Larry Johnson put it in terms that stopped me.
Seven days of commemorations, representatives from over 100 countries, Medvedev, senior Chinese and Indian delegations, and crowds expected to break the record Iran already holds from Khomeini's 1989 burial.
Nothing in the 20th or 21st century compares, he said, and it lands on July 4 of all days.
Against that backdrop, the war machinery is moving the other way. B-52s reportedly left RAF Fairford for home, and F-15s returned to the UK from Jordan still wearing their Iran-strike mission markings.
Larry called it five days ago: the planning cells are on banker's hours, and the loud USS Boxer announcement was a shiny object, a ship that left San Diego in MARCH being sold as fresh muscle.
One claim he passed along from a source in Doha, unconfirmed but striking if true: the Iranian delegation never actually showed up to the last round of talks.
His warning for the week ahead was blunt.
After watching Iran answer every escalation with a bigger one, he believes a strike on this funeral wouldn't end in a measured exchange.
It would end with every Israeli military base unusable.
@NewSonof
