"Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz."
Writes Trump at Truth Social.
"At some point, we will reach an 'ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO IN, ALL BEING ALLOWED TO GO OUT' basis, but Iran has not allowed that to happen by merely saying, 'There may be a mine out there somewhere,' that nobody knows about but them. THIS IS WORLD EXTORTION....I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas. We will also begin destroying the mines the Iranians laid in the Straits. Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL! Iran knows, better than anyone, how to END this situation which has already devastated their Country. Their Navy is gone, their Air Force is gone, their Anti Aircraft and Radar are useless, Khomeini, and most of their 'Leaders,' are dead, all because of their Nuclear ambition. The Blockade will begin shortly. Other Countries will be involved with this Blockade. Iran will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION. They want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear. Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully 'LOCKED AND LOADED,' and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran! President DONALD J. TRUMP"
And then, a second post:
"Iran promised to open the Strait of Hormuz, and they knowingly failed to do so. This caused anxiety, dislocation, and pain to many people and Countries throughout the World. They say they put mines in the water, even though all of their Navy, and most of their 'mine droppers,' have been completely blown up. They may have done so, but what ship owner would want to take the chance? There is great dishonor and permanent harm to the reputation of Iran, and what’s left of their 'Leaders,' but we are beyond all of that. As they promised, they better begin the process of getting this INTERNATIONAL WATERWAY OPEN AND FAST! Every Law in the book is being violated by them. I have been fully debriefed by Vice President JD Vance, Special Envoy Steve Witkoff, and Jared Kushner, on the meeting that took place in Islamabad through the kind and very competent leadership of Field Marshal Asim Munir, and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, of Pakistan. They are very extraordinary men, and continuously thank me for saving 30 to 50 million lives in what would have been a horrendous War with India. I always appreciate hearing that — The amount of Humanity spoken of is incomprehensible. The meeting with Iran began early in the morning, and lasted throughout the night — Close to 20 hours. I could go into great detail, and talk about much that has been gotten but, there is only one thing that matters — IRAN IS UNWILLING TO GIVE UP ITS NUCLEAR AMBITIONS! In many ways, the points that were agreed to are better than us continuing our Military Operations to conclusion, but all of those points don’t matter compared to allowing Nuclear Power to be in the hands of such volatile, difficult, unpredictable people. My three Representatives, as all of this time went by, became, not surprisingly, very friendly and respectful of Iran’s Representatives, Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, Abbas Araghchi, and Ali Bagheri, but that doesn’t matter because they were very unyielding as to the single most important issue and, as I have always said, right from the beginning, and many years ago, IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!"

138 comments:
All in favor of Iran getting a nuclear weapon say "aye." All opposed "nay."
The only point that really matters is correctly pronouncing New-klee-arr. New-kew-lar reveals ignorance. Sorry Jimmy Carter, New-kew-lar scientist.
This has almost nothing to do with Iran.
Iran was charging a toll on everyone but their BRICS sponsors. Trump is correctly going after the boats of Iran's BRICS sponsors. The fast part is coming for China.
Trump is rebuilding the world without apology as if the 2026/2028 elections don't matter anymore.
That is because they don't matter anymore.
Its laughable for Trump to talk about things being "against the law" after assassinating Iranian leaders and scientists and launching an unprovoked and sneak attack on a country we were at peace with. And destroying a girls school and civilian apartment buildings.
Iran has zero reason to trust Trump or his word. I have no reason to trust what Trump says about Iran. Is Iran really refusing to give up Nukes? Who knows. I'm becoming more and more convinced Trump is just playing for time until more USA troops can get to the Gulf and we can reload and resupply our missiles and bombs.
You shall not pass!
It was hardly a sneak attack.
RC Ocean forgets Oct 7th.
Oct 7th was the last straw. Fuck Islamic Supremacy. Fuck it until its dead.
Here's another thing. There's nothing to stop NK or Russia/China from giving Iran a few Nukes. Nothing. If I was Iran this massive sneak attack by Trump would've convinced me to get Nuclear weapons ASAP, because that's the only way to keep the USA/Israel from attacking Iran whenever they like for whatever reason.
And this whole thing has zero to do with the USA. We aren't in danger if Iran has a few nukes. Pakistan and India has them. So does Israel.
Talk is the domestication of violence.
"Now yous can't leave." This is kind of like in The Bronx Tale, when Sonny LoSpecchio locks the door of the bar so the bikers who came inside and started shit, then refused to leave... couldn't get out. At that point the bikers knew they were screwed.
Finish. The. Job.
There are downside risks for Trump and for America. Trump can lose control of the House and Senate, and America can get stuck with high gas prices and inflation. It's a downside, but not the apocalypse.....The risks for Iran are orders of magnitude greater. They only have to look to their close neighbors Syria, Iraq, Libya to see how it plays out. They can also look to their other close neighbors like Oman and Saudi Arabia to see how another scenario plays out.......Iran's best hope was to suffer to short, sharp defeat. That didn't happen. The downside for the Iranians is not the apocalypse but the abyss.
RCOCEAN II said...on a country we were at peace with.
