Iran War Update & Is Cuba Really Next? | EYES ON GEOPOLITICS

Summary

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The Team House: Iran War Update & Is Cuba Really Next? | Eyes On Geopolitics

Date: August 10, 2026
Host: Jack Murphy
Guests: Mick Mulroy, Mark Polymeropoulos, John Hackett, Jonathan

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Episode Overview

This episode of Eyes On Geopolitics, The Team House’s sister show, delivers a timely and apolitical deep-dive on two escalating geopolitical topics: the state of the Iran war as a ceasefire deadline approaches, and the growing U.S. intelligence focus on Cuba. Host Jack Murphy is joined by intelligence veterans and analysts—including Mick Mulroy, Mark Polymeropoulos, John Hackett, and Jonathan—to unpack the latest policy shifts, military decisions, and intelligence agency maneuvers shaping global security, with candid perspective and historical comparisons.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

The End of the Iran Ceasefire & Its Consequences

Main segments: 01:32 – 18:26

• Status and Policy Approach
  • The current U.S. administration aims to maintain the status quo with Iran, employing economic pressure and avoiding military escalation. ("Trump today...said he's doing nothing...try to squeeze the Iranians economically." – Mark Polymeropoulos, 02:19)
  • Military options are seen as ineffective or increasingly limited.
• Iran’s Hybrid Warfare
  • Iran is not monolithic; various groups are jockeying for influence and action.
  • Houthis in Yemen and Iraqi Shia militias are "testing the perimeter" with escalation and positioning.
  • Iranian regime factions are divided between war proponents, domestic oppression, and relatively more moderate (diplomatic) elements.
  • "They're stalling negotiations to allow these structures to be built up so that when months from now the US finally comes to a decision...it's going to be a lot tougher then." – Jonathan, 07:20
• Strait of Hormuz: Militarization & Monetization
  • Iran is shifting from controlling to monetizing the Strait, seeking to extract as much as 7% of cargo value passing through, potentially amounting to $50–100 billion annually.
  • "They want to monetize it...set up these kind of zones...creating a situation where it's going to be a fait accompli." – Jonathan, 07:20
• Gulf Alliances Splintering
  • The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) is fracturing: Saudi Arabia is aligning with Turkey and Pakistan, while the Emirates and Bahrain favor finishing the fight, and others (Qatar, Oman) are hedging.
• US Military & Policy Shortcomings
  • U.S. is suffering shortages of precision munitions and interceptors (estimated 80% of THAADs expended), raising questions about strategic planning.
  • "This is policy, man. This is policy. It's not like the...uniform military's fault..." – Mick Mulroy, 11:05
  • The U.S. appears unprepared for a long war, with an unsustainable operational pace and limited options for strategic success.

Notable Quotes

• "Every time the negotiators talk about their new requirements, it goes up. Right?...If you added everything into it...it gets close to $100 billion in revenue for the regime. Think about that." – Mick Mulroy, 14:41
• "The war is not going to end. Right. If you think of it that way." – Mick Mulroy, 17:55

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Insurgency, Covert Action & Iran’s Internal Turmoil

Main segments: 19:26 – 32:19

• Rebel Groups & Info Warfare
  • Discussion of the “Ashtara Zero Day” group—recently linked to a high-profile murder of a Basij singer—reveals uses of social media for targeting regime officials and incentivizing violence with crypto payments.
  • The group is "not monarchist; more anti-regime" targeting a youth audience, with “zero day” in their name referential to regime collapse, not cyber warfare.
  • Operations are difficult to attribute: could be foreign agencies (Mossad, CIA), regime false-flag, or truly domestic opposition.
  • "There's a lot of questions here, but there's certainly something interesting going on...meant for a very specific audience." – Jonathan, 24:51
• Covert Action as Policy
  • Israeli plans in Iran and historic CIA/SOF operations discussed—success hinges on long-term, coordinated, and continuous support, not last-minute arming of small rebel groups.
  • U.S. and Israeli covert action now draws less media leak than in past wars, perhaps hinting at less activity or more discipline.
  • "Covert action should be continuous. You don't just start covert action because you started a war." – Mick Mulroy, 28:04
  • The success of past campaigns (e.g., Kurds in 2003 Iraq) is contrasted to the present lack of strategy.

Notable Quotes

• "You don't want to get it handed to you when it's already, you know, a dumpster fire. So it needs to be coordinated in line with diplomatic efforts, economic efforts, military efforts." – Mick Mulroy, 31:38

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Global Intelligence Services: Who’s Best?

Main segments: 36:02 – 42:31

• European Service Rankings
  • MI6 ranked top in a peer-reviewed poll; the French and Germans close behind.
  • DGSE (French foreign intelligence) described as aggressive (“savages” – noted in context of targeted killings in Africa).
  • The Poles and Dutch highlighted as “punching above their weight class,” with notable contributions to Western intelligence efforts.
• Allied Cooperation
  • Political friction does not always hinder intelligence cooperation ("the intelligence services tend to work together regardless of...the overall relationship"). (Mick Mulroy, 39:13)
  • Anecdotes highlight the trust and effectiveness of European, Indonesian, and other partners, in both direct action and intelligence sharing.

Notable Quotes

• "MI6 came out on top. France was number two. I think Germany was three, which is ridiculous." – Mark Polymeropoulos, 36:02
• "The Dutch, they punch above their weight class." – Jack Murphy, 41:14

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Rising Focus on Cuba: The New CIA Task Force

Main segments: 42:43 – 50:19

• CIA’s Renewed Attention
  • Reports confirm the establishment of a CIA Cuba Task Force, signaling a major prioritization shift and resource allocation.
  • Raises “signal, not noise”—implies possible operations (collection, covert influence, or active intervention) are under consideration.
  • "You don't do this if something is not afoot in some fashion." – Mark Polymeropoulos, 44:03
• Chinese Inroads & Regional Implications
  • Noted appearance of Chinese-built solar farms in Cuba, possibly signaling deeper economic (and thus geopolitical) ties between Cuba and China.
• Challenge of Penetrating Cuban Intelligence (DGI)
  • U.S. history of infiltration failures: high-ranking analysts and ambassadors exposed as Cuban spies.
  • Doubts linger whether CIA has effective human sources on the island now.
  • "The record ain't good...Cuba has been a country that has had astounding success against us." – Mark Polymeropoulos, 47:30

Notable Quotes

• "When you set up a task force, you do so to increase, obviously collection...But that means you're pulling resources from somewhere else." – Mark Polymeropoulos, 43:13
• "All the sources, you know, that we have on the books are double agents. That DGI has kind of ran circles around us for many years." – Jack Murphy, 47:10

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Quick Takes: Ukraine, Proxies, and Strategic Stakes

Main segments: 51:37 – 54:07

• Ukraine is halting Russian advances and hitting targets deep within Russia, despite minimal U.S. support.
• The psychological element: Russian logistics (e.g., Wild Berries, an Amazon-like service) have come under Ukrainian attack, affecting morale on the home front.
• Call for sustained Western support for Ukraine as both a moral and strategic imperative.

Notable Quotes

• "Not only is it the right thing to do, right. We are the leader of the free world, but we have an opportunity...to help them win, which means we'd win." – Mick Mulroy, 51:56

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Iran's Changing Approach:
  "They're not going to sit around; they're going to inflict some pain because they seem to have a bit of leverage and they think they have the upper hand." – Mark Polymeropoulos (02:19)
• On US Planning Failures:
  "How have we not...looked at scenarios? Okay. Because the scenario would be a long, drawn out conflict, period. And then we planned from that." – Mark Polymeropoulos (09:36)
• On Covert Action:
  "Covert action should be continuous. You don't just start covert action because you started a war." – Mick Mulroy (28:04)
• On Cuba Task Force:
  "If something is not afoot in some fashion, you do not stand up a task force." – Mark Polymeropoulos (44:03)
• On Western Intelligence Cooperation:
  "The intelligence services tend to work together regardless of...the overall relationship...They tell us, unless it's like CIA, SVR, there are some limits ..." – Mick Mulroy (39:13)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Iran Ceasefire & Negotiations: 01:32 – 18:26
• Insurgency and Covert Action in Iran: 19:26 – 32:19
• Intelligence Services Rankings & Allied Ops: 36:02 – 42:31
• CIA Cuba Task Force & Cuba Policy: 42:43 – 50:19
• Quick Takes: Ukraine, Russia, and Proxy War: 51:37 – 54:07

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Flow & Tone

The conversation was frank, direct, and rich with candid anecdotes from years in intelligence and military operations. The show remains sharply apolitical, with panelists careful to critique policy rather than parties. Discussions often returned to the lessons of past wars, the need for better strategic planning, and the sometimes uncomfortable truths about intelligence operations—always delivered with banter and camaraderie among professionals.

