Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about Iran, Trump, and instability.

Lots of news today.

We'll try to cover it in order of global importance.

Overnight, tensions across the Middle East shot through the roof.

Like everything in the Middle East, the backstory is lengthy, and even just the immediate

backstory is lengthy here.

But it's important to understand how we got here.

Back in 2015, the United States and Iran, along with most major powers, agreed to a deal, which limited Iran's nuclear program.

For whatever reason, Trump came to believe he could obtain a better deal and withdrew from the deal in 2018 and said he would launch a maximum pressure campaign. In 2020, when that campaign

failed, Trump seemed to claim that the U.S. was still a participant in the agreement

while trying to get the UN Security Council to take a tougher stance. Starting in 2021,

the U.S. now under Biden, tried to get the deal back. But Iran was in a better

position then, since Iran could claim that the U.S. would simply walk away, and Trump's maximum

pressure campaign had made Iran more relevant to Russia. By the time Russia invaded Ukraine, Iran had more leverage due to their oil production.

As the situation in the Middle East continued to deteriorate due to changes and conflicts in Syria, Gaza, and Yemen, the talk stalled completely.

Trump comes back to power and reinstitutes the failed

maximum pressure campaign, but talks resume. Trump seemed like he'd be able to get the original

deal back, but could never close the deal. That brings us to now. Israel unilaterally launched a military operation against Iran's nuclear program, command and control and air defenses.

It's being widely described as airstrikes.

This doesn't really look like it was limited to an air campaign.

There are pretty significant signs that some of this

...