Max Blumenthal

Trump’s war on Iran, Max says, was engineered by Israel-linked power brokers, not “America First” logic. The ceasefire was sabotaged in Lebanon, the MAGA coalition is cracking, and the entire Trump orbit looks captured by a foreign policy racketeering operation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal argues the U.S.-Iran “ceasefire” was a sham, greenlighted by the Trump administration while Israel sabotaged it by massacring civilians in Lebanon and dragging Washington deeper into war. He says Trump is being played by Netanyahu, the White House is lying about Lebanon, and Iran has actually emerged stronger through Hormuz leverage, diplomatic openings, and strategic endurance. The punchline: Washington looks weak, Israel calls the shots, and the empire keeps exposing itself. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Editor-in-chief of The Grayzone, Max Blumenthal, breaks down how Israel captured the Trump administration, why the US is now stuck in a war with Iran, and what it will take for Trump to finally pull back. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Vicente Garrido, Vice President of San Martin on Ecuador’s border with Colombia, speaks to The Grayzone’s Oscar Leon about the bombings of his community’s dairy farm by the Ecuadorian military.After US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claimed credit for destroying a “narco-terror” training camp, local Ecuadorian media exposed the truth: Ecuadorian soldiers had bombed a farm, then abducted and tortured locals to cover up the attack.The Grayzone places this incident in the context of a pattern of crimes throughout the US “war on drugs” in the region, starting with the False Positives Scandal in Colombia during the 1990’s, when US-trained Colombian soldiers massacred hundreds of leftist opponents and community leaders, then branded them as narco traffickers. Under President Daniel Noboa, a close US ally demonstrably implicated in the international narcotics trade, Ecuador is using the drug war as cover for the consolidation of a hyper-militarized state which brutalizes social movements and left-wing opposition parties while doing nothing of substance to stop the flow of drugs to the north. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

27 year old doctor Bisan Ahmed works at the surgery center of Gaza City’s Al-Shifa Hospital, which was severely damaged in a series of Israeli raids and bombings throughout the past two yearsAfter surviving the genocidal assault on Gaza, Bisan has borne witness to an Israeli crime that is so shocking it’s almost impossible to describe.She tells The Grayzone about the abuse by Israeli soldiers of an 18 month old child, Jawad Abu Nassar, who was allegedly tortured to force his father into a confession after both were abducted in the Maghazi refugee camp.Translation by Hekmat AboukhaterCamera/interview by Mohamed El-SaifeProduced by Max Blumenthal This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

The Grayzone’s Wyatt Reed says major questions remain about “Ashab Al-Yamin,” a previously unknown group which is now blamed for a series of supposedly antisemitic attacks across Europe.Why aren’t they targeting countries most involved in the Iran war?Why are suspects being released on bail?And why do they seem to communicate like Israelis?Read the article here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

