"Trump’s recorded eight-minute address after the first bombs had fallen, made clear that this would be no limited strike aimed at cajoling Tehran into concessions at the negotiating table."

#Trump #Iran #war
/2

"It is extremely wild work to take 10 billion dollars from Americans to launch a peace club and then launch an actual war 2 weeks later."

#Trump #Iran #war
/3

threads.com/@sasha_perfecto/po…

@sasha_perfecto on Threads

^Threads

"Last June, Trump crowed that the United States 'obliterated' Iran’s nuclear program. Now, he says that we have to wage war in order to stop the nuclear program he claimed to have obliterated."

~ Julie Roginsky

#Trump #Iran #war
/4

saltypolitics.substack.com/p/b…

BREAKING: Trump's Bullshit Case for War

Once again, we are going to war in the Middle East under completely false pretenses

^{Julie Roginsky (Salty Politics with Julie Roginsky)}

"The claim that Iran was about to build a nuclear weapon has not been established. It is all the odder as a justification for war given that this administration has already claimed many times to have destroyed the Iranian nuclear weapons program. ...

A war is a time when we will be told not to ask questions. But a war is actually when questions must be asked."

~ Timothy Snyder

#Trump #Iran #war
/5

snyder.substack.com/p/why-atta…

Why Attack Iran?

Our Authoritarianism and Our Corruption

^{Timothy Snyder (Thinking about...)}

"If I’m going to be very blunt about how I view this, we had a nuclear deal with Iran that was negotiated by Barack Obama, and now we’re here. And I honestly believe that the Trump administration said we cannot have this deal negotiated by the Black guy, who he hates with all his passion. They blew up the deal. And now possibly sailors, airmen, soldiers, Marines are now under direct threat.”

~ Bobby Jones

#Trump #Iran #war
/6

lincolnsquare.media/p/breaking…

BREAKING: Military Expert Bobby Jones on the U.S. Striking Iran

Retired Navy Commander Bobby Jones spent years leading forces in the Middle East and breaks down what just happened there.

^{Bobby Jones (Lincoln Square)}

"Less than a year after 'obliterating' Iran’s nuclear program, the administration is now warning that the theocracy is 'probably a week away from having industrial-grade bomb-making material.'”

~ Giselle Donnelly

#Trump #Iran #war
/7

thebulwark.com/p/trump-conside…

Trump Is Considering More Iran Strikes. No One Knows Precisely Why.

As has become a pattern, the use of force isn’t part of a coherent plan.

^{Giselle Donnelly (The Bulwark)}

"Trump, for his part, cares little if the U.S. becomes less safe, only that he remains in power and continues to profit from his 'deals' with foreign countries."

~ Ruth Ben-Ghiat

#Trump #Iran #war
/8

lucid.substack.com/p/iran-expe…

Iran Expert Vali Nasr Video; Ideologies & Geopolitics at Play

Christian Nationalist Holy War; Israeli Expansion; Trump's Need for War

^{Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Lucid)}

"Saturday’s attack comes eight months after Israel launched a 12-day war with Iran that saw death toll estimates at more than 1,000 people. Trump dragged the US into that war, striking three nuclear facilities despite his administration’s own assessment just months earlier that Iran was not building a nuclear weapon."

~ Minnah Arshad

#Trump #Iran #war
/9

zeteo.com/p/breaking-us-and-is…

BREAKING: US and Israel Ilegally Attack Iran

President Donald Trump unilaterally declared war on Iran after launching a joint attack with Israel, thrusting the United States into a needless, illegal conflict that could endanger Americans and further destabilize the region.

^{Minnah Arshad (Zeteo)}

"Last Sunday, Steve Witkoff, who is a real estate developer — I mean, the State Department is out of this, the National Security Administration Council is out of this — it's just Steve Witkoff, the realtor, a friend of Trump and Jared Kushner who is Trump's son-in-law, they are doing all this negotiating — and last Sunday Steve Witkoff, what does he say?"

~ Robert Reich

#Trump #Iran #war
/10

robertreich.substack.com/p/the…

The State of the Trump | The Coffee Klatch for February 28, 2026

With Heather Lofthouse and yours truly, Robert Reich

^{Robert Reich}

"He tells Fox News that Iran is probably a week away from having an industrial grade bomb-making material. And the Wall Street Journal reported the claim that was, I mean, even the Wall Street Journal said that it was false and cited all sorts of specialists who say that this is made up, this is not the case."

