The Head of the Snake Speaks

Podcast: Download

Subscribe: RSS | More

Darrell Castle talks about the September 29, 2026 26-page letter written to the American people by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC). The title of this Castle Report comes from the neocon description of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the head of the snake.

Transcription / Notes

THE HEAD OF THE SNAKE SPEAKS

Hello, this is Darrell Castle with today’s Castle Report. This is Friday the 2^nd day of October in the year of our Lord 2026. My beat once again is war, more or less because I will be talking about a 26-page letter written to the American people by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) and delivered on September 29. The title of this Castle Report comes from the neocon description of the Islamic Republic of Iran as the head of the snake.

People have wondered during this entire war if the US is fighting the Mullahs or the Iranian military and those who command it and this letter seems to answer that question. It also is an effort to take the Iranian case to the American people in order to influence the upcoming Mid-Terms. To me this letter is a sign of perceived weakness, division, and disorder. It appeals to logic in an effort to influence an already divided and anti-Israel mood in the American public.

I took the time to read the entire 26 pages which is no small task because in reading it one gets the feeling that it is much longer than 26 pages. I don’t mean to imply that the letter is silly or not well written because it certainly is well written and it contains much truth. In an effort to indicate that we are all just people who should be getting along it starts by

“Saluting the noble souls of God’s greatest prophets—Noah, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad, may His peace and blessings be upon them all.”

The real point of the letter could be summed up in one sentence; “Americans can live peacefully with Iran if they separate themselves from the Israeli regime.” When I say the letter appeals to logic and fairness I am thinking as well of the recent Iranian address to the General Assembly of the United Nations in New York City. His remarks were given to the Assembly and the world with the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu sitting there as well.

He talked about the American demand that Iran surrender all its nuclear material and give up its desire to be a nuclear armed country and to permit international inspections to ensure compliance. He pointed out that Israel has nuclear weapons, atomic bombs, he called them, and everyone knows that. There are no international discussions of Israel’s nuclear program and no demands that they surrender their nuclear material. International inspections of Israel would never be allowed or even discussed.

That statement is so obviously true that I don’t see how anyone can argue with it. Whether you think Iran contains a far more dangerous people than Israelis is another matter. He just presented it as a logical argument of a double standard. Well, let’s take a look at what the letter actually said about what is happening and what is possible.

The IRGC in this letter directly addresses American citizens, students, academics and journalists, giving its view of the war, decades of US-Iran hostility and what it advises Americans to do next. In other words, the writer is addressing the people in America he believes to be most likely moved to his view by his words of persuasion.

The IRGC claims victory in the war and argues that the U.S. and Israel failed to achieve their objectives despite vastly greater military spending. It directs the reader to Iran’s control of the Strait of Hormuz, continued weapons production, national unity and damage inflicted on U.S. bases in the region. It’s hard to argue that the statement is anything other than true.

Once again, as in Vietnam, the U.S. military finds itself in a war essentially against China and Russia. Those countries supplied virtually all the anti-air missiles and weapons to the Vietnamese and North Korean armies; therefore, we Americans are fighting them and the Iranians supply the cannon fodder for the proxy battle. Same song, second verse or when will we ever learn. That’s unless it’s all part of some diabolical plan of course.

I agree with the writer that the Strait of Hormuz is the determining factor in who wins this war. Could this be the Suez moment for the American empire referencing back to 1956 when President Eisenhower ordered the British out of the Sinai and Suez and told them if they did not comply he would destroy their financial system. That was the end of the British Empire and the establishment of America as the dominant force in the world. Then, in 1971 President Nixon cut the dollar loose from any restraint and started a long descent into debt penury.

If Iran emerges from this war with the ability to decide who passes through the Gulf, under what conditions, and at what cost, it will be difficult to overstate the long term, worldwide implications of that. One thing that occurs to me is that the U.S., the one country that policed the oceans with its navy since world war ll can no longer guarantee passage through the most important energy chokehold in the world. U.S. military power would obviously be diminished and American credibility would be in doubt.