You've got a strange definition of "peace". I guess the USA has actually been at peace with Iran for 47 years. Who knew we were wrong this entire time? Thanks for clarifying.
RCO remembers nothing except his hatred for all things Judaic.
a little like Rorschach in prison,
Iran mattered in the Cold war, as much about it's proximity to Russia, as with the oil, this is why the precursor to Seven Days in May was a great war over Iran, CENTO was the lead alliance
I’m with Peachy. Fuck it running, to tears, over, under, sideways, down, backwards, forwards, square and round.
this was largely why the US and the UK dealt with the Shah,
why the French and German, gifted the building blocks of the nuclear program to him
Iman#
So we are going to seize Chinese flagged ships on the high seas. This is how world wars start, I mean, it has been on the path to world war for some time, since the illegal attack on Iran and the assassination of a lot of their leaders by the US and Israel, but this is how regional wars spin out of control.
The Shah, BTW, was a brutal dictator, imposed by the US, it's all been declassified, who used torture, a secret police force based on the Gestapo, among his many other forms of repression, to keep the oil in the hands of the US and British companies that took it from the Iranian people at the close of WWII.
Remember when we blockaded Imperial Japan's oil on the high seas? I just don't remember Trump running on a platform of "World conquest or bust!" I remember him running on a "no more wars" platform.
Iran could keep the Hormuz closed as long as they let some ships trickle through to India and China. That would give them the power and money to continue. Just like western Europe buying Russian oil while "supporting" Ukraine. Now nobody gets any oil out of Hormuz.
And during the cease fire, the US Navy moved a few ships inside the straight. The US Navy is sweeping the mines.
Trump haters want the US to lose so Trump loses. They would rather Iran be more powerful now, than before the conflict. They are openly rooting for Iran. So are many here.
In reality, Iran is now isolated. The rest of the world needs Hormuz to flow, and doesn't want a nuclear armed Iran. Now that the straight is fully closed by blockade, does China, India, and Western Europe start putting pressure on Iran? Seems like that's the bet.
Interesting that “Bridge and Power Plant Day” has left the building.
oh good, I see the Jew haters and Trump haters are back to the apocalyptic nuke script.
In an hour, it will change to the oh, he caved. The Jews made him do it.
How stupid, pathetic and sad to live in such hatred and stupidity.
RCOCEAN II said...
Here's another thing. There's nothing to stop NK or Russia/China from giving Iran a few Nukes. Nothing. If I was Iran this massive sneak attack by Trump would've convinced me to get Nuclear weapons ASAP, because that's the only way to keep the USA/Israel from attacking Iran whenever they like for whatever reason.
And this whole thing has zero to do with the USA. We aren't in danger if Iran has a few nukes. Pakistan and India has them. So does Israel.
You should just move to China or Russia or Iran if you think they are better than we are.
You don't belong here.
Trump lied about negotiating on Iran's terms to get them to agree to a ceasefire, in order to get him out of his threat to destroy Iran's civilization, while saving face, then lied to us abut it, and his low IQ toadies lap it up.
Ever notice in propaganda how one of the first rules is to accuse the other side of your own weaknesses? Well, it's not the *low IQ* people who supported Trump going into the election that are abandoning him in droves, so you go your propaganda flow chart, and ask the oracle "what do I do when I start losing my smarter supporters?" and the answer is "accuse them of being stupid, so that you don't lose your stupid supporters!"
I really do not care if people are abandoning Trump.
Some of us support the unfinished business with Iran's Islamic thugs.
You have removed all doubt, dutch boy
Cut off their lifeline, their lifeblood. Yes. However, realistically, that means a long term commitment another Obama could come along and fuck it up. The Iranians suspect this. We may not have what it takes. I’m back in the pessimistic camp.
imTay said...So we are going to seize Chinese flagged ships on the high seas. This is how world wars start... This isn't WWII and China doesn't want WWIII. Why should China get oil through the straight, if nobody else can?
"You should just move to China or Russia or Iran"
We are bombing these countries to impose free speech, freedom of thought, and democracy, I keep forgetting.
Tump now understands that freedom of the seas is not negotiable. That’s a good start I guess
imTay said...
So we are going to seize Chinese flagged ships on the high seas. This is how world wars start, I mean, it has been on the path to world war for some time, since the illegal attack on Iran and the assassination of a lot of their leaders by the US and Israel, but this is how regional wars spin out of control.
The Shah, BTW, was a brutal dictator, imposed by the US, it's all been declassified, who used torture, a secret police force based on the Gestapo, among his many other forms of repression, to keep the oil in the hands of the US and British companies that took it from the Iranian people at the close of WWII.
4/12/26, 9:54 AM
imTay said...
Remember when we blockaded Imperial Japan's oil on the high seas? I just don't remember Trump running on a platform of "World conquest or bust!" I remember him running on a "no more wars" platform.
Look at all of the people who think China Russia and Iran are morally superior to the US.
China is willing to do things to its people and other countries that Tim can't even fathom. China is known to kidnap and disappear college students because their organs match a CCP member who needs them.
But Tim thinks the US needs to allow the globalists to charge the US more for oil and raw resources than China.
Time thinks the US has to allow the globalists to move all manufacturing to SE Asia.