#Trump #Iran #war
/11

"And then Tuesday night, Trump claimed that Iran is storing and restarting its program to build a nuclear missile that will soon reach the United States, that will soon reach, that's what he said in the State of the Union, it will soon reach the United States. There is no basis for this. All of the experts, all the people who watch foreign policy, who know anything about Iran, say this is not the case."

#Trump #Iran #war
/12

"This is his pretext for war. This is why we have the largest armada, we have a huge buildup of Army and Air Force and Navy around Iran, near Iran. Yep, on the way. It's all based on bullshit."

#Trump #Iran #war
/13

"American soldiers are about to die in the most courageous, heroic way possible: to save a paedophile ring from accountability."

~ Normal Island News

#Trump #Iran #war #Epstein
/14

normalisland.co.uk/p/rip-to-al…

RIP to all the American soldiers who are about to die because Israel can't fight its own wars

^{Normal Island News}

"We're talking about nothing else this morning. But think about always what we're not talking about. We're not talking about Epstein. We're not talking about his tanking ratings.

So there is a distraction element and deflection. And the Trump administration is very good at this."

~ Ruth Ben-Ghiat

#Trump #Iran #war #Epstein
/15

joycevance.substack.com/p/live…

Live with Ruth Ben-Ghiat & Joyce Vance

No one speaks more eloquently about the art of resistance and why we shouldn’t give up than historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat, the author of Lucid here on Substack.

^{Joyce Vance (Civil Discourse with Joyce Vance)}

"Like Bush, Trump manufactured a crisis, founded on falsehood, and effectively cornered himself. He is hostage to self-imposed expectations, having confounded his own false claim to have 'obliterated' Iran’s nuclear capabilities last year."

~ Simon Tisdall

#Trump #Iran #war
/16

theguardian.com/commentisfree/…

A world on edge as Trump bombs Iran and triggers war in the Middle East. There was no need for this

We cannot know where this foolish, reckless attack will end – but new hatreds will be seeded, terrorist vendettas sown and, ultimately, little will be achieved, says Guardian foreign affairs commentator Simon Tisdall

^{Simon Tisdall (The Guardian)}

"America has only one ally—Israel—in this operation (the Arab states of the Gulf, who fear the Iranian regime, are targets of Iran, but so far are not participating in the attack), and both Washington and Jerusalem are making claims about 'imminent' threats that require 'preemptive' strikes. But we should dispense with such statements: Iran is not presenting immediate danger to the United States or Israel."

~ Tom Nichols

#Trump #Iran #war
/17

theatlantic.com/ideas/2026/02/…

Trump’s Enormous Gamble on Regime Change in Iran

A few paths to success, many to failure

^{Tom Nichols (The Atlantic)}

"The bombing marks the eighth military intervention for Trump in a little more than a year. ...

After he was inaugurated for a second term in January 2025, Trump said: 'We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end, and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.'”

~ Susan J. Demas

#Trump #Iran #war
/18

lincolnsquare.media/p/breaking…

BREAKING: U.S., Israel Begin 'Major Combat Operation' in Iran, Tehran Strikes Back across Middle East

Trump says there likely will be American casualties in the conflict.

^{Susan J. Demas (Lincoln Square)}

"Trump also posted a story from the right-wing news site, Just the News, with the headline: 'Iran tried to interfere in 2020, 2024 elections to stop Trump, and now faces renewed war with United States.'”

#Trump #Iran #war
/19

"Trump’s Truth Social reference to Iran interfering in the 2020 and 2024 elections was ominous. It came early Saturday morning as he launched a war on that country without congressional authorization. One cannot help but wonder if he could use this or similar pretexts to declare a nonexistent emergency and take control of elections."

~ Norman Eisen

#Trump #Iran #war
/20

contrarian.substack.com/p/trum…

Trump Can’t Use War or Other Excuses to Take over American Elections

The Contrarians won't let you — Publisher's Roundup 56

^{Norman Eisen (The Contrarian)}

"The timing wasn’t an accident. As Marcy Wheeler noted this morning: one of the reasons they struck today, rather than next week, is because the House is planning a vote early next week to restrict strikes on Iran. Trump had to shift the dynamics of that vote."

~ Jason Sattler

#Trump #Iran #war
/21

thecause.substack.com/p/two-we…

Two Weak Reasons a Weak Trump Attacked a Weakened Iran

He bombed to stop a Congressional check on this. This may be the greatest constitutional crisis in American history.