The only way to confidently keep the Strait open against Iranian resistance it seems to me would be a ground invasion or a nuclear attack both catastrophic. Such attacks would be counterproductive in that so much of Iran’s oil production and shipping would be destroyed that it would be pointless. Iran supplies energy to Russia and China and it is not in the interest of those countries to have a pro American regime in power in Iran. I wonder if any of this which seems so obvious now was considered before the attack was launched.

Why do the Iranians fight so hard. The writer says that its strength comes not from missiles or drones, but from Quranic principles, national unity and religious leadership. Much of the letter is devoted to the Islamic principle of resisting oppression regardless of the cost. If we look at each of those statements we can see problems. Missiles and drones, especially the technology come primarily from China. National unity really didn’t exist until the attacks came and as for religious leadership, the people seemed primed for revolution until American and Israeli bombs united them. Resistance to oppression is a noble trait that people fighting America from World War ll on have often overlooked. To bear any burden to overcome your oppressors is just about the highest calling of a people.

What is meant by the chants of Death to America that we hear all the time and see from the crowds in the streets of Tehran. The slogan targets American political establishment, not ordinary Americans. The writer argues that Iranians and Americans are both victims of the same political elite. I agree that we are both victims of the same ruling elite. The globalist oppressors who seek the destruction of our culture, heritage, way of life, and ultimately our lives. At the same time, I would not welcome the destruction of the American political system as it was designed and was intended to be, not the corrupt thing it is now.

Considering Quranic principles, the writer doesn’t address the directive for continual war until the Mahdi comes to make the world as it is promised. What about the principle of Jihad or kill those who refuse to submit. Perhaps, as I have read, only 10% of the world of Islam is truly in the Jihadi way of thinking. The world contains about 1 billion Muslims so that would be 100 million. America should no longer be committed to eternal war than the Jihadis but it has to be on guard. If we kept our distance, perhaps violence would settle down.

The letter gives us the history lesson that I have repeated so many times in this Castle Report. 73 years of hostility going back to 1953 when a coup installed the Shah. Sanctions placed on Iran during the Iran-Iraq war which took ten years and at least a million lives. The downing of flight 655, an Iranian airliner apparently shot down by mistake with a missile from a US. guided missile cruiser. The assassination of Qasem Soleimani, general of Iranian armed forces and a national hero. The 2025 war, the unrest in the country for which the writer blames America and finally the current war. All these things are set out in the letter as wounds that simply cannot be healed through negotiation.

The writer alleges that the charges that Iran is pursuing a nuclear weapon is one of Washington’s biggest lies. U.S. officials have for many years claimed that Iran was only weeks or months away from a nuclear weapon yet there is still no nuclear weapon. That one seems pretty accurate to me and even Tulsi Gabbard the Director of National Intelligence at the time, supported it.

The letter argues that U.S. support for Israel has damaged America’s interests, reputation and finances, while American taxpayers continue funding Israeli military action. Of all the points made by the letter that one seems the hardest to argue with and its truth is obvious at least to me.

China, according to the writer, continues to advance while Washington spends its enormous resources fighting wars abroad. I will add my own commentary by saying that the wars abroad are almost always, pointless, without any U.S. interests, stupid, bloody, costly misadventures except they further the ultimate plan of reducing the world into a globalized farm for the all wise techno elite who seem to run things now. We are advised by the writer to close the 800 foreign bases and come home. End aid to Israel and redirect that money toward science, advanced manufacturing, and domestic prosperity. I’ll let you folks decide whether that sounds like pretty good advice or not.

In conclusion folks, the letter makes its real point by advising Americans to use their votes to remove politicians it describes as corrupt and dishonest. It mocks politicians, i.e. President Trump, who think they can buy American votes with $5000 checks. The only thing I can add to that statement is that removing the corrupt and dishonest would leave virtually no one in Washington.

Finally, folks, I certainly do not support the enemies of my own country but I hope and pray that we can somehow find common ground.

At least that’s the way I see it,

Until next time folks,

This is Darrell Castle,

Thanks for listening.