We don't Tim. We really don't. We don't have to accept what China dictates because our army is better than theirs.
You and your globalist heroes can get fucked and really you should move to China and get the fuck out of the US. You don't belong here.
imTay said...
"You should just move to China or Russia or Iran"
We are bombing these countries to impose free speech, freedom of thought, and democracy, I keep forgetting.
We are bombing Iran because China was using Iran to practice global mercantilism.
You belong in China if you think China should be able to force the US to pay more for Oil and put our industry at a structural disadvantage.
Now that the US Navy is freely operating in the Fjord of Hormuz, it's game over for the Mullahs. That was their only card to play. So glad they didn't have to send in the Marines. Cautiously optimistic.
a hater of The JOOZE said:
".. a country we were at peace with.."
what country would That be? The Shah's Iran?
what peace have we EVER had with The Islamic Republic?
more importantly,
what counrty has the Islamic Republic had peace with?
RCOCEAN II said...We aren't in danger if Iran has a few nukes.
The entire world is in danger if Iran has "a few nukes". Look what they were willing to to with "a few mines."
We now have Americans ok with a nuclear Iran.
if you voted for Obama, thats what you guaranteed, that and his toady Biden, whose coffee fetching aide answered to Robert Malley, Iranian sleeper agent
We now have Americans ok with a nuclear Iran.
step 1. Iran won't have ANY nukes
step 2. Iran doesn't have ANY nukes
step 3. Iran doesn't have MANY nukes
step 4. RCOCEAN says: "It's GOOD that Iran has NUKES"
We know have Americans OK with torture and killing of anyone who dare speak out against the Islamic thugs and Islamic supremacist assholes who rule Iran with their greedy money whoring fists.
Days ago I said that Trump closing the strait was the logical thing to do -- but the Indians and East Asians are jumping over each other appease Iran and get their oil.
If the blockade doesn't work...it could result in tit-for-tat mining of Iran's tollbooth. Then, mines, mines everywhere and no possibility of passing through.
Oh please,its always about $$$ and OIL with trump. President Donald Trump has suggested the United States may be looking to charge a toll in the Strait of Hormuz after the war, a move that would likely require direct US military control over the strategic waterway.
Asked on Monday whether he would accept a deal that would allow Iran to take fees from ships to traverse the strait, the US president said: “What about us charging tolls? I’d rather do that than let them have them. Why shouldn’t we? We’re the winner. We won.”
Trump reiterated that Iran has been militarily defeated, a claim that he has been making since the early days of the war, despite Iran’s sustained drone and missile attacks across the region and its continuing blockade of Hormuz.
“The only thing they have is the psychology of, ‘Oh, we’re going to drop a couple of mines in the water.’ All right, no, I mean, we have a concept where we’ll charge tolls,” Trump told reporters. Of course the senile old man is pissed he didnt think of charging money first, Maybe we'll do a deal with Iran and charge too....CMON MAN...
"We now have Americans ok with a nuclear Iran."
Well, they could use them to bomb the joooos, so...
"Lose control of the house and senate"? Unfortunately he doesn't have control of congress. The cowardly RINOs do.
The good news is that whatever happens in November, Trump will still be the Commander in Chief, and head of State, Treasury and DHS. Much good will still come of that. It would be nice, though, if congress could get to work and fix the election process by passing the SAVE Act.
I am with Iman & Peachy on this one... clarity is needed...
The parallels to cancer therapy are almost poetically aligned:
1) Identify the mutational clone driving the malignancy -- Islamic Fundamentalism. Pre-treat with Immunotherapy (local Persian patriots) and reserve the Stem Cell Transplant procedure (US Troops on the ground) as a fallback in case it becomes necessary (and it may).
2) Resect the main tumor surgically -- IRGC & the remaining Mullahs must surrender without conditions, to face trials and punishment under new secular leadership in Iran. They need to be taken down, humiliated and impoverished. After their crimes are exposed, they need to be executed in public, using their medieval methods.
3) Clean up the metastatic lesions in Yemen, Gaza, Lebanon & Iraq -- Wipe out the remaining defenders of this toxic 7th century cultural disease -- Islamic Jihadism -- and commit to rebuilding these countries afterwards with Islamic money. We will never have a better chance to do this -- it only gets harder if we wait until we satisfy the last Dem Senator that we have reached their definition of a qualifying "Imminent threat".
4) Remove the vasculature and sinews that enabled the original tumors to grow and metastasize. Demand that all banks holding Iranian money -- including the Swiss -- must divulge the account holders and the amounts, to deliver this stolen wealth to a new fund, that will become the primary resource for rebuilding all these damaged countries following successful de-Islamification.
Every half measure proposed that allows the Theocrats to retain any power or funding, is analogous in oncology to leaving tumor cells in the surgical field -- a recipe for rapid recurrence and ultimately much more aggressive therapy, with almost no chance of survival.
This is not a time to accept half-measures. We need to be bloody-minded about this or we will have to get a lot more aggressive later -- recall that we fire-bombed Germany & Japan in 1944-45, and eventually deployed the first Nukes. That was the ultimate price, that we -- and our enemies -- had to pay for being ignorant and isolationist in the pre-war period.
