Original Oils by Tom

05/28/2026

𝐓𝐑𝐔𝐌𝐏 𝐄𝐗𝐏𝐎𝐒𝐄𝐒 𝐂𝐍𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐍𝐀𝐕𝐘 — 𝐂𝐍𝐍 𝐆𝐑𝐀𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐂: “𝐒𝐓𝐑𝐎𝐍𝐆.” 𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐔𝐀𝐋 𝐅𝐎𝐎𝐓𝐀𝐆𝐄: 𝐁𝐎𝐓𝐓𝐎𝐌 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐏𝐄𝐑𝐒𝐈𝐀𝐍 𝐆𝐔𝐋𝐅

A clip is circulating with two frames cut next to each other. 𝐅𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐞: 𝐚 𝐂𝐍𝐍 𝐛𝐫𝐨𝐚𝐝𝐜𝐚𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐧 “𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧’𝐬 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠.” Frame two: actual underwater and surface imagery of the Iranian Navy from this week — half of it sunk at the bottom of the Persian Gulf during the American strike package, the rest holed and listing in port at Bandar Abbas.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐍𝐚𝐯𝐲 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐚 𝐰𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐤. Per Defense Secretary Hegseth in his own Cabinet remarks today, the IRGC Navy’s Persian-Gulf surface flotilla, its air-defense network, and its missile-production line are all currently below operational threshold. “𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘭𝘦𝘴 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘥𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘴 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘯𝘰𝘸, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘤𝘢𝘯’𝘵 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘱𝘴,” is how Hegseth put it.

𝐂𝐍𝐍 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐧 “𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐲 𝐩𝐞𝐚𝐜𝐞𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐬” 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚 𝐜𝐡𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐊𝐞𝐧𝐨𝐬𝐡𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐧 “𝐑𝐮𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧” 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐇𝐮𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐁𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧 𝐥𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐨𝐩. 𝐈𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐭𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐚𝐧 “𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐨𝐧 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐬” 𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧 𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥 𝐓𝐫𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐪𝐮𝐨𝐭𝐞 𝐬𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 “𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐧𝐞𝐨-𝐍𝐚𝐳𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐞𝐦𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲.”

The pattern is the pattern. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐚 𝐢𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐰𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫, 𝐂𝐍𝐍’𝐬 𝐜𝐡𝐲𝐫𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐬 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐨𝐬𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤. Iran could surrender on television tomorrow and the bottom-of-the-screen graphic would read “𝘛𝘦𝘩𝘳𝘢𝘯 𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘰𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘱𝘪𝘷𝘰𝘵.”

𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐟𝐫𝐚𝐦𝐞𝐬. 𝐓𝐰𝐨 𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐭𝐡𝐬. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐫 𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐩𝐢𝐜𝐤 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞.