HunkleCeejay

🚨🇮🇷 Iranian officials have prepared for as many as 12-15 MILLION visitors across 6 days for the funeral of Ayatollah Khamenei.

One of the largest funerals in modern history... It obviously seems he was pretty beloved by his people.

Me: As I keep watching this funeral, I just felt I have been lied to all these years about the people of Iran 🇮🇷

Source: Financial Times

🇯🇵🇮🇷🇺🇸 Iran's playing the Japan friendship card again

Tehran let a giant Japanese oil tanker, the Idemitsu Maru, sail through Hormuz and called it a sign of old friendship

It was the first Japanese oil ship allowed through since the war closed the route.

The friendship is real. Back in 1953 a Japanese company defied a British blockade to buy Iranian oil when the U.S. and Britain were trying to squeeze Iran, and Iran never forgot it.

Now Iran's bringing that story back at just the right time, hinting Japan could help rebuild it after the war, while gently nudging Tokyo to lean a little less on Washington.

Analysts see the game plan, a quiet try to put some space between Japan and the U.S.

Japan just wants its oil moving and its suppliers spread out, so it'll take the kind words and promise nothing.

Old friendships hold up well when both sides still want something.

Sources: First Squawk, Asia Times, Newsweek