"You don't belong here."
LOL. thanks for the Sunday chuckle. You know who doesnt "Belong in the USA"? Resident Foreigners and Native born Globalists who don't give a damn about the country and want to get the USA into wars that are none of our business and don't make life one bit better for the actual citizens.
In bizzaro world America not wanting American boys dying in foreign wars or supporing War Crimes is "UnAmerican". You literally cannot make this up.
“And this whole thing has zero to do with the USA. We aren't in danger if Iran has a few nukes. Pakistan and India has them. So does Israel.” When did Pakistan, India or Israel sponsor “Death to America” rallies in their streets? Take your morning meds, RC.
It’s laughable that Trump accuses other nations of extortion, his specialty.
BTW this reminds me of David Frum - a Canadian - telling Bob Novak and Pat Buchanan in 2003 they were "unpatriotic" and "hated their country" for opposing Bush's war in Iraq. Globalists have no shame.
Inga said...
It’s laughable that Trump accuses other nations of extortion, his specialty
Another enemy of the United States pops their head up.
Every country practices extortion. China has been doing this for decades and that is why all manufacturing is now in SE Asia.
Traitors like Inga don't mind when China does it.
They only hate their enemies in the United States.
RCOCEAN II said...
BTW this reminds me of David Frum - a Canadian - telling Bob Novak and Pat Buchanan in 2003 they were "unpatriotic" and "hated their country" for opposing Bush's war in Iraq. Globalists have no shame.
You are the globalist retard.
You are the one who thinks China should be allowed to set the price of oil for the US higher than they have to pay.
Borrowed from a nearby blog . . . .
"Not a good idea to allow a suicide bomber to have a nuke."
itStain: The Shah, BTW, was a brutal dictator, imposed by the US, it's all been declassified, who used torture, a secret police force based on the Gestapo, among his many other forms of repression, to keep the oil in the hands of the US and British companies.
There's a very good podcast called Breaking History, which has a three episode series entitled The Making of Modern Iran.
You need to listen to it. Badly. It will stop you spewing errant nonsense.
itStain, DD 45, RCO II, et al: what, other than virulent Jew-hatred, accounts for no end of fact and reason free comments without even glancing in the direction of the Islamic Republic's Shia supremacist islamo-fascism?
Considering this conflict wouldn't be happening without it, you'd think it at least worth a mention.
Just wrote ""Lose control of the house and senate"? Unfortunately he doesn't have control of congress. The cowardly RINOs do.
The good news is that whatever happens in November, Trump will still be the Commander in Chief, and head of State, Treasury and DHS." All true and good but there is a lot more to it than that I think. November is a long way off and a lot can happen till then. But there is a reason past presidents have limited full military engagement with Iran - the majority of people in the country do not support it. We bombed the bejesus out of their Nuc program 6 months ago and now have bombed it again for 40 days. They are decades away from rebuilding. A majority of people supported the bombing but never signed up for blockading the Straight (what are we going to do sink Chinese tankers?) and long term war. Our military has to be perfect and theirs only has to get lucky; they only need to hang on until November. If the Dems take the House they will impeach Trump. If the Rinos in the Senate hate Trump so much, what makes you so sure 17 of them won't vote to remove Trump and put JD in his place? Two years of JD before the next election would be very attractive to a lot of people - if nothing else it makes it possible to pick up some of the 48% of people with TDS...
Igna: “It’s laughable that Trump accuses other nations of extortion, his specialty.” If Democrats didn’t find hypocrisy laughable, they couldn’t be Democrats.
Agree with Howard here.
World media reports Trump has refused to stop Israel from attacking Lebanon and demands Israels invasion and killing of 2000 civilians be decoupled from the Iran-USA deal.
And Israel states the war has cost them $11 Billion so far. Who knew war crimes and bombing innocent civilans was so expensive? Of course, the USA will end up paying for it, because we give Israel anything they wish.
Jalanl: But there is a reason past presidents have limited full military engagement with Iran ...
The obvious one, you missed: can kicking. The belief that because the Islamic regime was so decrepit and hated, it would collapse before needing to be confronted.
Well, that time has passed.
It’s laughable that Trump accuses other nations of extortion, his specialty.
I mean... "Pay us or we blow up your ship" seems like extortion to me. Rather a classic presentation of it, in fact. Doesn't it seem so to you?
On the other hand, is "extortion" Trump's specialty? [shrug] There's certainly a case to be made that "Negotiate with us - except for the two non-negotiables, that you may not develop nuclear weapons and you may not close the Strait - or we start destroying your infrastructure, since we've already pretty much destroyed you militarily in response to your continuing nuclear ambitions and decades of threats against us" is a kind of extortion. But it's not the classic presentation as above. And Trump's style over the many years that he's been in public life is more about cutting deals that both sides can live with, it seems to me - not the Mafiaesque "deal you can't refuse."
But I know that those infected with hatred of all things Trump can't let themselves see it that way. I commend to everyone's attention Howard's cautious optimism - he is no Trump fan, by all available evidence, but he wants the US to succeed in this situation.
Light crude futures are still at $95/barrel. This conflict wont end anytime soon.
RCO II: World media reports Trump has refused to stop Israel from attacking Lebanon ...
Why is Israel attacking Lebanon?
As Howard points out, we are operating in and through the strait- this is a greatly underestimated development
they still haven't learned a lesson from beepergate,
Since the lefties are all atwitter, I assume that Trump is on the verge of a big victory that they will, of course, minimize and deny.
https://x.com/RealBababanaras/status/2043249545770115411
the bigger picture,
According to Gemini AI, whether Iran should have nuclear weapons is an 80/20 issue in the U.S.
Just in time for the new trading week. Uncanny timing.
pakistan is getting into the game,
part of the whole sunni fulcrum against iran,
Little E, what would you like to see happen? Or is it just that whatever happens, it must redound to Trump's detriment?
I know your position is that this is "Trump's war," which I suppose has a grain of truth since in fact it's happening because he, unlike his predecessors, decided to take action now (before Iran could complete its conventional weapon shield that would allow it to develop the nukes it wants without pesky interference) even though Iran has declared itself at war with us for almost fifty years. But now that it is happening, how would you prefer it to end?
If this war was a kind of cognitive test, Trump's score would be less than 0.
The Marine layer has got us socked in
We can't see shit. Take a chill pill. The Big kahuna hasn't started World War 3 and he hasn't bombed civilian targets in Iran into the Stone Age and our Navy is operating in the Hormuz Gap without firing a shot in anger. All of this is good news. Most of you people that post here need to check yourself because you're more interested in winning an argument with some other nameless faceless piss ant on the other side of the country than you are with actual success in the field.
@Jamie: Since a blockade is an act of war, is the ceasefire holding?
that doesn't fit on his cue card,
so is mining a major navigation route,
Of course the talks fell through. If you called the Iraq War or the Vietnam War a quagmire in their early weeks you would have been called a fool, but subsequent events would have proven you correct.
"Globalist" has become the go-to insult for some people, but what is the opposite of globalism? Isolationism? Realism? Prudence? Unilateralism? Naked imperialism? Isolationism is impossible. The world affects you even if you ignore it and leave it alond. Escaping "globalism" by embracing US and Israel versus the world doesn't look like a good deal though.
Considering a US destroyer was buzzed by a Iranian souped-up sport Fisher and they didn't blast it with 50 cal, I would say that they have maintained a ceasefire in this situation.
Decades of Democrats are on video saying that Iran should never be allowed to have a Nuclear weapon.
Sounds like Bich has already shorted the market once again.
When a country spends almost 50 years after declaring unilateral war calling you 'the Great Satan', and chanting 'Death To America', you are well within your rights to take them at their word anytime after Day 2.
The reference above to 'it's a bad idea to let a suicide bomber have a nuke' is also spot on, based both on continuous declarations and documented actions. There are so many red flag warnings, with ample evidence to back them up, that they are almost too numerous to count.
And yet we have those classically liberal beliefs that all conflict is bad, that any violence coming from our side must be wrong, that any aggression must be assumed to be unprovoked until proven otherwise with a Mt. Everest of proof, and so on.
They are like those protestors that block traffic by lying in the road - supremely confident in the superiority of their luxury beliefs, but also supremely confident that everyone else is too decent to run them over in their frustration to get to work, sometimes to the hospital. But curiously unaware that this decency does not come for free, out of nowhere. They are happy to make themselves somebody else's problem, and offended when somebody else decides 'enough is enough'. How dare you interrupt my comfort.
Little Excursion™️ said...
@Jamie: Since a blockade is an act of war, is the ceasefire holding?
Why is this directed at me? It's entirely unresponsive to my question: how would you prefer to see this conflict end?
“so is mining a major navigation route,”
Making it more egregious, the Iranians apparently didn’t lay the mines (that they claim to have layed) in their own territorial waters, but in the territorial waters of Oman, on the other side of the Strait.
humiliation is his kink, on the london underground
The purpose of the blockade is pretty obvious- Iran isn't going to be allowed to give passage selectively to ships carrying their oil and supplies or have paid extortion. Either passage is free for all or free for none- the U.S. holds all the cards here- Iran doesn't even have a hand to bluff with.
It's cultural imperialism to insist everyone thinks as we do. Usually, that's a Bad Thing to do. But what if it's not true? Can we be sure we're not imposing our way of thinking on Iran's calculations? That would be a Bad Cultural Imperialism thing to do. What if, being Twelvers, MAD doesn't bother them? What if an apocalypse is just what the imam ordered?
Should we, maybe, take an outside (ers) look at the whole issue?
Reddit Nomaki said: “ The pattern should be obvious to everyone by now.
• Weekend, whilst markets are closed: Threaten, performative action. Markets can't react until Monday, when oil and whatever else predictably drops, so Trump and Co can buy falling stocks at cheap.
• Monday until Tuesday 8pm (market after hours trading, when commercial trades occur): Keep threatening, escalate, cause stocks to drop further, all the way up until just before 8pm Tuesday, when he announces a "delay" "defer" or whatever to cause a last minute stock market surge. Trump and Co sell their stocks at a high, guaranteeing profits through market manipulation.