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Further Reading & Resources

• Irregular Warfare: A Case Study in CIA and US Army Special Forces Operations in Northern Iraq, 2002-2003 by Mick Mulroy, Gen. Ken Tovo, and "Uncle Andy"
• The CIA War in Kurdistan by Sam Faddis
• Clarity in Crisis by Mark Polymeropoulos
• Iran's Shadow Weapons by John Hackett

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Panelist Info:

• Mick Mulroy: Lobo Institute | www.loboinstitute.org
• Mark Polymeropoulos: Clarity in Crisis (book), regular media commentator
• John Hackett: Iran’s Shadow Weapons (book)
• Jonathan: Analyst, NSA veteran

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Transcript

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[Jack Murphy]

Hey, everyone. Welcome to Eyeson Geopolitical Podcast. I'm Jack Murphy and today Dimitri is out because he got something eating at the buffet. So he's sitting upon the throne, holding on for dear life as we speak. But we got a great cast of characters here today, joined by Mick Mulroy, Mark Polymeropoulos and John Hackett. Really happy to have all of you guys back on the show. Thanks for coming on a Sunday afternoon.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Good to be here.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, great to be here.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Poor D. What the heck? I hope he's got a nice bidet. He needs a bidet.

[Mick Mulroy]

Greek food, was it? It wasn't a Greek food buffet.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

He needs a little bidet with a little hot water splashing and, you know, won't get irritated.

[Jack Murphy]

A little slap and tickle, he'll be fine. All right, so on the agenda today, unless, you know, any of you guys have things you'd like to add. I got Iran. The ceasefire is ending, I think in a week. Talk about foreign intel services, who's better than who, and the story that came out this week about the CIA starting up some sort of Cuba task force. So I don't know, do we want to start at the top with Iran? All right, so any thoughts on what's going on with that as far as the negotiations? And I mean, it's seesawed back and forth so much that honestly, I'm not keeping track of it.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

So what's interesting today, just as frame this and then because others are smarter than I on this, but, you know, everyone beats up on Axios all the time, but they are kind of a reflection of what the administration is thinking. And Barack Ravid and Axios Ravid had a conversation with Trump today. Basically said he's doing nothing. He said nothing's going to happen. He's going to keep the status quo and essentially try to squeeze the Iranians economically. Clearly, he does not want to go back to any kind of military confrontation. I think we've certainly talked a lot about the lack of military options. And there's reports that Chairman Joint Chiefs Kane and Admiral Cooper basically told him or warned him about essentially that a lot of these are not going to work. So this is where we are now. But I think the key thing, and maybe, Jonathan, you can jump in on this because everyone is going to be okay. So this is going to be the US Policy. What is Iran going to do? And I think that with the old adage of the enemy gets a vote, I don't think the Iranians are going to sit around. You know, isn't there an opportunity for them to increase hybrid attacks, to increase the use of the proxies and to start to continue striking ships in the Strait of Hormuz? It's not like the Iranians are going to sit around, they're going to inflict some pain because they seem to have a bit of leverage and they think they have the upper hand. What are your, what are your thoughts on that?

[Jonathan]

Yeah, you're absolutely right. And I think they're already doing that because we see in Yemen just yesterday the Houthis launched what they called a retaliation attack against the Saudis because the Saudis had launched something. They actually put a drone into Yemeni airspace. But the Houthis, I think, are kind of testing the perimeter to see how much they can actually do in a future movement, to see what kind of air defenses are up right now, what kind of counter UAS platforms are available. How would the Saudis respond? It looks like a little bit of perimeter testing, kind of like touching around on the edges there that they're doing. And we also see the Iraqi side. There's some Iraqi Shia militia groups that are doing some preparations and some kind of early stage movements that are outside their baseline. I wouldn't be surprised if these were kind of being organized to possibly be used, but maybe not necessarily be used, but it's kind of how we think about positioning forces. We want to have guys there in case we need them. And I think that's what we see moving right now is that Iran is looking at, well, what happens if Trump decides to do something before the election or right after the election? We need to have forces ready already there that could be Activated quickly without much assembly required. But then on the domestic front, you've got cracks in the regime. So you have people in the regime that really want this war to continue. You have people in the regime that want to do domestic oppression as the number one priority. And you also have this kind of, what could be relatively described as dovish folks in the regime, which, you know, to the rest of the world they are not doves. But compared to the hardliners like Pesecki and the President clashing with the Supreme National Security Council, which is the strategy setting body that's directly subordinate to the Ayatollah, they don't agree on how this is supposed to be going. Possesskian's folks, the people that are actually like Golubov going to these negotiations, are trying to get a diplomatic outcome. We've seen General Kane also on the US side recommending a diplomatic off ramp as probably the best way out. So both sides have this kind of diplomatic off ramp option that they're floating on their own respective sides with different conditions for what that means. But then also there are hawks as well on both sides who are saying, no, we're not going to be doing diplomatic activity, we're going to be doing military activity or something else that's not diplomatic. Perhaps economic is the other, you know, major option. So it's important to watch inside Iran what's going on with the regime, because that's what's going to help us understand what are the actual potential outcomes here. I was on another news channel recently and I was asked that question, you know, like, what, what about this thing that Dan Kane said? He said that there should be a diplomatic off ramp. And you know, really that's, that's our Chairman of the Joint Chiefs making a military advisor's recommendation to a policymaker, which is the executive. Whereas, you know, Cain can't set military policy. He can recommend what to do and the President listens. And it's very similar structure in Iran, not the same titles, but similar with the Supreme National Security Council, you've got this policy setting body. Then you have others who are saying, no, we should do X, we should do Y, we should do Z. And the policy making body is ignoring that. Or members within the party are doing their own kind of side quests in the Red Sea, for example, with the Houthis. And there's some entanglement going on there where we in the west look at it as a monolith. And it's not. It's actually different actors with different objectives. Some of them are Domestic objectives have nothing to do with foreign policy that they think they need to do. The Houthi activation versus a Hashdashaabi, which is a popular mobilization, forces reaction or nothing, and just open the straits up. One thing they all have in common is that they understand the straits are now the most important thing in this negotiation. They will not let go of it.