The Grayzone’s Oscar Leon interviews the community leader who exposed the lie behind an Ecuadorian military assault which the US Department of War claimed had targeted a drug trafficking “terrorist” training camp.Don Vicente was threatened with brutal retaliation for his testimony that the military had attacked a dairy farm and viciously abused local farmers. The incident exposes how the phony “War on Drugs” of the Trump administration has transformed into a war on poor people. Meanwhile, the real culprits enjoy wealth and protection in government offices, banks, and luxury residential developments. Watch the full report here This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal responds to wildly mendacious smears by Glenn Beck and Laura Loomer seeking to link him to Joe Kent’s dramatic resignation, and explains why Kent’s courageous stand is the beginning of the end for a Trump administration fully under the sway of Netanyahu’s Israel. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal explains to Chris Hedges how Zionist actors in the U.S. and Israel waged a psychological warfare campaign that targeted Trump to drive him into war with Iran. To do so, Blumenthal says, they exploited a deep feeling of paranoia in Trump — and convinced him that the Iranians sought to assassinate him. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate cover the dramatic resignation of Joe Kent from the Trump administration over the disastrous course of the US-Israeli war on Iran, and discuss the escalation of the war as it engulfs the region - and Trump’s presidency. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Joe Kent has resigned from the Trump administration over its failing regime change war on Iran In 2022, Kent recalled to The Grayzone’s Anya Parampil how his wife was killed after pro-war elements sabotaged a Syria withdrawal plan.The traumatic event brought him in touch with Trump, who angrily denounced him today.Watch Anya Parampil‘s full 2022 interview here, conducted in the midst of the Ukraine proxy war. At the time, Kent was a congressional candidate running against pro-war Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp-Perez. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Danny Shaw, a scholar of Latin American and Caribbean studies and longtime supporter of the Cuban revolution, documents harrowing conditions across Cuba following the Trump administration's imposition of a blockade on fuel to the island. A humanitarian crisis has been manufactured by Washington to unravel the last vestiges of Cuba's revolutionary structure.Traveling from Holguin to Banes to Santiago this February, Shaw finds a population increasingly deprived of nutrition, with dwindling transportation options as gas runs low, schools are shuttered, and surging inflation makes life unaffordable. The US embargo has hollowed out once-thriving areas, pushing young people to migrate. Shaw explains how concessions imposed on the Cuban government have created a new class of crypto-capitalists which forms an economic bridge to Miami, and a base for Trump's promised "takeover" of the country. After spending weeks among average Cuban people throughout the humanitarian crisis imposed by Washington, Shaw delivers an unflinching chronicle of their painful experience under siege. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

International relations scholar John Mearsheimer joins The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal to discuss the 20th anniversary of his groundbreaking book with Stephen Walt, “The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy.” The discussion takes place against the backdrop of a US war on Iran which appears to have vindicated the Israel Lobby’s thesis. Blumenthal will also be joined by Aaron Mate to discuss the US-Israeli war on Iran and it sends the global economy spiraling into disaster and Trump struggles to explain the war’s objectives to an increasingly angry American public. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal addresses challenges from host Mario Nawfal about the US-Israeli war on Iran, explaining how Iran currently holds the economic cards. In a war that began as a regime change attempt, Max outlines how Iran has turned the tables, forcing the US to fight for its very presence in the region, which Trump faces political ruin at home. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

The Grayzone’s Kei Pritsker spoke to Iranian monarchists in Los Angeles on March 8, 2026 The diaspora demonstrators said that bombing of a girls school in Iran was worth it as long as the Iranian government was overthrown, and urged Trump to authorize a ground invasion of Iran. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Setareh Sadeqi, assistant professor of World Studies at the University of Tehran, speaks to The Grayzone's Max Blumenthal from Isfahan, Iran as her country defends itself against a vicious combined assault by the US and Israeli militaries. Sadeqi addresses the teachings and legacies of the late Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and explains how his assassination has galvanized the Shia masses and united Iran in a battle for its national integrity. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal goes on Judging Freedom and basically rips the mask off Trump’s Iran adventure as an MEK–Netanyahu–Epstein production, run through a bought Pentagon and a captive Senate. He walks Judge Napolitano through his confrontation with MEK‑payrolled General Jack Keane gloating that sanctions are “choking” Iranians, then shows how Netanyahu, Adelson cash and a network of Israel‑aligned handlers rewired Trump from “anti–regime change” candidate into the president who literally opened the gates of hell by killing the Ayatollah. What D.C. is selling as smart power, Blumenthal frames as a delusional Vietnam‑style project for Israel and the Epstein class, with Kurds as Trojan horse and U.S. troops as expendable cannon fodder. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