• Friday, after 8pm when markets have closed: Repeat.”
The Three Faces of Howee.
Little Excursion™️ said...
“@Jamie: Since a blockade is an act of war, is the ceasefire holding?”
Yes, Iran committed more acts of war on other countries by blockading the Strait. Plus, admitting more acts of war by min8ng the Omani (and not their own) territorial waters. But at this point, who is counting, when it comes to Iranian acts of war and violations of international treaties and norms?
Is the Cease Fire holding? Maybe. Maybe not. It’s up to Trump and Hegseth to decide. They are getting what they want right now, including fixing aircraft, restocking weapons, and giving its personnel a well earned rest. Moreover, it got the two DDGs into the Omani navigation channels, to look for Iranian mines.
Brylinski said..."According to Gemini AI, whether Iran should have nuclear weapons is an 80/20 issue in the U.S." Wow! just like Voter ID.
There are other polls showing the same. "PBS/AP-NORC polling in March 2026 showed about two-thirds of Americans say preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon should be an "extremely" or "very" important U.S. foreign policy goal (higher among Republicans at ~80%, lower among Democrats at ~50%)."
However, here in the Althouse comments we have a few very special Americans who wish Russia or China would just give Iran a "few nukes" to even the playing field against Trump in order to validate their hatred.
like the devil dog,
70% to 80% of American do not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. Now that Trump is doing something about it, only 20% to 40% support the effort. We are country filled with "want my cake and eat it too" dumbshits. It's amazing the USA is so powerful. There's not way it lasts.
But the Strait of Hormuz is an international waterway, bound by national waters. Saudi Arabia has a pipeline or two that can transport a fraction of their production over to the Gulf of Suez, yes, but there is also Kuwait, Iraq, Bahrain, Qatar, and the U.A.E., whose exports depend on the waterway. Not to mention all their customers. If it's true the Iranians mined Qatari waters, then that's another act of war, amnesia or no.
The Iranians will delay and not dare fire until they think it's a good option, then it's off to the races again. Not being willing to discuss nuclear ambitions will be a No Sale. I'm sure that, past the diplomatic efforts, every effort is being made to arm the populace, and refine the targeting of future staff reductions.
Freedom of the Seas was Point #2 of Wilson's Fourteen Points.
Achilles said, "Trump is rebuilding the world without apology as if the 2026/2028 elections don't matter anymore."
I think that is precisely correct. In many ways, all at once. He is so far out in front of 'normal' American politics right now. He's changed Venezuela. He's working on changing Iran. At the same time he's working on Cuba. He's planted the seed of Greenland as the 51st state into shocked heads around the world. He's shaken up the leaders of NATO (and Canada), making them think they might have to actually show up and do something in order to keep the US as their defense umbrella. He has more global balls in the air than Eric Swalwell at a DNC retreat.
Trump and his team are constantly playing chess with China. His 'little' thing with Iran, coupled with Venezuela, serves a couple of purposes. One is obvious. Amazingly, today a majority of Arab Muslim nations around Israel would prefer to have peace with Israel. Iran would prefer to keep the wars and fighting hot. That needs to end. The threat of Iran on everyone in that region, Europe, and us here at home, needs to end. But China, far and away, is the largest user of energy in the world. It's not even close.
Trump's moves will create a problem for China. Or, maybe a stronger negotiating position.
As I'm sure someone has stated here, much depends on if the US is willing to stop Chinese ships coming into the Straits for gas. But on this too: I would suspect we are already talking to China about how we can supply them with energy if they stay away from Iran.
Finally- Trump is not running for anything again. He is focused on changing the world while he's in office. He doesn't care about the polls, the news, the opinion columns. It just makes him want to turn up the heat even more.
I fully embrace where he's going with things. We'll never see the likes of him again. I am enjoying it while we have it.
Apparently the Iraqis like the prospect of living in the eighth century.
If America is the Great Satan and Trump is a homicidal madman, what's the percentage play for Iran: opening the Strait or persevering in their pursuit of nuclear weapons?......The human race is profoundly irrational. That, of course, includes Trump, but what's the exit strategy for the Revolutionary Guard......Napoleon took over 500,000 men with him on his march to Moscow. About 90,000 survived the trip. Nonetheless, when he escaped from Elba and asked the French Army to gather to his banner, they responded. Another 100,000 were killed or wounded on Napoleon's march to Waterloo. How many Iranians have to die to convince the Guard that they're defeated?
We people like it when he Howard talks sense to us people.
Temujin: "We'll never see the likes of him again."
Mmm, maybe.
Trump is an Ivy League guy who spent his life outside government and accumulated ideas about how the country could be run better. This also describes JD and Hegseth. Cruz, okay, spent a lot of time in government, but has also been accumulating ideas. Rubio, not an Ivy guy and also a government lifer, but we are seeing him reify things he's been thinking about for years. And then there's Musk.