[Jack Murphy]

I was going to say, John, I mean, when we talk about the status quo today, it's different than the status quo a year ago or even six months ago. And it seems that the Iranians are pretty dead set on militarizing and controlling the Straits of Hormuz, which gives them military control over the Persian Gulf. I mean, are we going to accept

[Jonathan]

that they want to monetize it? So before it was about control, especially in the early days of the war, when they're like, we just need to get this under control. This is part of our sovereign territory. If you look at maps, when Abbas Aragchi, the foreign minister, is speaking on his podium, behind him is a map of Iran, and you can see it's not just the land that's the map of Iran. It's also the Caspian Sea and the Persian Gulf are part of the map. This is a new development. This was not this way. So this is just something to kind of think about symbolically. How are they viewing this situation? Well, they've already changed their maps in a way that is not good for us. It's not good for the status quo before the war. Status quo ante. Right. So they seem to be coming to this with the idea that there is more to be gained than what they've already gained. They're going toward a monetization, which I've seen estimates of up to 7% of the value of cargo passing through. They've also floated the idea of inbound traffic being handled by one of Oman or Iran, while outbound traffic is handled by the other country. They've set up these kind of zones, and they're kind of like creating a situation where it's going to be a fait accompli, where it's already happening and has been happening and cannot be dismantled. And it seems that they're stalling some of them in the negotiations to allow these structures to be built up so that when months from now, the US finally comes to a decision that, oh, actually, we're going to, to open the Straits again, well, it's going to be a lot tougher then than it is now and than it was obviously two months before.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Hey, can I ask Mick, a question here, because I can think of. Mick, I'm serious. I know you've been traveling about, but I've been thinking about you because I am now, even though I am the Greek. You're kind of the Greek. Kind of wants to be a Greek a little bit. You got your Greek. But you have gotten me into this, the stoicism writing holiday. I've been obsessing over this friend of mine. I've been reading it relentlessly. And so here's what I wanted to ask you. And it does pertain to the current situation now, because again, you wonder, and this has to do with how the US Military is poised right now and all the notion of shortages of precision weapons, you know, and it's something that we did at CIA. We actually practiced a lot of the stoic traits. In a simple operational meeting, you plan for the worst and you work backwards. I mean, that's the, you know, what is, what is. There's the postmortem, then it's the pre mortem. I mean, that's an element of stoicism. See, I'm getting into all this stuff.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, that's good. Good job.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

And so. And so that's what we did all the time. Because when you plan for an ops meeting, okay, what can go wrong? That's what you do all the time. What are the scenarios? So for the US Military with Iran, I still don't understand. And your previous job as a senior civilian official at DoD is perfect. How have we not. How did we not do that? How did we not look at scenarios? Okay. It's a. Because the scenario would be a long, drawn out conflict, period. And then we planned from that. Yet. Yet we have a shortage of precision weapons. It's something that I just. I'm scratching my head and I do. I've gone back to the theme before we've talked about. And I will never denigrate the men and women in the US military, but the leadership at the Pentagon, I am kind of even the uniform leadership. How did Dan Kane and Admiral Cooper and others not conduct this type of stoic planning in the sense of not planning for the worst and then working backwards? What are your thoughts on that? I've been excited all week to ask you this question.

[Mick Mulroy]

All right. So I just. I just got back from D.C. literally an hour and a half ago. I landed. Right. So I was there in part to have discussions on this.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Were you part of that group that was asked to chat? CNN reported that there's a whole bunch of military analysts who were Asked for their opinion.

[Mick Mulroy]

Maybe I was in D.C. asked. Yeah, I was in D.C. and I had many discussions on this very topic, by the way. So the obstacle is a way. It comes from a quote by Aurelius, which is what stands in the way is the way.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Right.

[Mick Mulroy]

And that kind of became the ethos for how to train Western militaries. To be frank. That's why I love this stuff.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

I just saw, I saw the Odyssey twice. There's a lot of stoic principles.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, we could have a whole podcast on the Odyssey for sure.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

He's shaking his head right now. Where's this gone? Sorry, sorry, go ahead.

[Mick Mulroy]

That's my next podcast. I'll be talking about that. But for this. So, and I'll get to your question. I mean, this isn't just an issue of this administration, right? So we've been, we've been. Think about this. This is a regional conflict with a mediocre military and we're almost out of Schlitz. So that's not. They're talking about the deputy Sec Def now like it's his fault. Like that would have been the case no matter what. Because we don't always get to pick when we go to war. We could have just gone to war. So this isn't a partisan issue. This could have been Biden, this could have been Trump. This could have been. This could have been. Right. So it would have been everybody. So I think, you know, let's dispense of the finger point when it comes to political, but finger point when it comes to usa, this is not sustainable. And now in addition to the, the ability to keep up with like defensive interceptors, pac threes, thads, etc. And I think we've used about 80% of the thads. I don't know that specifically, but that's what's being reported. Not from my conversation. We need to adjust quickly. And at the same time, we have a massive evolution in modern warfare, which is a low cost, extraordinarily lethal alternatives to these really expensive, very lethal conventional weapons that we've always had. So this is, we have to address. It's actually not the uniform military's fault, to be frank. I mean, I'm biased, but this is policy, man. This is policy. It's not like the. You're asking generals, do you, do you not want more weapons? Do you not want low cost alternatives? This is policies. Political people decide where and how they're going to make these weapons systems. It becomes ingrained in the actual political system. So it's a much Broader conversation, but we gotta have it because we gotta change it. That's my take. It's. It's simply. Everybody should see this. I think Mark is either meditating or. What's going on there? I know somebody turned him on.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Oh, there.

[Mick Mulroy]

He's back. He's back. Okay. Yeah. So some of the. Some of the stuff I could throw out there, that might be a good discussion points. You've already touched on some of it. Iran's completely emboldened, right? Their demands are going up. Okay? They're not going down. They're going up. I mean, every time they. They don't believe the United States is willing to use, you know, the force necessary to open the straits and then keep it open, right? Because one thing, to force it open, next thing, keep it open, right? They don't believe we want to escalate, in part because of the lack of precision munitions and defensive interceptors and the political fallout of an unpopular war being less popular. So every time you hear the negotiators talk about their new requirements, it goes up. Right? So complete reconstruction, 7%, like Jonathan said. So somebody told me 7%, just energy alone would be about $50 billion a year that they would get from the normal flow. If you added everything into it, which is all the, you know, stuff that goes into food production and all that stuff, it gets close to $100 billion in revenue for the regime. Think about that. 100 billion. And who's paying it?

[Jack Murphy]

Everybody.

[Mick Mulroy]

It's not the United States. It's everybody around the world. So it's not a tax on the world that I think should wake the world up to say, hey, wait, that's unacceptable to us because my people are going to pay more. I know I push it a lot, but we got to get an international coalition here because this is. This is something that the world should find unacceptable. Because right now, that's the way it's going. Unless something deviates from that. They own the straight. I know we don't like to say that, but I mean, clearly, you know, it's normal. Like 110 ships that go through a day. What are we at? 4,6? Which means it's closed. So we got to do something to change that. And then you have what looks like somewhat of a. Not that it was always unified, but the GC seems. GCC seems to be falling apart, right? You got Saudi going with Turkey and Pakistan. You've got the Emiratis with the Bahrainis. Kind of like, let's go ahead and finish the job. And you've Got what? Qataris and other countries that are kind of like, holy crap, this is Omanis. Right? Or kind of like holy crap, right in the middle of this stuff. We need to get this resolved. So we have a splintering of our allies and partners who I think are now really concerned about their security going forward and whether we're willing to defend them. Because we are, I think pulling forces out of a lot of those countries and putting them further away, like in Jordan and Israel makes sense from a force protection perspective. But you know, why did these countries host our military before? Wasn't so that when the war started that we would leave. Right. So these are all challenges. So you got the GCC question, then you've got. And I'd throw on your list, Jack Netanyahu just came out and rejected the board of peace's 15 point blank. He just said no. And he said sometimes you got to tell your best friends essentially, hell no. So the announcement we made about Hamas disarming and the IDF withdrawing, it's not going to happen. IDF doesn't think they're going to disarm. They probably have no way to actually tell if they've disarmed. And so they just came out, you know, they have elections, I know you guys know, in October. And so that issue which we didn't have resolved, but at least it was going the right direction, we thought is not right. And that's all tied together. Right. These are all proxies. So how do we get out of it? I mean, I guess I throw it back to everybody else, but we're in a situation where the United States, I don't think can accept a closed trade. It has to go back to the original. We can't pay for it. Maybe we can agree to end the naval blockade, that's fair. But we can't be paying $300 billion for reconstructing a country that we attacked. The country that pays the reconstruction lost. Just saying like that, that can't be the case. So. And we got to do something with the nuclear program. They're obviously not interested in a new nuclear agreement. I wish they were. So we're going to have to plan on a continuous mitigation of the threat. It's the best way I can put it. Which means we're going to have to keep striking facilities that we think are active. So the war is not going to end. Right. If you think of it that way. So we're in a situation that's into your point. I mean, did we plan this out? Doesn't look like it, but we are where we are. So going forward, how does America, how does the United States come out as a strategic success? It's going to take a lot of effort.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Don't you think? There's an after action piece of this too, in which, you know, I mean, aren't we supposed to fight two wars at once? Wasn't that the DOD strategy? And we can't fight one war, which is like against a second rate military, and sustain it. I mean, I still am just mystified that there wasn't more planning involved or at least if U.S. military officials were not stronger, with the president saying this is not sustainable, we can't do. I mean, there's, you know, if you look back, I remember, you know, when I was in government talking to the Israelis and there were some Israeli Mossad chief Meir Dagan, one of them, who would tell the Israeli prime minister, we cannot attack Iran. We should not do this. Period. End of story. And I don't see that from U.S. officials. The people around Trump don't have that ability like a Jim Mattis had in the first term saying, no, we can't do this. I don't see that. I don't see Cain strong enough doing that. Certainly not Hegseth. And so maybe that's why we're in kind of the pickle we're in.

