Iran keeps insisting it is ready to strike a powerful blow against the Americans if they are stupid enough to dare to attack the mighty Islamic Republic. The Iranian rulers are like those frogs that inflate their lungs with air to puff up their bodies, making themselves appear much larger, more intimidating, and harder for snakes or birds to swallow. These include the Blunt-Headed Burrowing Frog (balloon frog), the Tomato Frog, and the Black Rain Frog. To which list we may now add the Tehran Warrior Frog.
But Iran’s economy is collapsing, and the Tehran Warrior Frog’s inflating of its lungs to scare away its enemies isn’t working. More on Iran’s economic degringolade can be found here: “Iran’s Deepening Water Crisis Threatens 35 Million as Economy Buckles Under US Pressure, Mounting Domestic Strain,” by Ailin Vilches Arguello, Algemeiner, May 11, 2026:
As talks with the United States over a possible deal to end the war remain uncertain, Iran’s economy is under mounting strain, with prolonged water shortages, pressure on energy infrastructure, and slowing industrial output deepening what authorities describe as an “economic war.”
With Iran entering the summer months amid a deepening water and electricity crisis, government officials estimate that around 35 million people will face water shortages, intensifying concerns over deteriorating living conditions, mounting economic strain, and daily hardship across the country….
“The Islamic Republic will be forced to impose electricity consumption restrictions for about 120 days, and given the lack of effective means for people to significantly reduce usage, this will result in widespread blackouts,” the Iranian official said in a statement.
Amid growing public frustration over the ongoing crisis, Majid Doustali, a member of Iran’s parliamentary planning and budget committee, called on citizens to cut back on electricity, water, and fuel consumption as part of the country’s resistance efforts in what he described as an “economic war.”
But Iranians have already been cutting back on electricity, water, and fuel consumption. There is nothing more to cut.
“Every effort by the public to save resources represents a direct challenge to the enemy’s economic conspiracy,” Doustali said….
Is the sixth year of drought the result of “the enemy’s economic conspiracy”? No, it is the result both of the hotter temperatures due to global warming, that cause evaporation of the water in Iran’s lakes, and of the leaks in the pipes that were put in decades ago and that the government, spending so much of its time and money on its nuclear program and ballistic missile manufacturing, has failed to replace. Some estimates suggest that Tehran, Iran’s capital, loses nearly one-third (approx. 30%) of its treated water through aging, defective pipes, leaks, and illegal connections, according to reports from late 2025. In Tehran, this equates to roughly 22% of drinking water lost annually, with about 11% stemming specifically from infrastructure failures. In addition, as of late 2025, over 19 major dams have nearly dried up, and Tehran’s water reserves dropped by almost half, leading to nightly water pressure cuts and rationing. Don’t blame the Great or the Little Satan. It’s an overheated Mother Nature that is to blame.
In order to remain in power, meanwhile, the regime in Tehran has cut off internet access. This means that Iranians can’t get any reliable reporting on the attacks from the U.S., Israel, or even the UAE and Saudi Arabia, or on local protests and their violent suppression. Instead, all their news comes from government television stations and newspapers. But shutting down the internet also has economic consequences: no more information can be easily accessed about goods for sale, or services offered; no access to stock market news around the globe, no access to the market price of commodities, or the latest values of Iranian currency, which has now sunk to a scarcely believable 1.8 million rials to the dollar, no convenient way to advertise, or apply for, jobs. Just imagine the economic consequences to you if the internet were to be shut down in the United States.
According to a CNN estimate, Iranians have spent roughly $1.8 billion on internet access over the past two months.
Not all of that money stays in Iran. Of the almost a billion dollars a month that Iranians are spending to get internet access, how much is going abroad for software to restore internet access?
Taffy says
The U.S. and/or Israel need to take out electricity substations and the various water works.
And, with such a water shortage, I would think that citizens are increasing water consumption by filling bathtubs and containers of every kind with water for the day when there is none.
Westman says
Due to government subsidy of fossil fuels the overwhelming majority of Iranian personal cars are ICE types with a very small percentage of hybrids. Though many foreign cars are assembled in Iran, over 76% of personal vehicles are of domestic design and production(with some engine design help from Germany).
The domestic production of an old obviously Soviet-designed car, the Paykan, ended in 2006. The newer Iranian+partners vehicles are attractive and modern.
Iran has been actively preventing the importation of electric vehicles because domestic car production is essentially owned by the state – shades of communism. The government cites the imperative of conserving foreign exchange reserves.
The limiting of electricity won’t stop transportation in Iran. Limiting domestic oil production could cause as much or more additional economic pressure as limiting electricity.
