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Says to confiscate the royal possessions (7)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

asserts

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'says' is the definition.
The definition and answer can be both to do with communicating as well as being verbs in their -s form.
Perhaps they are linked in a way I don't understand?

'to confiscate the royal possessions' is the wordplay.
'to confiscate' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'the royal' becomes 'ER' (abbreviation for Elizabeth Regina).
'possessions' becomes 'assts' (I can't justify this - if you can you should believe this answer much more).
'er' put within 'assts' is 'ASSERTS'.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for asserts that I've seen before include "Declares to be true" , "States categorically" , "States confidently and forcefully" , "States firmly" .)

I've seen this clue in the Evening Standard.
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