Janice Gross-Stein

state, you know, an alleged statement by Moshe Bachman, which he released inside Iran to celebrate an anniversary.

And, you know, from a supreme leader, if in fact it's from him, because he has not appeared, he is still in hiding and nobody has seen him.

But if he is still alive and he wrote that statement, it was in many ways a very odd statement

from the Supreme Leader.

And it was all about the economy, the Iranian economy, and what the government owed the Iranian people.

It was about productivity.

It was about growth.

It was about restoring Iranians' opportunity.

to have a decent livelihood.

It was the most consumer-oriented statement you could imagine from a supreme leader.

Let me just put it to you that way.

So whether Mustafa Khamenei wrote that or not, it doesn't matter.

What it really tells you is this government is acutely aware of

of how fragile its relationship is with the Iranian public, that it's got to do something about addressing really deep sources of grievance, which have been hugely exaggerated as a result of this war.

There are millions of Iranians who are unemployed at this point.

That's why the $12 billion is crucial, because we don't have a good data on where their foreign exchange reserves are now.

But we do know that everything they exported, leave aside oil, but everything else they exported, that's been destroyed and will take years to recover.

So, yes, they're stronger because they exercise their right and the capacity to control the straits.

But this is a very weak regime now, Rodney.

Well, you know, you're absolutely right in your description of this regime.