[Jack Murphy]

Yeah, I mean, that's like a larger political question about, you know, what happens when a president installs a bunch of sycophants around him. And your, you know, your, your advisors, the people that are supposed to, you know, help, help you make good decisions, are actually just telling you what you want to hear. And I, I think we're pretty clearly in that situation right now. But I wanted to ask you guys also about this article in the Jerusalem Post. And we start talking about insurgents in Iran and foreign groups and you know, we've talked about arming the Kurds in the past. And I know, John, you've also expanded on some of the different rebel groups in Iran. This article is claiming besieged singer abducted and tortured to death as group Ashtara zero day claims responsibility. Have you guys seen this article? What's your thought about who this group could be? Do they have a daddy and is it us?

[Jonathan]

So this group is actually an interesting one to look at from an open source intelligence perspective using analytical tools. Their Instagram became active in December 2025. They made a few posts up through January and then stopped. Remember, the war started February 28th. There were no more posts until April. And the posts in April were different than the posts in January. They were still on the same category of material, which was anti regiment posts saying, you know, like the Basij had been murdering us. Which is true, the Basij were out there shooting and killing and slaughtering people. But there was no communication from January to April. In April when they came back, they started focusing on doxxing specific Basij people saying, you know, this guy lives at this house. He was there at the protest and killed these people. We will pay you using cryptocurrency on a telegram channel if you kill them and send us a video of you killing them. As soon as we receive the video, we'll pay you. And this is all from Farsi posts. So what I'm saying to you does not exist in English right now. I've read the Farsi side of it and it's very interesting to see that shift in narrative. Of course, these things are all inferential. We don't have the full knowledge of what's going on. So this is just an inference. But it seems that there was a shift in control or shift in narrative that occurred probably in March that pushed whatever this group was, if it is a group or single individual, toward something more targeted, more violent, more real in the real world. Rather than just reporting past events, they're now focusing on future activity.

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[Jack Murphy]

And they are I believe, another one of these groups that is supporting Reza Pahlavi if I read correctly.

[Jonathan]

So based on the Farsi side of this, you know, I actually kind of looked at this to question that as well. I don't see really clear indications that this group is a monarchist group or supporting the monarchy. It seems that they're more anti regime and from previous discussions we've had, you know, there are a lot of groups that have the same thing in mind and that is they want the regime gone, but they don't agree on what should come the day after. And actually zero day in the name of the organization. You know, when I first see that I used to work at nsa, when I hear zero day, that means an exploit that needs to be fixed right now or else there's going to be a problem in the system.

[Jack Murphy]

We.

[Jonathan]

But actually zero day in Farsi has been used throughout this conflict to refer to what happens the day after the regime is gone.

[Jack Murphy]

Interesting.

[Jonathan]

Okay, so I think Westerners might not pick that up and they'll see zero day and think like, oh, this is, you know, some cyber thing. No, it's actually very much domestic. For domestic Iranian consumption is not designed for Western consumption. That's another key point to pull out here. The media that's around this is not in English at all. And it's written in a way that is, is common within the Tehrani Farsi speaking youth, like let's say up to age 30 maximum kind of way of writing. So there's clearly a target audience and clearly a specific, you know, way of talking. This is, this is going toward and in fact the, the article here that's discussing this, the group actually didn't claim responsibility for killing this basic. There's a pretty gruesome video of somebody knifing this dude to death, like in a horrific, slow burning way. And he was accused of killing some protesters and that's why they killed him. But the video was sent to this group and then the money was sent to these people who made the video. And so there's a lot of interesting stuff. Another questionable, interesting thing is a lot of what we know about the murder, in particular of that Basiji is not from the group. It's from regime linked media sources like Fars and some other IRGC controlled media. So there's something going on here domestically within Iran about this group that's definitely got alarm bells going off. And interestingly, another Tasnim News, which is an IRGC controlled media, Oregon and Iran, they published this, an article about this Basiji getting murdered and how terrible it was. And then within hours they took the story down. So this is just very fascinating to kind of watch this all play out in Farsi. By the way, this is not for Western consumption. Again, so there's something going on here. And I, and it's, it's hard to say, is it actually happening? Is it real? Is it the way they're describing it, who is doing this? This could be Mossad, it could be the United States. It could even be the regime doing something to justify something else. For example, because they killed four, that they hung four of the people that they accused of being involved with this. So the question could be, were they just for a justification to execute these people that they already might have had captured? So there's a lot of questions here, but there's certainly something interesting going on in here that was meant for a very specific audience and that we are now seeing.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

You know, we've always wondered about the possibilities of COVID action. I mean, we saw the kind of this botched Israeli plan and there's been really extensive reporting on that in the Israeli press. It's really remarkable. This is the COVID action plan using the Kurds, using the, you know, the recruitment of former President Ahmadinejad. But there's got to be other stuff going on. It's not Mossad didn't just take a knee. And I would imagine the agency has something cooked up as well. And so who knows? You know, one of the things that's really interesting from, you know, after serving at the, at CIA for a long time and then kind of then getting upset when all the COVID action plans that we ran always leaked, you don't see as much leaks on this kind of stuff. Now, Jack, I know you dig like crazy when you and Sean do all your deep dives on stuff, but I don't. I mean, you know, the major covert action plans of at least Mick, when you and I were in, whether it's in Afghanistan or, you know, the Syria program, all that stuff came out in the press. I don't see a lot of that now. It's kind of.

[Jack Murphy]

I don't think there's as much happening as there was.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

That could be it as well. But I think covert action, you know, probably should play a big role now since the military option is really not as much on the table. But I would imagine they're considering these things. Mick, what do you think?

[Mick Mulroy]

So I don't know. Obviously, if I did, I wouldn't say anything about it. But I mean, I. My view is covert action should be continuous. Yeah. You don't just start cover action because you started a war. Right. I mean, it's a little late. I'm not saying that's what we did. Don't know. But like, it just, it. That's when it leaked, you know, the Israeli plan. It's like, hey, let's arm the Kurt. I mean, now and then. To talk about it, of course, puts a giant bullseye on these guys. My understanding was we could put. They could muster around 4,000. Right. Can you imagine going against the entire RGC, the besieged and the Iranian military, 4,000 people that just got armed yesterday. That's not going to work. So again, I don't know. I wouldn't be talking about it, but I think we should have a long standing, very broad. I think Jonathan brought up before, can't just be the Kurds. That's not going to work. There's plenty of other groups. What they need is coordination. And that's where I think we could come in to coordinate, to plan, to train the leadership, to organize that stuff. And then obviously to. To equip.

[Jack Murphy]

We should point out, Mick, I mean, you have direct experience in this kind of activity in this part of the world. You know, you were one of those teams in northern Iraq. Actually, one of the other team was. Was Sam Faddis, who recently passed away. But I mean, I think both of those teams did some pretty incredible work as far as like sabotage behind enemy lines.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

And let's just be clear, our team did a little bit better than the other team did.