^{L O L G O P (The Cause)}

"Zero plans for what comes next. Except for a moment, he will feel strong again. And then the weakness will seep back, like the desperate, insatiable slogan on his hats, slobbering over a past that never existed, always demanding more."

#Trump #Iran #war
/22

"Representative Thomas Massey, Republicans, his lawmakers intend to, intended to hold votes next week to prohibit Trump from authorizing strikes without consulting with Congress. Well, Israel and the United States and the Trump administration made sure that's not going to happen because now the United States, folks, has joined Israel in advanced military strikes against Iran."

~ Wajahat Ali

#Trump #Iran #war
/23

thelefthook.substack.com/p/isr…

Israel and US Strike Iran!

The Trump Administration has joined Israel in illegally attacking Iran and is asking Americans to die for war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu and his genocidal regime.

^{THE LEFT HOOK with Wajahat Ali (The Left Hook with Wajahat Ali)}

For live coverage of the Trump-Netanyahu attack on Iran, see The Guardian.

#Trump #Iran #war
/24

theguardian.com/world/live/202…

"The point is creating a made-for-TV war that makes Trump look like a big, tough war president. He’s doing this for obvious reasons: things are going badly for him, very badly, at home. Freedoms are being violated. The middle class is being immiserated."

~ John Stoehr

#Trump #Iran #war
/25

editorialboard.com/trumps-self…

Trump’s self-serving made-for-TV war with Iran

Taking a page from Netanyahu’s war-crimes playbook.

^{John Stoehr (Editorial Board)}

"There’s a sense that the rich – the Epstein class – can act with impunity while everyone else pays the price. If Donald Trump doesn’t change the subject, his presidency, and perhaps more than his presidency, will cease to be as it is once the Congress is turned over to the Democrats."

#Trump #Iran #war
/26

"What is there to say, really? More full blown Mad Kingism. No clear rationale, no consultation or approval from Congress, no discussion with the American people, no Coalition of the Willing (meaning no allies). Like with the tariffs, there is no version of what Trump is doing in Iran that can be considered faithful to the Constitution, US Law, or International Law."

~ Simon Rosenberg

#Trump #Iran #war
/27

hopiumchronicles.com/p/our-add…

Our Addled, Failing, Desperate Leader Wags The Dog, Goes To War

Oh, by the way, the inflation data on Friday was terrible

^{Simon Rosenberg (Hopium Chronicles By Simon Rosenberg)}

"The strikes on Iran that began Friday were initiated unilaterally by the Trump administration, but are not unilateral internationally: Israel is also participating in the action. It's not surprising, given Trump's relationship with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, but it comes in the immediate aftermath of new Gallup polling showing how much more skeptical Americans are of Netanyahu's nation."

~ Philip Bump

#Trump #Iran #war #Netanyahu #Israel
/28

howtoreadthisch.art/this-way-m…

This way madness lies, but you knew that

It's the most relatable thing in the world: You've just put your weekly data-visualization newsletter to bed when the president of the United States unilaterally decides that the country is going to launch a war against a foreign country.

^{Philip Bump (How To Read This Chart)}

"Donald Trump, reeling from the Epstein pedophile scandal, soaring inflation, and rotten poll numbers, launched an unprovoked regional war without congressional authorization — let alone a coherent rationale for the strikes across Iran."

~ Jennifer Rubin

#Trump #Iran #war #Israel
/29

contrarian.substack.com/p/trum…

Trump Launches Another Illegal War

Americans desperately need a Congress that can stop his reckless violence.

^{Jennifer Rubin (The Contrarian)}

"Fascism is the moment where the concentration of wealth and power becomes so strong that they don't even have to hide their anti-human, anti-democratic aspirations. They can simply say the quiet part loud. People are going to die. We're going to revel in the cruelty of things."

~ Jared Yates Sexton

#Trump #Iran #war #Israel
/30

jaredyatessexton.substack.com/…

Trump Starts War With Iran

A recording from Jared Yates Sexton's live video

^{Jared Yates Sexton (Dispatches From A Collapsing State | Jared Yates Sexton)}

"This war with Iran is his latest distraction, and it is a real phenomenon called " Wag the Dog, which describes the act of manufacturing a distraction — typically a foreign crisis or military conflict — to divert public attention from a domestic scandal."

~ Pamela Hilliard Owens

#Trump #Iran #war #Israel
/31

wearespeaking.net/p/the-choice…

The Choice: Wag the Dog

When Fiction Becomes Fact

^{Pamela Hilliard Owens (We Are Speaking)}