“Why Iran Refuses to Import Electric Vehicles” – https://www.iranintl.com/en/202404027632
Taffy says
But it would sure impact refrigeration and lighting and air conditioner
Kerry Lumpkin says
I totally disagree with Mr. Fitzpatrick’s assessment about global warming being one of the causes of Iran’s water shortage problem. I’ve seen ample evidence by credible scientists destroying the climate change myth. I do agree that the Iranian theocracy ignored spending money on infrastructure to improve the country’s water transport system. Also I would add that changing weather patterns contributed but I do not see that as global warming. In addition, it should be pointed out that the government chose not to spend money on desalinization plants. You’ll find such plants in every country bordering the Persian Gulf with the exception of Iran. If they’d built these plants to produce distilled water there would be no shortage.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
This point is tangential to the real issue facing Iranians: no real work on their economy can be made unless and until regime change happens
࿗Infidel࿘ says
I”m now starting to lose my patience w/ the Iranian people. When are they going to rise up against the regime? Same goes for the Pahlavi team: when are they going to signal their supporters to start an uprising?
Kerry Lumpkin says
I’m assuming you made a serious comment? First of all you probably know the Iranian people do not possess firearms of any sort, right? Whenever they take to the streets in mass protests the government sends out the IRGC who use their automatic weapons to mow down the protestors. Running weaponless into a hail of gunfire won’t overthrow the theocracy. It’ll only result in a lot more dead Iranians. And it’s not just the automatic weapons the protestors have to worry about. The IRGC deploys snipers also. You asked when are the Iranian people going to rise up against the regime? In case you missed it, they did so earlier this year with the result being anywhere from 30,000 to 42,000 dead depending upon the casualty reports you read. Would you engage a trained military enemy possessing superior firepower if you did not have any firearms? Molotovs can be effective but you must get close enough to use them without getting shot. Either we train and arm the Iranian civilians or we send in the Marines to finish the job we started. I’m a Marine and I would gladly pursue the latter couirse.
Ralph says
Semper Fi, Terry. Add another Marine to your list of supporters.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Kerry
At the start of this war, your points would have been valid. However, in the months following, the Israelis (in particular) have decimated the Basij and IRGC, blown up several “police stations” (aka torture chambers) in several cities, and reduced the islamic leadership to a pathetic state where they can’t agree on what they demand from the US. After the levels to which the IRGC has been decimated, it should be easier for the Iranian people to revolt and take out regime apparatus in their various cities and villages, just like they actually have in some places
The Iranian people are not gonna be liberated by either US or the Israelis. They have to do it themselves, and it won’t be completely bloodless, much as Reza Pahlavi may wish it. There has to be uprisings in most cities, and if there are, chances are that the Israelis will back them and help destroy any major advantage that the Basij forces have on them. But that push has to come from the Iranians, who now have far better chances of overpowering the islamic forces than they did in early January
The US and Israel can’t keep at this indefinitely – w/ Hormuz blocked, and global energy prices kept high. That regime has to be toppled, but it has to be done by Iranians themselves in order to look more legitimate than the ones installed in Afghanistan or Iraq. All this feinting about ceasefires and talks need to end, and the operations to take out all the instruments of power of the islamic regime need to resume. Yeah, the Israelis could do their bit (regime change is not a US objective as much as an Israeli one), but the primary responsibility of taking down the regime and ending this ordeal is still that of the Iranian people
Joe1 says
Why do people think global warming is real? Anyone who took a physics course in high school knows that the impact of CO2 on the Earth can calculated with Joseph Fourier’s heat transfer equation. This equation is 200 years old and is used hundreds (probably thousands) of times every day. It always gives the correct results; no one has ever showed that it was wrong. And the equations says that man-made CO2 cools the Earth by less than 1/1000th of degree F, because it is cooler in the shade.
Warming alarmists don’t use thermometers to measure the temperature, because thermometers didn’t give them the readings they needed. Instead, they now use infrared and a model. The model is tweaked every few months to give them the numbers they need. Besides that, measuring the temperature to check the heat transfer equation is ignorant practice, unless it is done to collect money.
John Jake says
I think Hugh needs to stay away from “climate change” concepts. Hugh, did you know that atmospheric CO2 concentrations were significantly higher in the early 19th century according to research done by Ernst Borg?
OLD GUY says
The big problem is the leadership of Iran don’t care or are effected by the failing economy as they have millions stashed away thanks to Obama. As we all should know the citizens of Iran are disposable.
JustJim says
You nailed it, Old guy!
gravenimage says
In Iran’s Economy, Everything Everywhere Is Falling Apart
……………………………………………………………
Sounds good to me…