Host: To begin, I suggest we comment on the statements and ultimatums issued by the U

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Host: To begin, I suggest we comment on the statements and ultimatums issued by the U.S. president, directed both at Iran and at other countries in the region. On the one hand, Donald Trump is demanding that Tehran immediately reopen the Strait of Hormuz, threatening otherwise to launch massive strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure—he has already said he would begin with the largest power plants.

On the other hand, reports indicate that Trump has also approached the Arab monarchies of the Persian Gulf. According to journalists, he has presented them with an unprecedented financial demand—amounting to trillions of dollars—for the continued presence of U.S. forces. This is happening in regions densely packed with American bases, where local rulers have long relied on U.S. protection for their security.

How do you assess this moment: is it outright geopolitical blackmail, or an attempt by Trump to fundamentally rewrite the rules of the game in the Middle East?

Alexander Dugin: It seems to me that in this war—one that is teetering on the edge of becoming a Third World War—we still do not fully understand whether it has already begun or is only approaching. Perhaps these developments can still be delayed, if not entirely avoided.

In this war—and we should be careful with definitions—everything is tightly bound up with discourse, with what is being said. The words of the United States, Israel, Iran, and the Gulf states are increasingly diverging from what is actually happening on the ground and from the decisions being made in practice. This war is unfolding simultaneously on two planes: the realm of narrative and the realm of fact. And the two are becoming inseparably entangled.

Classical propaganda used to glorify one’s own side and discredit the enemy—exaggerating their losses while downplaying one’s own failures. But what we are seeing now is different. In the past, reality existed independently, and propaganda merely tried to dress it up. Let me remind you: stories about “gas chambers” in Germany already circulated during the First World War—states have always accused one another of atrocities. But today’s war differs in that the balance has shifted dramatically toward narrative.

Trump’s posts on Truth Social, his public statements, and the Iranian response videos are no longer mere propaganda. The Iranians, for example, are producing highly effective content using artificial intelligence—entire visual narratives showing Iran crushing its enemies.

Fragments of real events are woven into this exchange of virtual strikes, making it nearly impossible to separate one from the other. Why, in several videos, did Netanyahu appear to have six fingers? Immediately, rumors spread that he had died and that what we were seeing was a simulacrum. Then a “real” Netanyahu appears against a backdrop of ruins—but whose ruins are they? Once again, the question arises: is this real or generated?

The same applies to the exchange of ultimatums: this is a war of narratives. Trump demands that the Strait of Hormuz be opened, and Iran responds: “There is a war underway, you have killed our leadership, the strait is under our control, and we will do as we please.” If they wish, they can sever undersea internet cables; if they wish, they can block tanker traffic or strike desalination facilities.

Do not forget: the Arabian Peninsula, aside from southern Yemen, is essentially a vast desert. Life there—including in Israel—depends on desalinated seawater, and Iran has every capability to bring that system to a halt. Tehran tells the Americans: “Leave. Abandon your bases. Pay us a trillion dollars. Take your Israel with you so that this misunderstanding ceases to exist.” Trump, in response, threatens to send ground forces, deploy a massive fleet, and force the strait open.