[Mick Mulroy]

Me and Mark are on the same team. I mean, a lot of that's been out. So I mean, it's an example of what you could do their Kurds. Right. What you could do with motivated militias. Right. I mean, we saw it also in the fall, Taliban in Afghanistan. But that was the same thing in northern Iraq. The team that me and Mark were on, and as you said, Sam was the overall leader, we were on a separate team, but he was, I think, I think, you know, I'm biased. But that took on Ansar Islam and operation Viking hammer us with 10th group handful Americans. I was there. Like you'd be surprised how few Americans like 6,000 Kurds and maybe 100, 120Americans. And then we became the northern front, right. Because the Turks wouldn't let the 4th Infantry Division in. And we had to go to the Kurds and say, congratulations, it's just you and us. Right. I remember when we had to say that it was a little rough, but I mean that shows how highly motivated and trained groups like the Kurds can do. And they were going against, you know, the Republican Guardians. This is a conventional army, tanks, armor, personnel carriers, artillery. The Kurds had, you know, hiluxes with, you know, Dishkas and pkms on the back. They did have our air support. Right. But we also, that's. And I did a, an academic paper actually with General Tovo at the time was Lieutenant Colonel Tovo retired as Lieutenant General Kobo Tovo. To talk about how the US Military and the agency needs to maintain the capability to work together to do things like that. Like that should be part of, you know, special operations officers, be they in the agency or in the military, career progression when it comes to their skill sets. Right. Because we keep, whenever we go to war, we kind of figure it out and then we kind of separate, go our separate ways. But anyway, that's that I'm digressing a bit. But to your point, Jack, this can be done. There is examples of how it's been done well, but it has to be organized, coordinated, maintained. It needs to be a long term strategy. And I think a lot of CIA people, I think Mark would agree with me. What the CIA doesn't want to see is this isn't working. We can't figure it out. Diplomacy's failed. We don't want to use the military. Here you go, dudes. And then we're like, oh, crap. Because I mean, talk about, I mean, you don't want to get it handed to you when it's, when it's already, you know, a dumpster fire. So it needs to be coordinated in line with diplomatic efforts, economic efforts, military efforts. But in my view it should Be continuous.

[Jack Murphy]

I just want to point out this book real quick. This is another good one. Mark Gurdavik, who I believe he was Colonel Tovo's S3 during the campaign. Yeah, this one's very good. And geez, Sam Faddis wrote one also that was pretty good. Let me see if I can pull it up here. Here it is. The CIA War in Kurdistan. That one's worth reading. Also, where can people find that academic paper you mentioned, Mick?

[Mick Mulroy]

I was Middle East Institute. It was me, General Tovo, and Uncle Andy who went by Uncle Andy. He still does.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

But yeah, yeah, yeah, that was, that was really good. And it was also cleared by the Agency, which is actually really helpful for the rest of us because I've cited that about a billion times not to get.

[Mick Mulroy]

Thanks, man.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

So, no, it's a. And I totally agree because, you know, with the end of the G. What you know, we all, everyone grew up together with our military counterparts. And then just naturally with the great Power competition, everyone drifts apart. And that's not good. It's kind of should be institutionalized. But one quick thing, Jonathan, I don't know if you saw this, and it does go to the notion of COVID action and kind of narratives, but the new Mossad chief, Roman Goffman, basically fired his deputy, also fired the head of the Iran Operations Division and their head of analysis. Pretty remarkable. That seems to me to be an indictment of something in this campaign. I mean, and of course you don't see any of that on the US side. But for the new Mossad director to come in and can the chief of Iran is pretty extraordinary. And the chief analyst. What do you think of that?

[Jonathan]

The challenge, too is it seems that the war plan that the Israelis had, that they presented to the US was really contingent on the US persisting and actually continuing to follow through. And it's possible that the plans that those individuals put together fell apart inside of Iran, which we don't see because they're all happening behind the scenes. But things probably fell apart because that contingent requirement of U.S. participation following through wasn't there. And so there probably wasn't this alternative coa built into it, because when you're selling a sales pitch, you don't want to say, like, well, in case this fails, we're also going to do this because you don't want to just suggest that there's going to be failure possible when you're selling it to the United States because you want the US Especially the people that heard it in that room of eight people, they need to Hear success, success, success. And I think that failure probably was minimized and de emphasized and now those gentlemen are probably seeing the effects of that minimization in their own, you know, behind the scenes politics in the organization.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

But of course there's nothing on the US side. There's no accountability on our side. I mean there is, there is, it's a, it's a pretty stark contrast. And then the former Mossad folks that I know are all pissed because they think they're getting blamed for this when it's, you know, Netanyahu is the one who of course signed off on everything and was, was really pushing a lot of these plans as well.

[Jonathan]

We saw the same thing in Gaza too. I mean, right after, after 2023, October, there was a lot of blame, finger pointing and none of it was at Netanyahu, at least, you know, publicly resigned. Right.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Ronan Barr.

[Jack Murphy]

So guys, here's a mixed paper that he wrote with Ken Tovo who is the commander of 10th Special Forces Group. When this happened, Irregular Warfare, A case study in CIA and US Army Special Forces operations in northern Iraq 2002-2003. Definitely worth going to find that one. So to switch topics, Mark, you wanted to get into, and I have not read this article, but you wanted to get into that there was a rating of intelligence services across Europe.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

It was just great fun. This is in, I think it's all over the place. It was the Telegraph, I don't know, but then the Guardian published it, the Times in the uk. So basically it was a peer study amongst all European services and ranking the top intelligence services in Europe and MI6 came out on top. France was number two. I think Germany was three, which is ridiculous. But, but there. And of course everyone, you know, the Brits and I know a lot of former and current British officers and they're, you know, they're absolutely out of their mind with glee and happiness. Now even if you remind them of the Cambridge five and all the other things that happen, it doesn't matter. But, but ultimately it's, it's pretty interesting and a lot of it has. The reason why I wanted to raise it was a comment that in the article that Ralph Gough, who's a very well known, very respected agency officer, you know him well, that he made talking about how good the Brits have been in Ukraine and I think there's this undertone that we all have in the Brits never talk about it, but the British security services and British Special Forces have done very, very well there and been way forward leaning and so that's interesting too. And then the other part that I thought that was fascinating was, and again, based on my experiences, the end of my career, which was all near east and CT until the end, which was Europe was dealing with the French and how the French and I found them to be really incredible partners on CT in Africa to the point of where they do not have the same kind of rules that we have. And in fact in this article that I was reading in the British press, they said, yeah, you know, a British intelligence officers say, yeah, that, you know, the French are savages. They basically, there was a list of 40 or 50, you know, ISIS and Al Qaeda targets that they just went and killed them all, assassinated them all. So it's just interesting to kind of look at the, you know, our allies across the pond and, and there's, I mean this didn't get a lot of play in the US but it certainly within the intelligence world this, this kind of ranking, which was peer ranked. It's not a newspaper journalist doing. It's. They really did, you know, they, they somehow did some kind of poll of intel officers. The other part of it, just one quick thing is it didn't, you know, I think that there are really good services like the Poles who've done incredible just ground crazy shit for us over the years anyhow. So these are the allies, by the way, Mick, that you want to have help us. Of course I want to as well. So does Jonathan, so does Jack in Iran. They're really good if they're on our side. That's the kind of.

[Jack Murphy]

The DGSE is much more aggressive than people realize, I think. I mean, so, so, so is the French Special Forces. Like I actually heard they have done something like 25 military free fall insertions into West Africa over the last like five or six years doing ops and during the whole ISIS years, you know, the French special forces guys in Iraq and I believe in Syria too, part of TF Hydraulic, they were deployed there with the express mission of assassinating French citizens that had joined isis. Like, do not let these guys come back home. Like that is not to happen, isn't it?

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

DGSE sa. Isn't that the moniker?

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've worked with them. They're kind of like special activities. Yeah, they're good. I think one thing that is a positive is the intelligence services tend to work together regardless of, you know, what the overall relationship is between the countries. You know, that politically goes up and down. And they tell us, unless it's like

[Jack Murphy]

CIA, svr, there are Some limits on how well you guys will play.