“Like puppets on a string.”Marco Rubio exposed what everyone already knew: Trump bombed Iran for Israel.The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal explains the Israeli infiltration of the Trump admin in three minutes. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal is joined by analyst Ali Alizadeh to discuss the US-Israeli war imposed on Iran, the state of Iranian society and politics after the assassination of the country’s Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the existential nature of the regional conflict for Iran. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal tells Judge Napolitano we’re watching the 1970s CIA terror playbook and the 2003 Iraq WMD hoax rebooted to serve the Greater Israel project. He links a Miami gusano speedboat raid on Cuba and past Bay of Piglets ops to today’s oil‑embargo siege warfare and regime‑change schemes from Venezuela to Tehran. In the Middle East, he says Tucker Carlson’s demolition of Christian Zionist crank Mike Huckabee briefly blew up the sales pitch for an Iran war that only Israel actually wants. Behind Trump’s “diplomacy,” Blumenthal sees Zionist oligarch capture and a plan to use U.S. troops as trip‑wire corpses so a wildly unpopular regional, possibly nuclear, war can be sold as revenge. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal joins Dialogue Works to expose how the National Endowment for Democracy quietly turned Iran’s June riots into a Pentagon talking point, boasting in open session of deploying 200 covert Starlink terminals and partnering with monarchist networks to inflate the death toll into a pretext for war. He traces how this “private CIA” infrastructure, combined with crushing U.S. sanctions, trapped Trump into promising “help is on the way,” then green‑lighting a massive carrier buildup that left him effectively subcontracted to Netanyahu and a small clique of Zionist billionaires and fixers like Kushner and Witkoff. From there, Blumenthal walks through the bigger picture: an Iran that has reached near military parity with Israel through indigenous missiles and drones, Pentagon brass quietly warning the war is unwinnable, Arab vassal states jolted by Mike Huckabee’s on‑air Greater Israel fantasies, and a Trump family that now believes it’s at the mercy of the same oligarchic “they” driving the region toward a long, possibly nuclear, Greater Israel war. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal joins George Galloway on MOATS to lay out how Netanyahu’s rented American president has been handed a war calendar written in Tel Aviv, with a fake 10‑day “diplomacy” window timed to Purim and Ramadan and backed by the biggest U.S. naval build‑up since Iraq. He argues that Trump is no longer making Iran policy at all, having ceded the wheel to Likudnik neocons, Adelson money, and an Epstein‑class oligarchy that needs regime change in Tehran to preserve Israel’s fading military edge—and that his own brush with an armed intruder at Mar‑a‑Lago now makes him fear what defying “Greater Israel” might mean for his personal safety. Blumenthal hails Tucker Carlson’s evisceration of Christian Zionist ambassador Mike Huckabee—who on camera endorsed a biblical land‑grab from the Nile to the Euphrates—as a rare act of real journalism that embarrassed Arab vassal states and briefly complicated the rush to war, while both U.S. parties, from Schumer to AOC’s regime‑change “left,” quietly enable Trump’s escalations. In the background, he says, sits the deeper architecture of state capture: AIPAC‑manufactured careers, Susie Wiles literally moving from advising Netanyahu to gatekeeping the White House, Epstein’s network of Rothschilds, bankers and tech billionaires, and figures like Howard Lutnick and Eric Trump cashing in on tariffs, crypto, and Israeli drones—what Blumenthal calls the “conspiracy theory of late‑stage capitalism,” a system run not by democracy but by a cartel of zionist oligarchs marching us toward a regional, possibly nuclear, war. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

