Just before sunset on 05JAN2026 (Iran time) the giant Kalleh Dairy operation blew up! Some sources report several explosions were heard. As I write this most of the factory is still on fire and evacuations for everybody within a one kilometer radius are taking place.
This Kalleh Dairy is located in Amol City, Amol County, Mazandaran province. Video via Fars News:
Speculators (which include some Iranian government officials) have suggested a construction/welding accident caused a fire which caused an explosion, or it was sabotage by protestors or even a military strike (it is part of the U.S./Israeli military policy to target such places as they are considered ‘dual use’ facilities).
When the Spanish explorers set foot in a place now called Venezuela they noticed that the natives were using a tarry substance, it seemed to be everywhere. Today, it’s known as heavy crude oil.
By 1928, U.S. oil companies had surpassed the operations of European oil companies in Venezuela. Despite a lot of naysayers claiming that nobody wants to control Venezuela’s expensive to refine heavy crude oil, the oil refineries in the United States were developed specifically to handle that type of oil. The Second World War, followed by the sales boom of personal automobiles in the U.S., drove the U.S. even deeper into developing the world’s largest heavy crude oil reserves, in Venezuela.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) oil map of Venezuela, dated May 1947 (note that this is several months before the official creation of the CIA).
C-SPAN has a promotional film about Creole Petroleum Corporation, showing the history of its development in Venezuela and what it argues are the many benefits to the oil-rich country, such as health care, education, and infrastructure: Click here to view People and Petroleum, the Story of Creole in Venezuela.
Oil & gas operations in Venezuela, as of 1954.
In 1950, Venezuela was the fourth most prosperous country in the world, with an average income of about $7-thousand-5-hundred with only Switzerland, New Zealand, and the U.S. doing better. Owned by Standard Oil Company (New Jersey) at the time, Creole dissolved when Venezuela nationalized its oil industry in the 1970s.
The United Kingdom’s Sky News explainer, posted on 11DEC2025, showing that the U.S. is after Venezuela’s heavy crude oil, then at the very end of report hints that Russia is next:
A member of the Iowa National Guard signs a GBU-31, target Syria, 18DEC2025, non-disclosed location in Southwest Asia.
U.S. and Jordanian forces launched large-scale strikes (using more than 1-hundred munitions) on more than 70 targets belonging to the so-called ‘Islamic State In Syria’. This in response to recent ISIS attacks upon so-called ‘War on Terror’ coalition forces.
Idaho based (Mountain Home AFB) ‘Bold Tigers’ F-15E Strike Eagle gets bombed-up for Syria, 18DEC2025, non-disclosed location.
AH-64 Apache bombed-up with Hellfire missiles, 19DEC2025, non-disclosed location.
A-10C Thunderbolt-2 ‘Toad’, 19DEC2025, non-disclosed location in Southwest Asia.
I edited together videos released by U.S. Central Command on 19DEC2025:
HiMARS = High Mobility Artillery Rocket System
HiMARS belonging to Florida Army National Guard’s 164th Air Defense Artillery Brigade-3rd Battalion-116th Field Artillery Regiment, in a non-disclosed location in Southwest Asia.
Kansas Army National Guard’s 130th Field Artillery Brigade watches from a command center in a non-disclosed location in Southwest Asia.
HiMARS video released on 22DEC2025:
U.S. Department of State video from 23SEP2025, New York City, Secretary of State Marco A. Rubio meets with Syrian President, and former ISIS commander, Ahmed al-Sharaa:
Notice the anti-drone cage, and the remote controlled machine gun on the rear of the command post.
“The improved KOT1 V2 command post armored vehicle receives orders from the observation post, processes them and, in a split second, forwards them to the self-propelled howitzer, which, in a short time, computes firing data and is ready for all fire missions.”-Sergeant Major Mladen Miletić, Command Sergeant Major of the 23rd Self-Propelled Howitzer Artillery Battalion
Externally the ‘M21’ Gvozdika looks like any other Gvozdika.
Serbia spent the past few years upgrading their 2S1 self-propelled 122 millimeter (122mm) artillery system with the latest digital targeting and communications electronics.
U.S. Army vehicle I-D training image from the Cold War.
During the Cold War, NATO referred to the 2S1 as the ‘M-1974 SAU-122’. The ‘M-1974’ refers to when NATO observers first noticed the SPG (Self-Propelled Gun), during a July 1974 parade in Warsaw, Poland. The SAU-122 refers to the diameter of the gun bore.
Side note; both NATO and former East Bloc countries call the 122mm gun a ‘howitzer’. Technically this is incorrect as howitzer refers to short tubed, easily transportable by infantry, artillery guns. Guns that had barrels which were much shorter than that of the old Soviet 122mm.
