Weekly Update by Mark Armstrong – June 20, 2025

Greetings from Tyler,

Everyone’s mind is on the war in the Middle East. Civilians have been killed as Iran fires off rockets indiscriminately into civilian enclaves. They apparently are firing rockets toward Tel Aviv not knowing where they’ll land, and you hear the reports, civilians killed.

Donald Trump is talking tough, like the U. S. may enter the war against Iran. We might already have. Nobody rightly knows the situation with the Ayatollah. Apparently they’ve hit places where they thought he was hiding. At this writing who knows whether we’ll be hearing any more from him? It looks like sheer defiance, and there are concerns about the other Arab states. They’ve all been talking behind the scenes and we don’t know what’s being said.  

The other Gulf states will be seen to be complicit if they don’t do something. We’ve been watching videos that reveal that some of the leaders in the Arab world have the highest regard for our President. Whether that means they can sit on their hands and do nothing…  You can only imagine the urgency assuming they’re still in touch with Iran.

Over the decades it’s been shown that the Iranians’ top leadership will engage in deceit. I’m not calling them liars, but deceiving the enemy has a long history. It’s not uncommon in times of war. These guys are acting like they can blow up the world. Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. Trump has extended the olive branch. His only demand is they not enrich uranium, and put up with the humiliation of having inspectors reporting on facilities. The maintenance of pride is a big deal in that part of the world. Go figure.  

If Israel comes out of this intact and is seen to have won the war it might not sit well with the other Islamic nations. None of those kingdoms want to see a victorious Israel over a Muslim nation. Hopefully this thing doesn’t spread. Trump is hoping for a deal, but when he says it’s too late, it is.

The militant groups Iran was sponsoring have already been dealt huge blows ever since October 7, 2023. What those imbeciles did is unspeakable, and you can only imagine the outrage that swept Israel. The Arab countries don’t want Israel seen as triumphant over their ally.  

Trump says the U. S. could get involved. The media is already speculating that the bunker busting bombs that are being deployed against the Ayatollah’s hiding places are U. S. bombs. Trump is non-committal when asked if the U. S. will enter the war. Maybe next week, we’ll still be saying maybe. Let’s hope his strategy succeeds and some nuclear bombs don’t start wrecking everything. The FBI is currently monitoring the potential for Iranian sleeper cells in the U. S.

Against this backdrop, the war in Ukraine has almost slipped our consciousness. We’ve got that on the side burner, and are trying to get it stopped. The President is trying everything, but it may have gone too far. Once one side gets a taste of victory, all bets are off.   

Mark