[Jonathan]

Yes, yes.

[Mick Mulroy]

No, I meant, like, among allies. Like, we could have issues with France and Spain and.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Yeah, yeah, it.

[Mick Mulroy]

But, yeah, we. I mean, I don't know that it got out there, but we helped DGSA with one of their issues, and I think after that, and it was to recover somebody who's kidnapped, the relationships just got really tight.

[Jack Murphy]

Oh, you're talking about Walton got kidnapped.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, you know, the.

[Jack Murphy]

I don't even know a lot with that.

[Mick Mulroy]

Well, I'm talking. We helped them with one of their

[Jack Murphy]

guys, but with one of the French citizens.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, French guys. French dgse. And it just got really, really tight after that. I think they were always doing good stuff, but then we just started hearing more about it after that. And the Brits, I mean. I mean, just like you, Jack, I'm an Irish American, so I. I can't go too far on this, but I've worked with them many times in there. I actually had one come over my house and said, so you got an Irish pub and a boxing gym, because you're just a freaking walking stereotype, aren't you? I'm like, yeah, what do you expect? He came in my pub all the time. But they are. They are. They are good. They can do good things when they're. When they want to. And I think we don't. We shouldn't take our relationship with all these countries for granted.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

The.

[Jack Murphy]

You know, as Mark points out, the Polish Agencia Vavadu, I believe, is the name of the aw. Their intelligence service does some incredible stuff. And then another one is the Belgians Avid. That's another one of those.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

I think you're talking the Dutch. Are they.

[Jack Murphy]

The Dutch? Yeah. Thank you.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

They're outstanding. That should be.

[Ryan Seacrest]

Yeah.

[Jack Murphy]

They punch above their weight class.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Yeah.

[Jack Murphy]

How about, John, did you have any partners that you worked with that you were particularly impressed by?

[Jonathan]

As far as direct action? It was Denses Lapan, Lapan Detachment 88 in Indonesia. They did some of these, like, highly orchestrated assassinations inside Indonesia. One of them, they killed this guy named Dolmatin, who you can look up. He was a bad guy in jama, but they basically fixed him in place using his webcam while he was in a Internet cafe. And then from, like, behind the buildings, a couple up behind a couple streets back, they, like, shot through and shot him in the back of the head right over in front of the camera. And, like, use that as the find the fix and finish component of the operation. It was, like, really well done. This is A long time ago, too. Like before F3AD was so popularized. Highly good at it. I would just say one of those ops.

[Jack Murphy]

Where was it? Like a guy that was a JI Guy that was in prison for killing one of their dudes, and they went and raided the prison and like, shot the guy through the bars in the cell.

[Jonathan]

Yeah, yeah. They would do stuff like that all the time.

[Mick Mulroy]

And they did it.

[Jonathan]

Sulawesi. Yeah. I mean, they killed the leader of mit, which is another splinter group of Jama Islamia, by like, going through a village and just like, shooting and shooting people on their way to him, like, without discriminating and just going toward. Until they finally got him. And, you know, yeah, he's dead, but so are like 25 other people in the village.

[Jack Murphy]

Jesus. Well, Mark, before I know, you got to get going in like, maybe 10 minutes. I want to make sure that we touch on this report that the CIA has opened some sort of Cuba task force.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Yeah. So this is. This is a big deal. Just. Just in terms of priorities. I mean, I think that's the way you got to look at it. Now. Adam Entus wrote this for the New York Times. Entus is extremely well sourced within the Agency and has written on Cuba for years, so I would tend to believe it. And then the Miami Herald picked it up as well. And there, of course, are well sourced on Cuba just from their proximity and the Cuban American community in South Florida. But I think it's important just in the sense of this is something that obviously Secretary of State, National Security Advisor Rubio, is of paramount importance to him personally. And when you set up a task force, you do so to increase, obviously collection both human intelligence, signals intelligence, imagery, open source. But that means you're pulling resources from somewhere else. The Agency has a finite number of people and money and resources forces. I would imagine there probably will be similar efforts in other places in the U.S. national security kind of ecosystem. And that's done either to support future military operations and slash or covert action, which also could be covert influence. So it's not necessarily a coup, but it's influence operations. But you don't do this if something is not afoot in some fashion.

[Jack Murphy]

Didn't this already kind of exist under, like, the. What is it called? The Western Hemisphere Mission Center?

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Not a task force of this nature. So, yeah, I mean, there's the Cuba Ops Group, but not an actual task force where you bring in this now becomes all source. It becomes there's analysts who are brought in. I mean, it's a thing they're going to Pull people from it. They're also going to pull people from mixold world. I mean, this just doesn't happen because. And at least that's what the article said. One can wonder is the administration really going to jump into another foreign adventure? But it's certainly that's something that is, it's raised in priority. And in the article, well, it said that this has been raised in what the national security world is called the nipif, the National Intelligence Priorities Framework. This is on the first tier that matters. Again, that's where money and resources go. Final piece on this is in all of my contacts. And Jack, you know you and I have talked Cuba before because of the whole Havana Syndrome issue. I have a ton of contacts in the Cuban American community, including some great, wonderful kind of the Cuban exile groups. They will not settle for a Venezuela type operation. They want full review. I know they are. They said they consider the Venezuela thing to be a failure. And they're very skeptical, or not so skeptical, but they're going to hold Rubio to task on this. So the idea of doing a Venezuela, you know, some kind of like light type operation, I don't know. So it's just, it just gives you kind of, you know, you think about signal versus noise. This is signal, this is not noise. A task force is a task force. Wars.

[Mick Mulroy]

I would add. I mean, I don't know if the story is accurate, but sounds like it is. I would add that this is actually consistent with our national security strategy and defense strategy. Remember we used to talk about, you know, we were going to ship to the Western. Not saying I agree with it, but it is what it is you're supposed to. I mean, you make strategy for a reason. And then of course, winter war in the Middle East. But if you look at it as consistency and what we said we were going to do and put our resources toward it has. It has some validity there, put it that way. And I agree with Mark. I think a lot of people that are focused on this region, the Western Hemisphere, don't want to just see a repeat of Venezuela. Essentially just remove the head. And as you guys know that the, the problem still exists. It could go back, you know, depending on the interest or lack of interest by the United States, but I don't know what that necessarily means for Cuba.

[Jonathan]

Something interesting I saw was some satellite imagery today. There's four different locations inside of Cuba that had. They're just farmland and now they have a bunch of Chinese solar panels that have been installed. And of course, obviously there's Rolling blackouts and consistent blackouts in Cuba right now. A lot of energy constraints. And it seems that, you know, I don't know who in China is providing this stuff, but a lot of things from China don't usually happen without Chinese permission, government permission. So it's just kind of interesting to see this showing up behind a blockade inside of a completely sanctioned country that now you have brand new solar panel farms built.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, that could mitigate you guys.

[Jack Murphy]

I mean, I guess. I don't know. I mean, how much you came across it, Mark, but I mean, how would you assess the CIA's penetration of Cuba? Because my impression is that all the sources, you know, that we have on the books are double agents. That DGI has kind of ran circles around us for many years.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Well, the record ain't good. I mean, it's incredible. I mean, you know, Cuba has been a country that has had astounding success against us. There's very senior former US Intelligence officers who are. Who are Cuban agents.

[Jack Murphy]

An ambassador.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Ambassador who is a Cuban agent. I mean, it's pretty stunning. Cuba, obviously, it's a denied area. If you're serving at the US Embassy in Havana. The CIA station was closed for a while. It then reopened. Now, of course, one of the. And so there is that notion of, you know, are the Cubans still that formidable an adversary? Now, some argue that because of the economic kind of deterioration, is that actually the Cuban intelligence services have really suffered because of that. So that's certainly possible. One thing that was wild is that, you know, you had not only John Ratcliffe, other CIA officials actually visited Cuba recently, opening for discussions with their Cuban counterparts. So there's this. There's kind of this interesting game being played. But, Jack, I think that it's a very good question because when you talk about increasing collection, the past collection, at least on the human side, was very suspect now because there were so many doubles. Now, has that changed? I'm not entirely sure. And I think that more than likely there's some validity to the notion of the. Cuba's been so battered economically that, you know, and. And again, their patrons have been also the Russians too. And so, you know, are they as formidable an adversary? But that we. We shall see. Let's see what. What we end up doing. I don't think we should shirk from that just because there's been so much, you know, failure in the past in terms of on. On. On the human side. But you also can't, you know, there can't be any hubris. We have to have Some humility in that we are dealing with the competent service.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah.