NATO-Germany just passed a law that says if their military fails to recruit 80-thousand men per year then ‘needs-based conscription’ (the draft) will be implemented. It is known as a ‘dual track system’, meaning if you don’t voluntarily join you will be forced into the military. Apparently this new law is because NATO-Germany is having problems achieving the number of personnel required by its NATO membership. Interesting that in this western-woke country they did not include women in their new law.
U.S. World War Two era M101 105-millimeter (105mm) ‘howitzer’ (short gun tube [barrel] artillery) still in use by Philippines.
I edited together several videos via U.S. Marine Corps, recorded during the October 2019 KAMANDAG wargame. KAMANDAG is an acronym for the Filipino phrase Kaagapay Ng Mga Mandirigma Ng Dagat, which translates to Cooperation of Warriors of the Sea:
The United States’ military still uses the M101 for ceremonies.
New Jersey Army National Guard’s M101 howitzer during Memorial Day celebrations.
U.S. Marine Corps M101 during change of command ceremony on Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.
Both the U.S. M101 and Soviet ZiS-3 were used by various countries during the Cold War (approximately 1947 to 1991).
The ZiS-3 (76-мм дивизионная пушка обр. 1942 г. [ЗиС-3]) is considered to be a ‘divisional/regimental’ or ‘field’ gun for use by front line troops, due to its relatively small projectile and short range (compared to larger artillery).
Some ‘official’ sources say the ZiS-3 was in combat use by militaries around the world until 1990 (end of the Cold War). However, the above photo shows a Serb ZiS-3, supposedly used during the war in the former Yugoslavia, being inspected by U.S. Soldiers in Zvornik, Serbia, in 1996.
The ZiS-3 (aka M1942) was so good that the invading Germans captured them for their own use against the Soviets!
The WW2 (Great Patriotic War) era Soviet 76.2mm artillery gun is still being used by Serbia for ceremonial purposes. I edited this from several Serbian Armed Forces videos, recorded from the 14FEB2025 Serbian Statehood Day, and the 11NOV2024 Armistice Day (Veterans Day in the United States), ceremonies:
The word howitzer refers to a short tubed artillery piece, the M109 obviously does not qualify as a ‘howitzer’!
Definitely not a short ‘tubed’ gun.
Gunners of the 2nd Battalion-222nd Field Artillery Regiment, Utah Army National Guard, and with 214 (Worcestershire) Battery-104th Regiment Royal Artillery from United Kingdom, joined forces during wargame Northern Strike in Grayling, Michigan, during the month of August 2025.
I edited together videos via Sergeant Brayden Stephan and Staff Sergeant Daniel Garas:
Approximately 7-thousand-5-hundred military personnel participated in the multinational wargame.
Naderi Pomegranate harvest time in Badroud, Isfahan Province, early November 2025. The Naderi is considered to be among the top five most popular varieties of pomegranates in Iran. Video via Fars News, 08NOV2025:
If sanctions on Iran are so punishing why is Iran cracking down on people smuggling household products into Iran? On 30OCT2025, officials in Afghanistan agreed to work with Iran in reducing smuggling of commercial items into Iran. One of the first steps is that Afghan official say they will replace missing border markers and update existing border signs. This video report (released 09NOV2025) is ostensibly about ‘respecting the authority’ of the border police in Kerman Province. It is clear that this is about people who were arrested trying to smuggle products, everything from big-rig trucks, cars, computers, motorcycles, stereos, kitchen appliances to guns, into Iran:
Pardis is a city in Pardis County, Tehran Province, Iran. Pardis County is experiencing exponential growth, economic and population, and as a result healthcare services have been struggling to keep up. In September, a new helicopter landing pad was unveiled. It is being used to bring critical patients to the Pardis hospital. Officials admitted there have been delays but did not elaborate. The life-flight helicopter is based on the Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm/Kawasaki BK-117 developed during the Cold War. Modern versions are also known as Eurocopter EC145, and Airbus Helicopters H145. Video report via Fars News Agency, 16SEP2025:
New hi-tech passenger car for train on the Bandar Abbas to Mashhad and Tehran route. Each hi-tech car holds 40 people and the service runs once per week, for religious pilgrimages. Video published 16SEP2025:
Iranian wildlife caught on camera, eastern Hormozgan Province. Video via Morteza Aryanejad, posted 14SEP2025:
In February 2025, during wargame Zolfaqar 1403 (conducted along Iran’s Gulf of Oman/Indian Ocean Makran coastline), Iran’s new Russian designed Yakovlev 130 (Yak-130) successfully shot down a target drone with a heat seeking missile. I added music to this PressTV video:
Megalithic Shahr Yeri/Shahar Yeri, Ardabil, Iran, an 8-thousand year old Kurgan cemetery? The Farsi narration audio, in this Fars News Agency video report, is being overpowered by the music soundtrack:
