"The top story: Donald Trump says the war in Iran is 'very complete' and appears to be searching for an off-ramp after speaking with Vladimir Putin today."

~ Aaron Parnas

#Trump #Putin #Iran #war
/2

aaronparnas.substack.com/p/maj…

Major Update: Trump Says War is "Very Complete" and Seeks Quick Off-Ramp as he Floats Taking Over Strait of Hormuz

Good evening everyone.

^{Aaron Parnas (The Parnas Perspective)}

"He came up with the idea that the war will end during a phone call with murder hornet Vladimir Putin."

~ Lucian K. Truscott

#Trump #Putin #Iran #war
/3

luciantruscott.substack.com/p/…

Memory hole, meet Iran war.

Donald Trump, speaking at a press conference at his golf club in Doral, Florida, because of course that is where you announce big decisions, today said that the war against Iran will end “very soon.”

^{Lucian K. Truscott IV (Lucian Truscott Newsletter)}

"Reporters tried again. 'You said the war is "very complete.". But your defense secretary says "this is just the beginning." So which is it?'

'I think you could say both,' Trump replied.

~ Andrew Roth

#Trump #Hegseth #Iran #war
/4

theguardian.com/world/2026/mar…

Vague and contradictory Trump says Iran war ‘won’, but not ‘won enough’

After oil prices surged on Monday the US president sought – and failed – to offer a clear vision for when the largest US intervention in the Middle East in years will end

^{Andrew Roth (The Guardian)}

"What this all comes down to is that the White House is running as fast as it can from regime change and even faster from its demand for 'unconditional surrender'."

~Josh Marshall

#Trump #Iran #war
/5

talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/t…

Trump Now MoonWalking Away From Regime Change As Fast As He Can

Yesterday UN Ambassador Mike Waltz announced that the US was moving ahead rapidly to achieve all its war objectives which he listed as 1) destroying Iran’s…

^{Josh Marshall (TPM - Talking Points Memo)}

"Trump wants to be done because the conflict is getting too messy, Gulf allies are certainly privately asking WTAF Trump’s plan is and more than anything else Trump is realizing that he is triggering what has been the most reliable presidency killer in American politics for more than half a century: spiking gas prices."

#Trump #Iran #war #economy #oil #gas
/6

"It has become clear that Trump had no plan in Iran other than to strike it, knock out the leaders he didn’t like, and hope the Iranian people would rise up and put in place new leaders he could deal with. It was supposed to look like what happened in Venezuela in January…."

~ Heather Cox Richardson

#Trump #Iran #war
/7

heathercoxrichardson.substack.…

March 9, 2026

^{Heather Cox Richardson (Letters from an American)}

"Most presidents announce foreign policy in measured phrases freighted with forethought and significance. Trump blathers, tumbling over proclamations as quickly as he can pronounce them. Perhaps Trump’s secret plan is to confuse everyone so thoroughly that they are frozen with doubt. Not a winning strategy, to be sure, but the only way to make sense of Trump’s whirligig fountain of nonsense that erupted on Monday."

~ Robert B. Hubbell

#Trump #Iran #war
/8

roberthubbell.substack.com/p/c…

Chaos reigns as Trump blathers incoherently.

March 10, 2026.

^{Robert B. Hubbell (Today's Edition Newsletter)}

"There is no plan, no vision, no objective, just chaos measured in 'Trump-time,' which is the unit of time between the misfiring of Trump’s addled synapses.

But the chaos is inflicting human suffering and global economic panic."

#Trump #Iran #war
/9

"Trump blundered his way into a war in which one of the first acts was the killing of more than 160 innocent schoolgirls. Neither he nor the senior US military comm and has the decency or humanity to admit that they killed hundreds of Iranian children through their recklessness."

#Trump #Iran #war #death #destruction #violence #children
/10

"I think everyone in politics and finance and media who anticipated a fictional, level-headed version of Donald Trump succumbed to years of spin and misinformation and algorithmic propaganda on Twitter."

~ Brian Beutler

#Trump #Iran #war
/11

offmessage.net/p/elites-maga-t…

Elites Aren't Much Savvier Than MAGA

They're both easy marks for Donald Trump.

^{Brian Beutler (Off Message)}

"And it’s only costing us around a billion dollars a day."

~ Sam Osterhout

#Trump #Iran #war
/12

lincolnsquare.media/p/oil-up-m…

Oil Up, Markets Down: Trump's War Spirals | Sam Osterhout & Iran Expert Dr. Sanam Vakil

The Iran War is costing us $1 billion a day. Is there an exit strategy?

^{Sam Osterhout (Lincoln Square)}

"U.S./Israeli force mounted another series of strikes, these on oil storage sites across the vast city of Tehran. The effect was astonishing—a cloud of truly toxic smoke—and I think it needs more notice than it’s been getting, even amidst all the other horrors of this war. This was in essence chemical warfare, even if the chemicals were the (easily anticipated) result of 'normal' bombs."

~ Bill McKibben

#Trump #Iran #war #environment #ecology #ChemicalWarfare
/13

billmckibben.substack.com/p/a-…

A dark and killing cloud over Tehran

And over a shamed America

^{Bill McKibben (The Crucial Years)}

"And it affected an almost entirely civilian population, that will be paying the price for decades to come. If we’re going to do this we should at least have to look at it."

#Trump #Iran #war #environment #ecology #ChemicalWarfare
/14

As Aaron Parnas reports this morning, Trump is now threatening to rain "Death, Fire, and Fury" on Iran (though, of course, he imagines the word "rain" is spelled "reign" — since he truly knows no better).

His threats have to do with the fact that the Strait of Hormuz is now impassable due to his war, and this is affecting the global economy, creating political problems for him and Republicans in the US.

#Trump #Iran #war #death #destruction
/15

aaronparnas.substack.com/p/new…

NEWS: Major Epstein Investigation Launched as Iran Threatens Trump's Life and USA Launches Most Intense Strikes to Date

Good morning everyone.

^{Aaron Parnas (The Parnas Perspective)}

"Over the last few days the markets started to go south. So did the optics and politics of the war. And so Trump’s now looking to end it.

This process will have plenty of zigs and zags. Pulling a TACO in war isn’t simple. Once you’ve decided to 'Cry "Havoc," and let slip the dogs of war,' it’s not as easy to get the fierce dogs of war back in the kennel as it is the docile puppies of tariffs."

William Kristol

#Trump #Iran #war #economy #TACO
/16

thebulwark.com/p/tacos-with-a-…

TACOs With a Side of War Porn

Despite his callous bluster, Trump is seemingly retreating.

^{William Kristol (The Bulwark)}

"They’re not confused. The administration and its allies are running multiple arguments at the same time, and the arguments don’t need to be consistent with each other. They just need to do the same job: keeping Congress out of the decision-making process and letting Trump do whatever the hell he wants."

~ Parker Molloy

#Trump #Iran #war #Republicans #Congress
/17

readtpa.com/p/schrodingers-war

Schrödinger's War

They can’t agree on whether it’s a war, a mission, regime change, or self-defense. They don’t need to. They just need Congress to stay out.

^{Parker Molloy (The Present Age)}

"But anyway, my God, you know, deliberately being dumb is not good policy. Take care."

~ Paul Krugman

#Trump #Iran #war #Republicans #Congress
/18

paulkrugman.substack.com/p/why…

Why I Don't Speak American

And why it's a problem that Pete Hegseth says he does

^{Paul Krugman}

"The Trump regime is seeking to deflect blame and avoid responsibility for the largest civilian massacre by the U.S. military [at a girls' school in Minab, Iran] since the My Lai massacre in Vietnam. It’s vitally important to understand what has actually happened and how the White House is now seeking to shift the narrative and evade accountability."

~ Jay Kuo

#Trump #Iran #war #death #destruction #violence #children
/19

statuskuo.substack.com/p/gasli…

Gaslighting Over Atrocities

The Trump White House’s deflections and false claims around a massacre of children cannot be allowed to stand.

^{Jay Kuo (The Status Kuo)}

"Here’s what’s influencing people’s understanding of the war:

There was never any widespread belief that Iran was an immediate threat to the U.S.

The risks of regional instability are ample, while there is no obvious reward for the U.S. in this war.

The president is deeply unpopular."

~ Paul Waldman

#Trump #Iran #war
/20

paulwaldman.substack.com/p/the…

The Least Popular War In History

Here's why there's been no rally-round-the-flag effect on Iran.

^{Paul Waldman (The Cross Section)}

"There has been little in the way of visible success, even if our bombs are (mostly) hitting their targets. Here at home, the most obvious effect of the war is a dramatic increase in oil prices, which is something people really don’t like.

Add it up, and you have the least popular war in history, at least at this stage."

#Trump #Iran #war
/21

"Lindsey Graham’s bloodlust is a disgusting example of privilege. Mike says Lindsey is calling for the sons and daughters of South Carolina to join up and head over to Iran to fight this 'holy war.' Well, until Lindsey, and Barron Trump for that matter, enlist in the armed forces and head over for active combat, they can just sit this one out and shut up."

~ Katie Phang

#Trump #LindseyGraham #Iran #war #HolyWar #ChristianNationalism
/22

katiephang.substack.com/p/why-…

Why Is Donald Trump Still Lying About the U.S. Bombing a School in Iran?

Plus: Lindsey Graham is a ____ (take your pick on the fill in the blank)

^{Katie Phang}

"The news cycle hasn’t just moved on [from Epstein]: we are now deep into the testosterone zone, the fizzing, almost sexual excitement of war. This is what the early stages of all wars look like. …

AI, like war, is a hyper-masculine fantasy of God-like power."

~ Carole Cadwalladr

#Trump #LindseyGraham #PeteHegseth #Iran #war #AI #broligarchy #PerformativeMasculinity
/23

thenerve.news/p/carole-cadwall…

Hooked on dopamine, fuelled by testosterone, powered by AI: this is the broligarchs’ war

Three weeks ago, briefly, the world was focused on Jeffrey Epstein’s abuse of women and girls. Now, as conflict rages, the tide of hyper-masculinity has risen again, writes Carole Cadwalladr

^{Carole Cadwalladr (The Nerve)}