“The Iranians are not going to wait until the bombs start exploding. As soon as they’re convinced that something is happening, then they’re going to go all-out.”Professor Mohammad Marandi tells Max Blumenthal that Tehran won’t strike first, citing Iranians’ widely-shared religious beliefs prohibiting unprovoked aggression. But he warns that if they’re attacked, Iranian retaliation will be immediate — and worse than “Vietnam, Iraq, and all the other US wars together.” This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Professor Mohammad Marandi of the University of Tehran joins The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal to discuss the looming US-Israeli regime change war on Iran and how his country will respond, both militarily and politically. Marandi forecasts economically devastating consequences, with an energy crisis brought on by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the possible collapse of Gulf family monarchies, and a militarily unmanageable environment for the Trump administration. While Trump reportedly considers a series of “symbolic” strikes to weaken Iran’s negotiating hand, Marandi argues that Iran has no choice but to respond with maximum force. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal tells Judge Napolitano that Trump’s “negotiations” with Iran are a sham fronted by Kushner and other Chabad-aligned Zionist ideologues, while over a third of U.S. naval power massed near Iran and an impossible 10‑day deadline lock Washington into Netanyahu’s war timetable. He details how Epstein-linked financier Mark Rowan and Tony Blair’s UAE- and Oracle-backed network are using the UN‑blessed Gaza Reconstruction Fund and Trump’s Board of Peace to financialize a still-bombed Gaza into a biometric concentration camp policed by “international” vassal troops, even as Israel repeatedly violates the ceasefire. Blumenthal discusses the detention and interrogation of Tucker Carlson and his producer at the airport in Tel Aviv. Blumenthal warns that Ted Cruz’s dream of simultaneous regime change in Iran, Venezuela, and Cuba serves the same Epstein–gusano class seeking to crush remaining independent states under a permanent U.S.–Israeli war economy. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate discuss the follies of the Munich Security Conference, where a bipartisan cast of US leaders, European officials and a Clown Prince clamored for war from Iran to Ukraine, while AOC launched a campaign for... something. They will also cover the Trump-manufactured humanitarian crisis in Cuba, the passing of Rev. Jesse Jackson, and more. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

By Kei PritskerI’m sure a lot of you saw the Ring Super Bowl commercial where they showed how Amazon’s Ring cameras surveil entire neighborhoods through a feature called Search Party. The feature allows users to upload an image of something and then all of the Ring cameras in its proximity comb through their own footage to see if that thing passed in front of them. The ad used the example of a user using Search Party to find a missing dog.Critical observers were quick to point out that this could easily be used to spy on everyone, but it’s not just Ring that’s spying on you. Here are some common consumer items that you might not have realized are watching you right now.Your TV. Modern TVs have something in the terms of service called Automatic Content Recognition, which basically means that your TV records everything you play on it, whether it’s Netflix, Youtube, video games or even something you watched by connecting your laptop. And disconnecting your TV from the internet doesn’t stop this. Just last month, major TV manufacturers were sued in Texas for screenshotting users' TVs every 500 milliseconds.Your car. New cars monitor everything from your location, how fast you drive, how hard you brake, but also things like your race, weight, health, taste in music, sexual activity and trade union membership. The HALT Drunk Driving Act mandates that by 2026, all new cars have to have a mechanism that automatically turns a car off if it deems someone unfit to drive.Your router. Xfinity recently announced its Wifi motion feature which monitors the signal strength between the router and its connected devices like printers, phones or game consoles. If someone walks between the router and the device, the router will be able to see the signal being disrupted, effectively turning it into a motion tracker. Several ISPs are rolling out similar features and marketing them as home security tools.Smart watches. Smart watches can be used to track your personal health like counting calories or monitoring your heart rate but that information can just as easily be used to create a detailed map of your life. It reveals when you eat, when you sleep, when you’re nervous, when you’re lying, where you were, if you were on drugs, etc. Smart watch data has already been used as evidence in criminal cases.AI assistants. Tech companies are in a race to give their AI chat bots the power to execute real world tasks like sending emails, creating to-do lists, shopping, or planning vacations. The only catch is if you want it to shop, you have to give it your credit card information. If you want it to clean up your desktop, you have to give it access to your hard drive. AI assistant Clawdbot went viral after naive users installed it only to have their assistants taken over by hackers.The point is the Orwellian total surveillance regime isn’t going to be announced one day in a presidential address, it’s already quietly being set up in our homes at our request, with our quiet consent, and under the guise of convenience and security. The average American has 17 smart devices in their home and many companies already have cooperation agreements with law enforcement. All it would take is a catalyzing security event for this infrastructure to be weaponized against us.It’s a sobering reminder that while we fight over Super Bowl Halftime Shows or Democrats vs. Republicans, we will all be seen as equals by the national security state. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal joined Judge Napolitano to expose what’s really happening in Washington. Netanyahu is in DC to tank Iran talks and drag Trump into a regional war—and Murdoch media is flooding the zone with Ziocons like Nikki Haley to push him over the edge. Trump sends carriers, Rubio pulls strings, and the sane voices are locked out.Meanwhile, Venezuela’s acting president is being blackmailed with secret indictments while the Trump admin smiles and steals her country’s oil. Cuba is under a genocidal siege—no fuel, children dying—and Rubio won’t even acknowledge their government exists. Russia and China are watching. The US has no diplomacy, only extortion. This isn’t foreign policy. It’s organized crime with aircraft carriers. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal shreds Jared Kushner’s Davos “master plan” for Gaza—a biometric concentration camp with sweatshops for orphans, coastal resorts for elites, and Israeli-controlled power, all under Trump’s unelected son-in-law and enabled by Putin’s $1B “Board of Peace” buy-in with Tony Blair and Larry Ellison. He exposes Starlink as a U.S. hybrid warfare tool for Iranian riots—neutralized by Russian tech—while Mossad hijacks Black comedian Desi Banks’ ads to recruit Tehran spies, and PayPal axes Grayzone amid Paul Mason’s MI6-tied blacklist crusade. Blumenthal recounts thriving Iranian Jewish life amid Netanyahu’s decapitation dreams, debunks Shah fantasies, and reveals Maduro’s ouster via experimental weapons paving Chavista capitulation under Delcy Rodríguez.0:00 Opening And Guest Introduction1:55 Davos And The Gaza “Master Plan”7:45 Investors, Data Centers, And Surveillance12:40 Borders, Rafah, And Population Shifts18:00 Media Capture And The CBS Controversy24:30 Iran War Talk And U.S. Calculus31:00 Starlink, Blackouts, And Protest Tactics36:30 Inside Iran: Jewish Community And Daily Life43:20 Exile Politics And Regime Change Fantasies49:00 Mossad Ads, Influencers, And Online Ops56:10 UK Media, Blacklists, And Lawfare1:04:30 Venezuela: Sanctions, Strikes, And Strategy This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Max Blumenthal is joined by Kit Klarenberg to break down the massive new Epstein file dump, and to discuss the scandal surrounding UK Labour peer Peter Mandelson which threatens to bring down Keir Starmer’s government. They will also cover US-Iran negotiations, new developments in Venezuela, and more. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

Christian Parenti joins The Grayzone’s Max Blumenthal to discuss the revolutionary life and legacy of his father, the dissident political scientist Michael Parenti, who died on January 24, 2026 at age 92. Christian details how his father emerged from a working class family in East Harlem to become one of the country’s most outspoken Marxists, unapologetically defending socialist states across the globe while facing professional blacklisting and CIA surveillance. He surveys Michael Parenti’s major works, from “Democracy for the Few” to his groundbreaking study of corporate media, “Inventing Reality,” along with “To Kill A Nation,” which dismantled the Western propaganda deployed to justify NATO’s destruction of Yugoslavia. They also discuss his clash with fellow leftists Noam Chomsky and Alexander Cockburn, who glibly dismissed theories about a US intelligence role in JFK’s assassination.While Michael Parenti aggressively defied the anti-communist liberal consensus, Christian argues that his father was also a pragmatist who welcomed democratic reforms within his own society. His accessible writing, charismatic speaking style and sense of humor have earned him a committed following that will endure for generations. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe

"Many of us who analyze these files are called conspiracy theorists," but "the system that controls us, capitalism, is fundamentally a conspiracy among elites,” argues Blumenthal. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thegrayzone.substack.com/subscribe