Honestly, most people wake up most days with the “feeling” that something bad is going to happen. And we hardly ever launch overwhelming kinetic strikes on Middle Eastern countries
Donald Trump’s mad war in Iran barrels on into its second week, and there remains little sign of a reason for it to be taking place.
The Administration can’t decide why Trump launched the attacks when he did, other than that he had a “feeling” that something bad was going to happen. Honestly? Most people wake up with that feeling most days, and hardly ever launch overwhelming kinetic strikes on Middle Eastern countries.
Anyway, it almost certainly wasn’t, as the Wall Street Journal reported over the weekend because Senator Lindsey Graham, after several meetings with people from Mossad, gave Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu a personal coaching session in how to lobby Trump to make it happen. Definitely not. No sir. It was probably the vibes.
Meanwhile, Trump had a long phone call with Putin, where he presumably gave him a stiff talking to for telling Iran exactly where to target their strikes. That’s almost certainly what happened, an hour or so before Trump quietly scrapped sanctions on Russian oil. Almost certainly.
Meanwhile, in Trumpworld
Mission accomplished-ish
The White House feels ‘harassed’ over strike that killed 165 civilians in a school
Trump won’t sign any more laws until his election rigging bill is passed
Here’s what you need to know
1. Mission accomplished-ish
Pete Hegseth, the “secretary of war” this morning declared that today would be the most intense day of fighting yet in Iran, with the most fighters, the most bombers and the most strikes of any day in the war so far.
Which is super weird, given last night Donald Trump declared during a phone interview with CBS News: “The war is very complete, pretty much.”
At roughly the same time, the Department of Defence posted a meme on Twitter that read: “We have only just begun to fight”.
And a few days earlier, Hegseth told CBS “this is only just the beginning.”
Asked about the mixed signals at a press conference earlier, Hegseth said he wasn’t in charge of how long the war would continue…that was a Trump thing.
“It’s not for me to posit whether it’s the beginning, the middle or the end,” he said, despite having done so just a day or so earlier. “
“The President has set a very specific mission to accomplish,” Hegseth claimed, implausibly. “And our job is to unrelentingly deliver that. He’s the one who gets to control the throttle.”
So to recap, the war in Iran is very complete, pretty much but has only just begun, and it’s not for the man in charge of the armed forces to say whether it’s the beginning, middle or end.
Glad that’s all cleared up.
2. It all came down to Trump’s vibes
Trump unleashed the full might of the US military, bombarding Iran with awesome and unremitting force and firepower, almost entirely based on vibes.
There was a suggestion from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt the other day that the US had based the timing of the attack on a “feeling” he had that Iran was going to attack the US.
He’s repeated this a few times, each time indicating the decision was based on vibes rather than information.
“Based on what Steve [Witkoff, a property developer], Jared [Kushner, his son in law, a property developer] and Pete [Hegseth, a former Fox News weekend cover host] and others were telling me, Marco [Rubio, also known by Trump as “Little Marco”] is so involved, I thought they were going to attack us.
And he told a (who else?) Fox News reporter on Air Force One: “If we waited three days, I believe we would have been attacked.”
Karoline Leavitt later clarified that the decision was based on “a feeling the President had based on facts.”
Glad we got that cleared up.
In the same Fox News chat, Trump also gave this glimpse into his mind, and the depth of understanding he has of military strategy.
“Breakfast attacks are unusual,” he said. “And they were misled because they thought we weren’t going at that time and all that.”
For the record, nobody calls them “breakfast attacks”, but perhaps they’re just so unusual they don’t get a nickname.
3. Oil sanctions? What oil sanctions…
Trump very quietly suggested he would some oil sanctions on Russia last night, after an hour-long phone call with Vladimir Putin.
When I say quietly, he announced it at a press conference that was broadcast across the world. But he kinda mumbled it under his breath, and didn’t mention Russia.
It comes as Trump is under mounting pressure over the skyrocketing cost of oil due to his Iran war. Ships sailing through the Strait of Hormuz are under constant threat from Iran, and many are choosing not to take the risk, driving up the global oil price.
Trump, as we know loves crowing about petrol prices being low, so he’s very keen to see them return to anything less than they are now.
So after an admittedly lengthy chat with the Russian dictator, announced the US will lift sanctions on oil sales by “some countries” until the Iran war “straightens out.”
“We are also waiving certain oil-related sanctions to reduce prices,” Trump said, speaking at his Doral golf course in Florida.
“We have sanctions on some countries. We’re going to take sanctions off until this straightens out. When the time comes, the US Navy and its partners will escort tankers through the strait if needed.”
4. Leavitt complains of ‘harassment’ about Iran school bombing
There was quite a moment on Air Force One over the weekend, when Trump was asked about the bombing of a girls’ school in Minab, with the deaths of 165 people.
Pete Hegseth, who was standing next to Trump on the plane when he was asked the question, had previously said the Pentagon was investigating the incident – almost certainly the result of a US missile strike.
Trump took a left turn and claimed, based on nothing as far as we can tell, that he had been told the school had been bombed by …the Iranians.
And Hegseth was left in the unenviable position of standing next to Donald Trump and failing to confirm he was telling the truth, simply saying it was still being investigated.
Footage emerged yesterday that appeared to show a US missile aimed at a naval base next door to the School…and many reports have suggested munitions fragments found nearby were of a US tomahawk missile.
So Trump last night claimed – falsely – that Iran…also has Tomakawks.
Trump argued that the cruise missile, which is made by the American defense contractor Raytheon, is “sold and used by other countries” and that Iran “also has some Tomahawks.”
“Whether it’s Iran or somebody else … a Tomahawk is very generic,” he said.
While Raytheon sells the missile to allied countries like Japan and Australia, there is no evidence to suggest that Iran has gotten its hands on the cruise missile.
When asked why he was the only person in his administration making the claim, Trump replied: “Because I just don’t know enough about it.” He added that “whatever the report shows, I’m willing to live with that report.”
Asked why he suggested it could be Iran, when only 3 US allies have Tomahawks, Karoline Leavitt today said: “The president said yesterday he will accept the conclusion of this investigation by the Department of War.”
Which is not an answer…Well, not to the question that was asked, anyway.
She went on to moan that the New York Times was “harassing” the White House over the bombing. By which she presumably means asking questions and insisting on answers.
5. Trump refuses to approve any new laws until his election rigging law is passed
Trump says he won’t sign any new legislation into law until congress passes his new election rigging law.
He’s also, for reasons which are unclear, attached two unrelated rules to the law attacking trans people.
On top of the banning of postal voting and requiring photo ID to register to vote, the basis of which is that it’s needed to fight two kinds of election fraud which statistically speaking do not happen…
…he’s also added a complete ban on trans women taking part in women’s sports, which – again – statistically speaking, does not happen.
And he’s added a ban on children being given gender affirming surgery – which he describes charmingly as “TRANSGENDER MUTILATION SURGERY” – without parental consent. Which, once again, is already illegal.
The act would already, quietly, hand voter registration rolls over to the federal government – which many fear would lead to them being purged, destroyed and otherwise tampered with in a way that amounts to election rigging.