July 27, 2007: Much to Iran's annoyance, the U.S. is cracking down on financial institutions that moves money to terrorist organizations Iran supports. This includes Hizbollah and Hamas. The U.S. has ramped up its intelligence effort to discover who is paying who, and is ordering banks to cease providing services to terrorist related organizations, or face being cut off from the American banking system. Iran has to scramble to find banks that do not fear U.S. banking sanctions, and is discovering that this is not easy. The banks under scrutiny do not want to offend the U.S., partly because access to the American, and international, financial markets is essential for making a profit, and because everyone knows these banks are involved in all manner of questionable activities (like moving cash for bribe taking officials or criminals). The more they are investigated by American operatives, the more vulnerable the banks, and their clients, become.

July 26, 2007: The government has given Iraq an Airbus 300. The twenty year old aircraft is identical to the one shot down by a U.S. warship in 1988. The last of 821 Airbus 300s was manufactured this year. The 165 ton aircraft has two engines and can carry up to 266 passengers. But Iraq will use it to transport government officials, particularly the prime minister (a Shia Arab).

July 25, 2007: The U.S. is trying, without much success, to get China to stop Chinese companies from shipping special metals and electronic components to Iran. These "dual use" materials are used to build nuclear weapons and high tech weapons. Chinese exports of these items are up more than fifty percent compared to last year.

July 24, 2007: The government has ordered the lifestyle police to put more pressure on young men and women who do not dress according to "Islamic standards." The lifestyle police are allowed to decide for themselves who doesn't look right. Punishment can range from a verbal reprimand, to a beating on the spot, to imprisonment and torture. The lifestyle police tend to be country boys, and their victims tend to be city kids trying to be hip.

July 23, 2007: The government continues to have problems paying Russian nuclear power plant contractors the $25 million a month stipulated in their contract. As a result, the Russians continue to stop work when the money is not delivered on time. At this point, the opening of Iran's first nuclear power plant will be delayed until late 2008. The government is having cash flow problems, despite record oil prices and oil shipments. The Iranian economy is a mess, and much government income is spent on payments to the ten percent of the population that remains armed, and loyal, to the religious dictatorship.

July 21, 2007: A recent opinion survey showed that 58 percent of Iranians would support a foreign invasion to overthrow the current religious dictatorship. However, nearly 70 percent would prefer a popular, but non-violent, revolution, like the one that tossed out European communist dictatorships in 1989-90. Worse, 92 percent do not approve of how their government operates. Only eleven percent oppose democracy, and 72 percent did not support the "Islamic Revolution" that has dominated the country for 28 years. Still, most Iranians are not willing to fight, knowing that the minority of Iranians who do support the government are armed and willing to kill Iranians that oppose them. The survey also showed that 78 percent of Iranians believe the country should have nuclear power, but only 46 percent believed they should have nuclear weapons. Interestingly, 52 percent believed that Western Europe would accept Iran having nuclear power. People are not happy with the government foreign policy, with 60 percent opposing support of Hizbollah, 56 percent oppose support for Hamas, and 70 percent oppose the destruction of Israel. However, a third of the population agreed with president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's contention that the World War II German death camp program, that killed six million Jews, never happened.

July 20, 2007: The government is playing a shrewd information war strategy, by appealing to the least educated. This involves severe censorship of the Internet inside Iran, with over half the sites in the local language (Farsi) being blocked. On television, in addition to the usual propaganda, there was a recent show that featured two of five Americans recently arrested (and falsely charged as agents sent to promote a popular revolution) "confessing" their sins. The two appear to have been under a lot of pressure. Meanwhile, parents openly demonstrate to complain that the police have arrested and tortured their university age children.

July 19, 2007: The month long American "surge" offensive in Iraq has resulted in dozens of terrorist leaders and specialists being captured or killed. This has resulted in a growing pile of evidence that these guys have a tight relationship with Iran, where they received training, money and weapons. All this evidence has generated growing calls from military people for the State Department to do something, to at least call out the Iranians on this blatant interference in Iraqi affairs, and how it puts American lives at risk.