[Jack Murphy]

I mean, we've kind of fucked that one a few times in the past already.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

I mean, when you talk about the ambassador, the national intelligence officer for Cuba, like there was serious. Major. The DIA's top analyst on Cuba was a spy for Cuba. That's astounding.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, we'd be proud of that if it was reversed, especially against the superpower.

[Jack Murphy]

The interesting thing about dgi, as I understand it, is that they get ideological recruitments, which we very rarely get. As I understand it, like CIA doesn't get a lot of ideological recruitments in that,

[Mick Mulroy]

like during the Cold War.

[Jack Murphy]

Yeah. You think that's like a Cold War dynamic, Mick?

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, I think during the Cold War, at least. At least from what I wasn't around then, but at least from what I know that a lot of it was, you know, the opposition to the Soviet Union and the desire to ensure that there wasn't a, you know, Third World War. I would call that ideological.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

I think there's a chance that Jonathan and Mick and Jack and D, all of us are going to be talking Cuba in the next month or two. And now is it going to be before the elections, midterms or not? I don't know, but. And it's crazy, by the way. I mean, Venezuela, Iran, like, are we really going to do another little foray? But I think there's very. I mean, the one thing with this administration this is not ideological or political. You'll be shocked. I'll say something neutral is that you should never say never. I think that's a fair statement. Things that you thought couldn't happen certainly can happen. And so I think we'll be talking Cuba soon. Yeah.

[Jack Murphy]

I've been told that some of these talks that are happening up at Camp David, they're kind of being advertised as being about Iran, but actually Cuba is one of the main topic of some of those talks.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

One other thing on this for Jonathan and Mick, like, why. Why the hell did we do all our TDYs and PCs's in the sandbox? Like, I'm sorry, Cuba is a little bit more fun.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah.

[Jack Murphy]

Well, not if you're not.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

If you're a CIA with the sandbox,

[Mick Mulroy]

I got to go to some Latin American stuff and Far East, Philippines, etc. But yeah, I don't know. The other thing that people are talking about, but I tried to somewhat unsuccessfully this week, is Ukraine.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Yeah.

[Mick Mulroy]

Like Ukraine right now has stopped the Russians. Like they're not advancing. They're getting slaughtered they are striking facilities way beyond where we thought they would. And they are getting almost no U. S. Support, like it is really little support. And even the, you know, the, the idea that they were going to be able to manufacture like the pack threes and stuff because right now they're literally, I think they're almost out entirely. Right. That's why they're getting hit so hard. I don't even know if that's gonna happen. So I would just, I will beat the drum. Even if it's not what the news is talking about. Not only is it the right thing to do, right. We are the leader of the free world, but we have an opportunity if, if we have to play this card to help them win, which means we'd win, right? So I'm just saying we need to win, right? So like if we went in, not that we need to. I mean, I'm not advocating we run around claiming victory for the Ukrainians who did 100% of the work, but if we want to get behind a winning cause, not only is it the righteous cause, but these guys are already proved they can win by themselves. Can you imagine if we gave them full throttle support? So I'm just going to.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

By the way, the Russians just tried to blow up several Ukrainian airplanes in Germany.

[Jack Murphy]

I saw that.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

This is a terrorist state. This is insane.

[Mick Mulroy]

Yeah, they just target apartment buildings, kill women and children, elder people. They don't even hide it.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

I'm with you.

[Mick Mulroy]

And it'll never win that way. All it does is make the Ukrainians less likely to ever concede. It's not even a winning strategy. It's just murder.

[Jack Murphy]

It's interesting to see the targeting of wild berries like the Russian Amazon because that's purely an economic target. You'd have a hard time saying that that's a military target or it's a dual use facility. But it is having a psychological impact on the Russians as they can't get their deliveries.

[Mick Mulroy]

Well, apparently there's so little support for the troops in the front lines that families buy stuff from wild berry to send to them. They buy helmets, I mean all this stuff that's not lethal. But they don't have a body armor. I mean these guys have like a one week life expectancy. If you, if it's your kid, you're buying it. Apparently it comes. They ship a lot of this food, body armor, helmets, you know, all the stuff that you need. But isn't the lethal stuff

[Jack Murphy]

anything else? Guys, before we wrap up here today, John is the author of Iran's Shadow Weapons. You can go and find that book right now. Mick Mulroy with the Lobo Institute. Where can people find the Lobo Institute, Mick?

[Mick Mulroy]

I've got a website, loboinstitute.org and of course we're out here in Whitefish. If you're interested in the Whitefish Security Summit, there's a link to it. We're going to get all you guys out here for that. Yeah.

[Jack Murphy]

And Mr. Polymeropoulos, you have a book out too, don't you?

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

It's a been out for a couple years. Clarity and Crisis. And if anyone wants to see me yapping away, I'm on TV a lot in the morning. I'll be on 5am tomorrow suffering.

[Jack Murphy]

Better you than me, bro.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Yep.

[Mick Mulroy]

6am 6am 6.

[Jack Murphy]

Well, thank you guys for joining us today and we'll see all of you next time.

[Mark Polymeropoulos]

Thanks guys.

[Jack Murphy]

Take

[Mick Mulroy]

hello everyone. If you're hearing this, you are not a member of the Patreon. You can get your hands on ad free episodes that come out early and you can ask us questions. Maybe we'll answer them. You can also watch the Teamhouse podcast completely ad free and early. And you can also watch it live as we interview our guests. And it's the best way to support the channel. So if you can, if you're open to it, you can go to patreon.com theteamhouse that link is in the description. We appreciate the supporters and we hope you would consider being one. So it's patreon.com theteamhouse this podcast is

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

brought to you by protectyourpoints.com if you rely on credit card rewards, a proposed bill in Congress could eliminate your rewards programs. That means fewer savings on everyday essentials like groceries and gas. The points guy says reward programs don't just benefit consumers, they help support millions of jobs tied to travel and local businesses. Don't wait until changes happen to understand the impact. Get the facts [e-mail] that's protectyourpoints.com hey,

[Ryan Seacrest]

it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Take care of yourself this summer and stock up on some tasty nutrition Essentials now. Through August 25th, shop in store and online to earn four times the points on items like Clif Bars, Power Crunch Bars, Rx Bars, Boost Protein Shakes, five Hour Energy, Vital Proteins, Collagen Peptides and Optimum Nutrition Whey Powder. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or or fuel purchases. Offer ends August 25th. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

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[Mick Mulroy]

Thanks guys.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com Credit card rewards are at risk the Durbin Marshall bill could change how credit card payments are processed and according to the points guy, that could mean fewer cashback perks and fewer travel rewards. This could impact how Americans save on everyday purchases like gas and groceries and even affect small businesses that depend on rewards driven spending. Learn what's at stake and what you can do. Visit protectyourpoints.com that's protectyourpoints.com hey, it's Ryan

[Ryan Seacrest]

Seacrest for Albertsons and safeway now through August 25th. Shop in store and online for all your favorite self care brands and earn four times the points points that can be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Save on items like Colgate Kids Toothpaste, Colgate Total Toothpaste, Colgate Total Mouthwash Soft Soap Hand Soap, Soft Soap Body Wash and Irish Springs Body wash and earn four times the points. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and Many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while stay. Plus, you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be four imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for Imprint for certain

[Mick Mulroy]

you.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com Credit card rewards are at risk. The Durbin Marshall bill could change how credit card payments are processed and according to the points guy, that could mean fewer cashback perks and fewer travel rewards. This could impact how Americans save on everyday purchases like gas and groceries and even affect small businesses that depend on rewards driven spending. Learn what's at stake and what you can do. Visit protectyourpoints.com that's protectyourpoints.com hey, it's Ryan