All this lot could continue to lead a MAGA strategy. Trumpism without Trump is a thing. CC, JSM
I read a lot of history. The sheer thudding stupidity of the human race is depressing to read about. In the first battles of WWI, there were 50,000 casualties in s single day. They didn't stop then and there and ponder WTF they were doing. They doubled down and had larger, fiercer battles. Something about sunk costs. The early Bolsheviks systematically killed everyone who knew how to manage and run a farm and then blamed the subsequent famines on subversive elements......Saddam didn't have much of nuclear weapons program, but he'd rather pretend he did than give it up.....So many examples of stupidity spanning so many centuries......This probably won't end well for us, but it will end catastrophically for the Iranians. The Taliban prevailed in Afghanistan. The big losers weren't the Americans, but the Afghan women.
So I guess that fatwa against developing nuclear weapons was like the commandment against adultery.
William: good points about the Grande Armee v the IRGC.
But I would say the chief difference is that the IRGC haven't been fighting an all out war for their entire adult lives the way Boney's companions were. The Iran-Iraq war ended almost 40 years ago; the very oldest senior IRGC guys today were the very youngest junior IRGC guys back then. The vast majority only know the relatively safe years of supplying and coaching terrorist groups to do their dirty work for them. We were able to kill Soleimani because he was long accustomed to operating in the open. And they've been living well, infiltrating all Iranian industries.
Compare to the Bonapartists who had nothing but massive conventional war their entire time in power. And were French, even when they were Corsican or Alsatian.
How many of the IRGC are going to pull a Marshal Ney and say "watch how a Marshal of Iran dies!," or refuse a legal out because it would mean denying everything they believed about themselves*?
Or will they be like the nobility of all the other European countries, who fought for Napoleon after they surrendered to him?
CC, JSM
*After Boney was dethroned and Alsace was given to Prussia, Ney was technically no longer a French subject and by definition could not commit treason against the restored Bourbons. But he would rather die French than live Prussian, so he refused to claim this defense at his trial. - jsm
“ Here's another thing. There's nothing to stop NK or Russia/China from giving Iran a few Nukes.”
Nuclear material has a fingerprint based on the source of refining, pre or post detonation any sophisticated country can identify where the device came from. Do you think Russia or China or Norks want to be identified with a bunch of maniacs who have a 70/30 chance of using it on someone to kill a million people?
Do you think that is what they want? Who would buy China’s products anymore, why would China support Norks anymore, and who would not use the Ukraine war to go active against Russia, given this extreme provocation.
I think some here are making the argument that Britain and the US exploited someone by developing their resources after WW2 so 80 years later they get a free pass to kill us all.
Peachy said..."Oct 7th was the last straw. Fuck Islamic Supremacy. Fuck it until its dead.
I'm reminded of the Belmont Club's classic "Three Conjectures."
Lets see! The guy to lead negotiations Vance = Vance was against the war in Iran initially. He was a strong critic of military action and warned against a regime-change war, arguing it would lead to regional instability and heavy casualties. 2 real estate knuckleheads Kutchner ,a freelancer and Witcoff a vertically challenged clueless individual lead by an old senile guy home on the golf course, why would you think negotiations would not work? Previous negotiations lead by the same guy said he'll negotiate UKRAINE peace deal in 24 hours.(the same guy who wanted you to put bleach up your butt to cure COVID first time around,thats the guy they wanted back)KILLING THOUSANDS THRU NEGLECT AND AGAIN no plan, My Lord Madge how gullible can people be? APRIL FOOLS, the MAGAS bought it hook line and sinker and here we are WAR MONGERING with a memo on " let me see what I can conquer next" AMERICA FIRST BABY!
These failed talks expose the real flaw in this war. The people making the decisions are not the ones carrying the full cost. The US and Israel can escalate, Iran can retaliate, and then the bill is pushed onto everyone else through oil prices, shipping disruption, food inflation, and economic instability. That is why the ceasefire remains fragile. The countries suffering from this shock are treated as spectators, even though they are paying for it every day.
A durable settlement will not come from demands alone. It will require a structure of responsibility. If a fifth of the worlds oil and gas passes through Hormuz, then this is not just a regional issue. It is a direct global economic threat. Yet the interests of the wider world still do not function as a real deterrent.
That is the missing piece. Countries harmed by this war should stop limiting themselves to vague concern. They should formally document the damage done to their economies and make clear, month after month, who is externalizing these costs. Until the actors driving escalation are forced to confront the wider consequences of their choices, there will be no serious restraint. There will only be more coercion, more mistrust, and more pain distributed to people who never chose this conflict.
"70% to 80% of American do not want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. "
70-80 percent of Americans also couldnt place Iran on a map. And probably think Irans are Arabs.
And if you ask someone a question "Do you want Iran/Paraguay/Luxemburg, Costa Rica/Sudan/fill in blank country to have nukes?" They'll say no. Because there's no reason to say yes, if you're an American.
That doesnt mean they want war. Or want inflation. Or want to sacrifice anything to accomplish that.
I looked around to see what Mark Levin was saying about the situation, and I was shocked to see how unpopular he is. His Fox News ratings are crap. No one watches his show on Youtube. And his radio show has been pulled - or rescheduled to to 1 AM slot in serveral big markets. But for some reason our Boomer POTUS listens to him. Despite Mark Levin being a crazed Israel-firster and former NeverTrumper.
Word now that the Strait of Hormuz is under US blockade.
