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Title: August 9, 2025

GRAY ZONE – SPECIAL WEEKEND BRIEF 9 AUGUST 2025

IRAN, JIHAD, EUROPE & THE GLOBAL THREAT PICTURE

• Iran's regime is built on the belief that it must export its revolutionary Islamist vision, overthrow secular governments, and unify the Muslim world under a single Shiite Islamist state. This project is its purpose. It is what gives the Islamic Republic of Iran its identity. Its constitution enshrines that vision, and its institutions — from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps to its intelligence services — are structured around advancing this goal.

• A regime built on these foundations does not abandon its mission when it suffers setbacks. It adapts, regroups and strikes again when the world is distracted or divided. It is important not misread its current weakness as evidence of defeat.

• The same can be said for al-Qaeda, Daesh/ISIS, the Taliban, and every other Jihadist, Islamic Extremist group in the world. Islamic doctrine dictates that there will only be peace when the entire world has submitted to Islam. That’s a fact no matter how you slice it, skew it, view it, or niceify it.

• This danger is not limited to the Middle East. It is now reaching deep into Europe and North America. Recently, the United States, joined by thirteen NATO members and Austria, issued a joint statement accusing Iran of carrying out a growing number of plots on Western soil.... The goal is clear: to silence critics, spread fear and expand Iran's ability to operate with impunity on foreign soil.

• For over a year, some of the best and brightest .gov, former GWOT Special Forces Operators & OSINT Analysts from the U.S., the UK, Israel and other countries — as well as a handful of assets in Afghanistan have been warning us about the highly likely threat of embassy attacks, aircraft attacks, Oct. 7th style attacks in multiple cities in the U.S. and in Europe.

• Iran, al-Qaeda, DAESH/ISIS, the Taliban — are not normal countries acting in pursuit of their people's national interest. They are Jihadists and fundamentalist theocratic regimes committed to conquest. It thrives on conflict. Every dollar that flows into their coffers is a dollar that funds terrorism. Every embassy, madrassa and mosque, they maintain at home and abroad are potential command posts for espionage and assassination.

Every day the West relaxes its vigilance and focuses on ending the Russo/Ukraine war and pivoting hard to China — is a day these entities uses to regroup and retaliate. That is why the international community must stay alert, united and focused — not just on holding Iran, the Taliban, the Islamic Brotherhood, the Muslim Brotherhood and all the other Islamic Extremist groups to account for past behavior, but on thwarting its future plots.

• Iran Syria, Iraq, Hezbollah and the Taliban must not be allowed to rearm and rebuild. al-Qaeda, Daesh/ISIS must not be allowed to continue campaigns of terror. This objective means keeping "maximum pressure" in place. It means cutting off Iran's oil exports, cutting off funding to the Taliban, etc. It means denying it access to the global economy. It means shutting down their resources, operations and diplomatic outposts, which serve as centers of espionage. It means reimposing UN and economic sanctions and enforcing them without compromise. It means smashing terror training camps, weapons stockpiles and caches.

It means targeting leadership and neutralizing them — without occupying and profiting.

• The world cannot afford another mirage of Iranian or Islamic "reform" or "moderation." Iran is rebuilding its war machine. al-Qaeda and Daesh/ISIS are doing the same. The mission to stop them must continue, relentlessly and without apology. How long will it be and how much blood has to be shed before we realize that we are not just going to be fighting them over there again, but are already fightjng them here in the homeland.

No other analyst I know, including myself are going to get any joy out of being right — after terrorism or horrorism attacks.

The only way this Intel has any value at all is exactly what Scott Mann wrote that communities can do in the last chapter of his book the Gathering Storm.

Get together, find veterans and first responders in your community and train in comms, medical and self defense. Get physically fit to the best of your ability and network with others to build resilient communities that are competent and capable of responding and recovering to any natural disaster or man made crises. Get C.E.R.T./FEMA training. Get FA/CPR and stop the bleed certified.

Time is our friend - until we run out of it.

Pray.

Train.

Stay informed.

Build resilient communities.

— END REPORT