Iran is getting desperate.
Hundreds of protesters have taken to the streets amid a record-setting heatwave that's seen temperatures soar as high as 127 degrees.
Imagine being so angry you'd go outside in those temperatures, much less set something on fire.
But that's exactly what's happening as a growing sense of despair and outrage overwhelms the country.
In addition to the heat, Iran has suffered power outages, water shortages, and perhaps worst of all, rampant inflation.
The rial has plunged to 116,000 on the dollar from about 90,000 last week. The currency is down 70% since May.
And who's responsible for this?
Why, the United States, of course. Not to mention Iranian President Hassan Rouhani, who was dumb enough to trust the Great Satan in the first place.
Indeed, it was he who signed the nuclear deal that eased sanctions, promising new foreign investment that would electrify the economy.
But that's not what happened.
President Trump has trashed that deal, and the first round of banking sanctions was reimposed on Monday. The sanctions ban the purchase of U.S. dollars by Iran and prevent the trade of gold, metals, and automobiles, among other things.
Worse, even tougher sanctions aimed at Iran's oil market will go into effect on November 4.
So, the regime has been backed into a corner, and now it needs to divert blame and unite the people (and the Revolutionary Guard) against a common enemy.
Of course, Iran can't compete with the United States militarily, so it'll need to turn to unconventional warfare... cyberwarfare.
Recorded Future, a global real-time cyberthreat intelligence company, predicted in May that Iran would respond with an attack within two to four months. And sure enough, the pieces are being put into place.
"While we have no specific threats, we have seen an increase in chatter related to Iranian threat activity over the past several weeks," Priscilla Moriuchi, Recorded Future's director of strategic threat development, told the AP.
Moriuchi says the businesses most at risk are banks and financial services, government departments, critical infrastructure providers, and oil and energy companies.
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Norm Roule, former Iran manager for the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, agrees.
"I think there is a good chance Iran will use cyber, probably not an attack that is so destructive that it would fragment its remaining relationship with Europe, but I just don't think the Iranians will think there is much cost to doing this," he said. "And it's a good way to show their capacity to inflict economic cost against the United States."
He then added: "Iran's cyber activities against the world have been the most consequential, costly and aggressive in the history of the internet, more so than Russia. The Iranians are destructive cyber operators."
Roule isn't blowing smoke.
From 2012 to 2014, a series of Iranian cyberattacks affected almost 50 financial institutions, costing tens of millions of dollars.
The repeated attacks disabled bank websites and kept hundreds of thousands of customers from accessing their online accounts.
Iranian hackers also stole a large amount of academic data from hundreds of universities in the United States and abroad, as well as email accounts belonging to employees of government agencies and private companies.
This is exactly why I recently recommended a cybersecurity company to my Wealth Warrior subscribers.
Make no mistake, traditional warfare is out. Cyberattacks are in. From Moscow to Tehran to Beijing, our adversaries are increasingly turning to cyberspace to attack the United States and our allies.
Investing in a cyberwarrior firm, like the one I recommended, will bring lofty returns for investors who recognize that fact. So I encourage you to get my report today. Because the stock's price will likely shoot up when Iran makes its move.
Fight on,
Jason Simpkins
Jason Simpkins is Assistant Managing Editor of the Outsider Club and Investment Director of The Wealth Warrior, a financial advisory focused on security companies and defense contractors. For more on Jason, check out his editor's page.