Watch: Our Badawy visits Iran and Hormuz during the war — and it is not what you imagine.

Before Trump nukes Iran or the Democrats, whichever comes first!

Egyptian travel vlogger Ahmed Badawy’s latest videos from Iran have gone viral in Egypt and across the Arab world.

Despite the absence of official diplomatic relations between Egypt and Iran, Badawy travelled to Iran using his Egyptian passport to see the country and its people following the 10,000 US and Israeli missiles that hit the country. He also made his way to the island of Hormuz.

Badawy holds another passport, a French one, but identifies himself as Egyptian. It was a wise decision to travel using his Egyptian passport rather than his French one.

Egyptian-Iranian relations have been drawing closer, with almost weekly telephone calls between the two countries’ foreign ministers — a level of engagement we have not seen since the days when Shah of Iran Reza Pahlavi married Princess Fawzia Fouad of Egypt in 1939.

Badawy and a friend arrived in Tehran on 3 October 2026, travelling via Turkey aboard Iranian airline Iran Airtour.

He documented the trip in his first video, titled "Inside Tehran After the US Bombing… The Reality Is SHOCKING".

You can also watch it with English translation and dubbing — his first time trying this feature.

Needless to say, the video has attracted plenty of comments and remarks.

One of the most striking observations is that, judging from the footage, Tehran hardly looks like the capital of a country at war and under four decades of economic sanctions.

There are, however, some noticeable differences from previous visits. Foreigners can no longer buy SIM cards as easily as before, and cash is no longer readily available for exchange at the airport. More women and girls were also unveiled as they got off the plane.

And yes, the footage of green trees and clean streets, despite decades of economic sanctions and a furious war with the United States and Israel, has clearly struck a nerve in Egypt.

Badawy and his North African friend then decided to spend 24 hours on the island of Hormuz. They made their way there aboard fishing boats. 

You can watch it in his second video, titled “Smuggling My Way Into the Strait of Hormuz…The U.S. Almost Bombed Us”.

You can also watch it with English translation and dubbing.

No more spoilers. Watch and judge for yourself.

This is the fourth time Ahmed Badawy has travelled to Iran.

The Iranian regime has been welcoming foreign bloggers, podcasters and vloggers, particularly those from left-wing circles, to document another side of the country that Western and Arab mainstream media do not usually show.

But even Badawy, an Egyptian who identifies strongly with his nationality, was genuinely surprised by how freely he and his friend could stand inside Khomeini International Airport and film.

It is something I cannot imagine being able to do at Cairo International Airport, let alone in other parts of Cairo.

I am, however, concerned about Badawy's safety. Some people in the Gulf have accused him, as usual, of being an Iranian agent.

Those making such accusations conveniently ignore the fact that Badawy miraculously managed to get out of Yemen after the Houthis expelled him from areas under their control.

There is no doubt that the Iranian regime has welcomed Badawy since his first visit, seeing him as an Egyptian and Arab vlogger. But what matters more to me is that, despite the absence of official diplomatic relations between our two countries, an Egyptian traveller was able to visit Iran and document what he saw.

Having travelled to so many countries, Badawy seems to have developed a particular interest in getting closer to conflict zones, if not right into the middle of them, and offering different perspectives.

It began with his experience documenting the early days of the war in Sudan. Since then, he has travelled to Israel and East Jerusalem during the Gaza war, Greenland, and even Kashmir, visiting both the Indian- and Pakistani-controlled sides.

As a journalist who started out as a blogger and sometimes uses video to tell stories, I appreciate what Ahmed Badawy is doing.

This is journalism and blogging that genuinely bridges cultures and brings people closer, beyond politics.

I am sharing these videos as the entire region braces for another round of war, possibly right after the US midterm elections.

I am sharing them following Tucker Carlson's nuclear warnings and Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's call — or, rather, his Hail Mary.

Under pressure from Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Trump administration may be within days of launching a nuclear strike on Iran. The target would be Pickax Mountain in central Iran, where Israeli intelligence claims the Iranian government has restarted its nuclear enrichment program. No conventional weapon in the American arsenal can penetrate 300 feet of solid granite to destroy the tunnels where enrichment is supposedly taking place. The only military option is a nuclear strike. Netanyahu has been pushing hard for one. “Bibi calls Trump about it every day,” says an informed observer. Netanyahu is cornered and desperate. After last week’s election results, he can’t form a government unless Trump intervenes directly in Israeli politics and brokers a deal with other parties that gives Netanyahu 61 seats in the Knesset. Otherwise, he is out as prime minister and on his way to ignominy, investigations and possibly jail. Netanyahu must stay close to Trump. He needs this war. To that end, he’s applied maximum pressure to his closest allies in the administration, including Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and CENTCOM commander Brad Cooper. Both oppose a negotiated settlement to the war they’ve so grievously mismanaged; both are pushing to restart major combat operations. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and CIA director John Ratcliffe are also following Netanyahu’s lead, as are leaders of the Democratic Party. In a recent meeting on the subject, former president Barack Obama said he opposes the current Iran peace deal being drafted in Doha. The rest of America’s longtime allies in the Middle East are terrified by the prospect of more war. On September 27th, Netanyahu flew secretly to Abu Dhabi to enlist the UAE in his lobbying effort for a final attack on Iran. The Emiratis refused. After eight months of conflict, Gulf economies are teetering. So are global energy and fertilizer markets. They won’t recover soon. Globally, there are a total of about 850 supertankers used to transport oil from producers to the rest of the world. In October alone, 11 of them were badly damaged in Hormuz. At this pace, a global depression is imminent. A nuclear strike would radically accelerate the destruction. Fallout from a ground explosion at Pickax Mountain would contaminate the Persian Gulf, poisoning the water supply for 100 million people. And those are just some of the immediate consequences for the region. The rest of the world is every bit as exposed. No country other than the United States has ever used a nuclear weapon in war. Some would like to. An American nuclear attack on Iran would set a new precedent. The Russians have already told at least two other governments that an American nuclear strike on Iran would free them to use nuclear weapons against Ukraine. Pakistan and India would be tempted to do the same against each other, as would North Korea against Seoul. After the first nuclear strike, World War Three is inevitable. That war would be short and final. We’ve been sleepwalking toward this moment for months. Since February, the administration has quietly rewritten America’s nuclear doctrine to make first use of so-called “battlefield nukes” easier and therefore more likely. No one in Washington in either party seems bothered by this. Now we’re on the brink of it. Close observers say Trump is likely to decide by next weekend whether or not to use nuclear weapons. That would be November 7, six days from now. To his credit, he’s hesitating. At the moment, Trump is listening to his vice president, JD Vance, and to his envoy and friend Steve Witkoff, both of whom argue a deal with Iran can be made. They’re right, though it won’t be simple. The Iranians are famously frustrating to negotiate with under any circumstances, and elements of that government have become more radical since Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his family were killed in February. After decades of isolation, even relatively moderate Iranian leaders seem confused by how decisions are made in the West. (There is a widespread belief in Tehran, for example, that the United States government controls Israel.) But overall, people who have spoken to decision-makers in Iran say there is consensus there that more war is bad for everyone and a deal is worth making. One group that hasn’t been consulted so far is the global population — the hundreds of millions of people who will be killed along with their children if Trump is pushed by Netanyahu into launching a nuclear strike next week. Now would be the time for them to speak up.

— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) November 2, 2026