not their concern
>Oil prices skyrocket
>"How could America do this?"

Don't forget Iran also forced the spread of it's religious ideology across it's neighbors, leading to several Arab countries to denounce the regime.
And it even caused the Iraq-Iran war, that resulted in the death of half a million people.

 

[DenchDeckard]

I think since 1979, hahaha.

Oh shit. That's before I was born.

 

[FalconPunch]

>Iran declares death to the West, acts as a terror state for decades, develops nukes, massacres tens of thousands of its own people when they resist

True

>America and Israel attack regime

True

>Regime does terrorist stuff, attacks Arab neighbors, cluster bombs civilians, blackmails Strait

True

>We ask Europe to help open the Strait, they decline, stating it is not their concern

True but not entirely surprising. Imagine having a "friend", then antagonizing that friend for almost 2 years(tariffs) and it's screwing with their ability to be economically stable. Afterwards, doing something that completely craters their economy and increases the rate of inflation(attack Iran). Now we're surprised they don't want to help?

>Oil prices skyrocket

True

>"How could America do this?"

True. America got baited into attacking Iran with improper planning, resource procurement, etc. Literally the most incompetent people who you would never want heading up this venture are in charge.

We all knew this would be the result and that's why America is deservedly getting the blame. There's nothing wrong with wanting to overthrow the regime. However, it should have been something that should have been planned years in advance. We know it wasn't because they're running out of missiles.

Again, American deserves 100% of the blame for this... If the failure of previous regime change attempts wasn't reason enough to hold off, the lack of supply of armaments should have pumped the brakes. If that wasn't enough, the dependency on foreign adversaries like China for raw materials and alloy manufacturing of said armaments should have derailed any such plans.

Now we're hearing rumors of wanting to bomb desalination plants as if that is not a genocidal act of unprecedented proportions. Serious amateur hour stuff which is a huge departure from previous operations levied by the States. A visible downgrade in competence that cannot be hand waved away.

 

[Bojji]

Oh shit. That's before I was born.

I worked with some guy that said he was in Teheran during the revolution (one of the Polish workers), crazy shit happened on the streets...

 

[winjer]

From the Battlefield to the Blockchain: How Cryptocurrency Is Helping Finance the Drone Revolution

• Low-cost, commercially available drones have become central to modern conflict, allowing state and non-state actors, such as pro-Russia militias and Iran-backed terrorist organizations, to project power affordably.
• Drone procurement networks of state-backed actors increasingly intersect with the blockchain, which raises compliance challenges given the dual-use nature of drone technology.
• Pro-Russia volunteer groups have successfully raised millions in crypto across various blockchains to purchase UAVs and associated components from global e-commerce platforms.
• Analysis of sanctioned manufacturers like KB Vostok reveals how blockchain data can shed light on nation-state buyers of interest. In particular, analysis of transactional patterns can empower investigators to identify unit sales and gain insight into state-adjacent supply chains.
• Comprehensively sanctioned states, such as Iran, are using cryptocurrency to advertise and procure strategic military hardware to further 'sanctions-proof' arms acquisitions.

Iran: From proxy networks to state-level commercialization

The dual-use procurement challenge extends well beyond Russia. Sanctions-constrained actors, including Iranian defense entities and Iran-aligned proxies, need components subject to export controls. Drone parts fit this profile precisely, and Iran's own Shahed drone program has relied heavily on commercially available components sourced through third-country procurement networks.

A January 2026 Financial Times investigation found that Iran's Ministry of Defense Export Center (Mindex) was publicly advertising advanced weapons — including Shahed drones, ballistic missiles, and warships — for sale to foreign governments with cryptocurrency as an accepted payment method, in what appears to be one of the first known instances of a nation-state openly advertising strategic military hardware for crypto. Notably, Mindex's website explicitly addressed buyer concerns about sanctions evasion, stating that Iran's policies ensure contracts "can be executed," underscoring crypto is increasingly viewed by heavily sanctioned actors as a deliberate, institutionalized tool of sanctions circumvention, not merely a niche workaround.

As shown in the Reactor graph below, a wallet purchasing drone parts from a Hong Kong-based supplier has direct and indirect liquidity flows from the Iranian exchange Nobitex, IRGC wallets, and OFAC SDN Alireza Derakhshan, an Iranian national designated for facilitating crypto transfers on behalf of the regime.



Against this backdrop, it has been instructive to monitor drone-related transactional activity in real-time, including during periods of active conflict. As depicted in the chart below, inflows to a small subset of drone vendors spiked during the 12-day war between Iran and Israel in June 2025, then returned to pre-war levels when the ceasefire was concluded. While this activity is consistent with a war-time surge in drone-related procurement, it represents only a snapshot of limited vendor activity at a specific moment in time and should not be understood as representative of Iran's entire drone payment landscape or broader global patterns.

There is a lot more information in the article. Including how blockchain is now used to track weapon acquisition by several countries.

 

[Tams]

this is the absolute last thing anyone can allow to happen.

Europe bends over.

 

[Wildebeest]

Europe bends over.

The shipping is going to Asia so it would be Asia bends over.

 

[Bojji]

Europe bends over.

The shipping is going to Asia so it would be Asia bends over.

Yeah, Asian countries and Australia are the most fucked places right now.