[Ryan Seacrest]

Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. This summer is the perfect time to restock your everyday essentials. Now through August 25th, you can get great savings on the trusted brands that you and the family love and earn four times the points. Shop in store and online to save on items like Listerine, Neutrogena and Ogx Beauty and earn four times the points. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while staying on budget. Plus, you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be fore imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for Imprint for certain.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com if you rely on credit card rewards, a proposed bill in Congress could eliminate your rewards programs. That means fewer savings on everyday essentials like groceries and gas. The points Guy says reward programs don't just benefit consumers, they help support millions of jobs tied to travel and local businesses. Don't wait until changes happen to understand the impact. Get the facts [e-mail] that's protectyourpoints.com hey

[Ryan Seacrest]

it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Now through August 25th. Shop in store and online for all your favorite self care brands and earn four times the points. Points that can be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Save on items like Colgate Kids Toothpaste, Colgate Total Toothpaste, Colgate Total Mouthwash Soft Soap Hand Soap, Soft Soap Body Wash and Irish Springs Body wash and earn four times the points. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact whilst staying on budget. Plus you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be four imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for Imprint for Certain.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com if you rely on credit card rewards, a proposed bill in Congress could eliminate your rewards programs. That means fewer savings on everyday essentials like groceries and gas. The points guy says reward programs don't just benefit consumers, they help support millions of jobs tied to travel and local businesses. Don't wait until changes happen to understand the impact. Get the facts [e-mail] that's protectyourpoints.com hey,

[Ryan Seacrest]

it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway Take care of yourself this summer and stock up on some tasty nutrition Essentials. Now through August 25th. Shop in store and online to earn four times of points on items like Clif Bars, Power Crunch Bars, Rx Bars, Boost Protein Shakes, five Hour Energy, Vital Proteins, Collagen Peptides and Optimum Nutrition Whey Powder. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while staying on budget. Plus, you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be fore imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for Imprint for certain.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com Credit card rewards are at Risk the Durbin Marshall Bill could change how credit card payments are processed, and according to the points guy, that could mean fewer cashback perks and fewer travel rewards. This could impact how Americans save on everyday purchases like gas and groceries and even affect small businesses that depend on rewards driven spending. Learn what's at stake and what you can do. Visit protectyourpoints.com that's protectyourpoints.com hey, it's Ryan

[Ryan Seacrest]

Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Take care of yourself this summer and stock up on some tasty nutrition Essentials. Now through August 25th. Shop in store and online to earn four times the points on items like Clif Bars, Power Crunch Bars, Rx Bars, Boost Protein Shakes, five Hour Energy, Vital Proteins, Collagen Peptides and Optimum Nutrition. Whey Powder points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while staying on budget. Plus you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be four imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] 4imprint for certain foreign.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com Credit card rewards are at risk the Durbin Marshall Bill could change how credit card payments are processed and according to the points guy, that could mean fewer cashback perks and fewer travel rewards. This could impact how Americans save on everyday purchases like gas and groceries and even affect small businesses that depend on rewards driven spending. Learn what's at stake and what you can do. Visit protectyourpoints.com that's protectyourpoints.com hey it's Ryan

[Ryan Seacrest]

Seacrest for Albertsons and safeway now through August 25th. Shop in store and online for all your favorite self care brands and earn four times the points. Points that can be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Save on items like Colgate Kids Toothpaste, Colgate Total Toothpaste, Colgate Total Mouthwash Soft Soap, Hand Soap, Soft Soap Body Wash and Irish Springs Body wash and earn four times the points. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while staying on budget. Plus, you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be four imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for Imprint for certain.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com if you rely on credit card rewards, a proposed bill in Congress could eliminate your rewards programs. That means fewer savings on everyday essentials like groceries and gas. The points guy says reward programs don't just benefit consumers, they help support millions of jobs tied to travel and local businesses. Don't wait until changes happen to understand the impact. Get the facts [e-mail] that's protectyourpoints.com hey,

[Ryan Seacrest]

it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this summer. Get great savings on all your personal care favorites from Procter and Gamble and earn four times the points. Now through August 25th. Shop in store and online and save on items from always Aussie native Pantene, Old Spice, Gillette and Crest to earn four times the points. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway. For more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while staying on budget. Plus, you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be four imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for imprint for certain.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com if you rely on credit card rewards, a proposed bill in Congress could eliminate your rewards programs. That means fewer savings on everyday essentials like groceries and gas. The points guy says reward programs don't just benefit consumers, they help support millions of jobs tied to travel and local businesses. Don't wait until changes happen to understand the impact. Get the facts [e-mail] that's protectyourpoints.com hey,

[Ryan Seacrest]

it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Take care of yourself this summer and stock up on some tasty nutrition Essentials. Now through August 25th. Shop in store and online to earn four times the points on items like Clif Bars, Power Crunch Bars, Rx Bars, Boost Protein Shakes, five Hour Energy, Vital Proteins, Collagen Peptides and Optimum Nutrition Whey Powder. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact whilst staying on budget. Plus you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be four imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] 4imprint for certain.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com Credit card rewards are at risk. The Durbin Marshall bill could change how credit card payments are processed and according to the points guy, that could mean fewer cash back perks and fewer travel rewards. This could impact how Americans save on everyday purchases like gas and groceries and even affect small businesses that depend on rewards driven spending. Learn what's at stake and what you can do. Visit protectyourpoints.com that's protectyourpoints.com hey, it's Ryan

[Ryan Seacrest]

Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. Take care of yourself this summer and stock up on some tasty nutrition Essentials. Now through August 25th. Shop in store and online to earn four times the points on items like Clif Bars, Power Crunch Bars, Rx Bars, Boost Protein Shakes, five Hour Energy, Vital Proteins, Collagen peptides and Optimum Nutrition Whey Powder. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear, finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while staying on budget. Plus, you'll get expert help, fast turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be four imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for Imprint for Certain.

[Podcast Sponsor Announcer]

This podcast is brought to you by protectyourpoints.com your credit card points are at risk the Durbin Marshall Bill in Congress could significantly reduce credit card rewards like cash back and travel points that millions of Americans rely on. The points guy warns it could also impact tourism, small business and even how secure your transactions are. This isn't just about perks, it's about how you spend, save and travel. Stay informed and visit protectyourpoints.com that's protectyourpoints.com

[Ryan Seacrest]

hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway. This summer is the perfect time to restock your everyday essentials. Now through August 25th, you can get great savings on the trusted brands that you and the family love and earn four times a point. Shop in store and online to save on items like Listerine, Neutrogena and OGX Beauty and earn four times the points. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Commercial Announcer]

Whether you're planning a big event, launching a new campaign or just stocking up on team gear. Finding the right promotional products makes all the difference. That's why so many brands turn to four Imprint. They offer thousands of options from on trend apparel and eco friendly drinkware to tech totes and giveaways so you'll find the right fit for any audience, purpose or budget. You can customize it all. Your logo, your message, your look and many items come with no setup charge to help you save. And if you're really watching the bottom line, you'll find standout choices at every price point so you can make a real impact while staying on budget. Plus, you'll get expert help, fast Turnaround times and their 360 degree guarantee so you can be 4imprint certain your order arrives on time and looks exactly right. Whatever your goal, 4imprint makes it easy to find your perfect promo match. Explore the possibilities [e-mail] for Imprint for

[Ryan Seacrest]

certain hey, it's Ryan Seacrest for Albertsons and Safeway this summer. Get great savings on all your personal care favorites from Procter and Gamble and earn four times the points now through August 25th. Fifth shop in store and online and save on items from always Aussie native Pantene, Old Spice, Gillette and Crest to earn four times a point. Points can then be used for discounts on future groceries or fuel purchases. Offer ends Aug. 25. Restrictions apply. Offers may vary. Visit albertsons or safeway.com for more details.

[Mick Mulroy]

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