In this week’s edition of the Action Update we meet the dominant force (presently) in Iran, shine the light on the Pentagon’s effort to sneak a few million over to the LAF, and note just how valuable
the Abraham Accords have proven to be.
Wanted for Murder
Vahid "Ahmad Vahidi" Shahcheraghi was born in 1958. He was 21 years old when the Islamic Revolution took place – and among its most radical members were students. He is an original member of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps. He worked his way up through the ranks, becoming the number two at the IRGC at the end of December 2025. He has been the subject of an Interpol Red Notice “at the request of the authorities in Argentina, where he is wanted on the basis of his alleged involvement in the 1994 bombing of the Jewish AMIA centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people and injured hundreds”.
On February 28th, his boss was killed. The next day, he became the head of the IRGC. In the ensuing days and weeks he has emerged as the dominant hardline figure in the regime.
Vahidi is the OG IRGC. His entire adult life has been defined by cruelty and murder – all over the world. He is as ruthless as he is arrogant – and that will be his downfall.
First, he thinks he can defeat President Trump in a war of wills. You can’t. Many have tried, and, regardless of how one feels about them, in business and politics, those who think President Trump will blink first have always, ultimately, been blinded.
Let’s take the most obvious example: would anyone be that surprised if we woke up tomorrow and President Trump had engaged in a significant kinetic action? Neither should Vahidi (or his successor, if that’s the way things go).
Second, and more importantly, over time the pseudo-stalemate that exists between the allied forces and Vahidi’s minions gets ever less expensive for the world and more expensive for Iran as the days progress. The reality is that Iran’s “allies” will keep Vahidi and his barbarian horde on life support, while developing alternative means for procuring the energy that enables the regime to hang on. Basically, Vahidi is choosing a slow death, rather than a speedy surrender. Meanwhile the rest of the world is adjusting.
There is No Ceasefire
Not far away, in Lebanon, there is no ceasefire. Hezbollah continues to launch drone attacks against Israeli positions, and Israel has responded. Scores of Israeli soldiers have been wounded, and several killed since the so-called cease was implemented on April 17.
One wonders what happened to the promises of the Lebanese Armed Forces disarming Hezbollah. Well, one doesn’t actually wonder, the explanation is simple: Beirut is run by cowards.
They’re unwilling to do the difficult but necessary work of seizing sovereignty of their own country from the terrorists in their midst. Over here at the CUFI Action Fund we do not think it is wise to help them in their cowardice.
So why, one wonders…. Has the Pentagon included a multi-million dollar budget request to provide the LAF with money to fight ISIS - which they’ve never received before? Well, one doesn’t actually wonder, the explanation is simple: the Pentagon knows Congress isn’t going to approve the hundreds of millions of dollars approved in years’ past for an “army” that won’t fight the enemy literally staring them in the face.
As the Action Fund’s Boris Zilberman put in our recent SitRep,
This fresh budget line item is a brazen attempt to fund the LAF under new and dubious pretenses, as the core reason for why we have given them more than $3 billion over the past 20 years continues to go up in smoke. The LAF has proven over the past two decades that it is unwilling and incapable of being the sovereign military authority within the borders of Lebanon. No matter the shade of lipstick, the U.S. policy of propping up the LAF has been the failure of the entrenched deep state.
An Enduring Alliance
Conflict often shows you who your friends really are. The United Arab Emirates suffered thousands of missile and drone attacks from Iran during the most recent operations. While the UAE’s air defense systems proved capable, they needed help.
Israel secretly sent an Iron Dome battery, interceptors and personnel to the UAE to help fend off the onslaught. This is the first time in history Israel has placed boots on the ground of an Arab nation in an allied/defensive capacity. In addition, the Israelis targeted several Iranian missile launch sites to decrease the intensity of the fire at the UAE and surrounding nations.
The American investment in Israel helps not just the US, but also our allies in the region. The US, the UAE, Israel and other Arab nations have shared interests today because of the war, but tomorrow as well. When it’s all said and done, the world will move on from Iran’s economic extortion, the US and Israel will ensure the regime can never engage in nuclear blackmail, and the regime’s house of death will fall.
Sincerely,
The CUFI Action Fund Team
|