“...Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of blockading any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz,” President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post on April 12.
Iran allegedly charged some ships a toll of $2 million each to pass through the Strait of Hormuz last week. Five ships allegedly paid the fee...."
A durable settlement will not come from demands alone. It will require a structure of responsibility. If a fifth of the worlds oil and gas passes through Hormuz, then this is not just a regional issue. It is a direct global economic threat.
I'm going to be charitable and take this as a vague and backhanded answer to my question: how would you prefer this conflict to end?
Apparently, you want it to end with a "durable settlement," which I'll take as "a settlement that outlasts the next tiff between the US or Israel and Iran." What should this "durable settlement" look like? It should be predicated on a "structure of responsibility" - from an unnamed party or parties - whatever that means.
So - what party/ies? Now that Iran has revealed its willingness to wage global economic war by (attempting to*) close the Strait, is it their responsibility not to do so in future? Or, since it was our proximate action in destroying so much of Iran's military capacity that caused them to (attempt to) close the Strait, is it our responsibility to reopen it and keep it open, whatever the cost, to avoid economic hardship for third parties? What is a "structural responsibility" and how does it apply here?
Or is it just that, as I thought, all you want is for anything that happens on the world stage to hurt Trump (and those who support him), no matter what it does to anyone else, including the US? You can just say it, you know. We've had full-throated "burn it all down" people, raving antisemites, wild-eyed communists, supremely confident elitist tools, totally high libertarians, and of course lots of anti-American voices here. Thanks to our host, you'll still have a place.
* It remains to be seen whether they can actually keep the Strait closed.
The Iranian negotiators let Vance know that they have no control and told him what they knew about the infighting among the IRGC. It was a briefing not a negotiation.
"We've had full-throated "burn it all down" people, raving antisemites, wild-eyed communists, supremely confident elitist tools, totally high libertarians, and of course lots of anti-American voices here."
And those are just the self-proclaimed "LLRs". The others tend to be even more radical.
And if you ask someone a question "Do you want Iran/Paraguay/Luxemburg, Costa Rica/Sudan/fill in blank country to have nukes?" They'll say no. Because there's no reason to say yes, if you're an American.
There are major differences between most of those countries (not sure about Sudan) and Iran's long-standing "death to America, death to Israel" stance and actions, and if you refuse to acknowledge this, you are lying to us.
How does the US Navy blockading the strait help the world economy? Its crazy. People may think that Europe and East Asia paying up the wazoo for oil that doesn't affect us. Wrong. Its a global economy. Tons of USA money invested in those place. They go down, we go down. They suffer price inflation, we will feel the affect.
But hey whats the global economy when Bibi feels unsafe?
Iran hasn't done a Goddamn thing to the USA for 30 years. We keep sanctioning them. And now bombing and attacking them along with murdering their leaders (not to mention school girls).
Why the hell should I, a native-born American, have to care about Iran or any of these other countries 5000 miles away? You don't like Iran, go pick up a M16 and buy an airplane ticket. Join the Kurds and the Iranians resistance. But do in on your own, I'm not fighting Epstein's war.
But of course, 'muricans just love wasting money on useless wars. Yeehaw, we get to bomb some brown people. 'member that Iraq war - that's was good times.
well 30 years ago was khobar towers, mugniyeh the architect of beirut, conferred with bin laden in Khartroum
"Do you think Russia or China or Norks want to be identified with a bunch of maniacs who have a 70/30 chance of using it on someone to kill a million people?"
I think this is right. Russia and China are not crazy, and even the North Koreans don't want to risk their country becoming a sheet of glass.
"70-80 percent of Americans also couldnt place Iran on a map. And probably think Irans are Arabs."
This is Tehran now. They are not Iranians. They don’t speak our language. They are Hashd Al shabi jihadists from Iraq speaking Arabic.
"Iran does not have a “government” that somehow kills “its own people”. Iran is under Arab-Islamic occupation for 47 years. The Ayatollahs just learned a bit of Persian, but they are all foreign enemies to Iran, killing Iranians and will continue to do so as long as they remain in power."
https://x.com/Osint613/status/2043426576209997833
TeamTrump is just out of ideas. The new blockade is just a holding pattern until the price of gasoline in the US forces a compromise.
I don't like Mark Levin either, yells too much, but for RCOCEAN to state (make up) that his ratings are bad and no one watches him is simply wrong. His Sunday show had the highest ratings of the night, covering the 24 hourly time slots on FOX, CNN, MSNBC. His 1.6 million viewers were twice the combined CNN, MSNBC combined ratings during his hour and 4x the under 400,000 that watched Maddow.
So RC is "incorrect", to be charitable.
The people who are bitching about this being 'Trump's War' would be the very same people to bitch if Iran got its hands on a nuke, and Trump didn't do anything to prevent it.
Fuck them.
they would be complaining like michael moore, why didn't they hit a red state like florida
Here's the "how": U.S. Military to Deploy Underwater Drones to Clear Mines in Strait of Hormuz
"It’s the Iranian nuclear threat that’s the problem. It’s the Iranian nuclear threat that has always been the problem."
"None of Iran’s allies – not Pakistan, not Russia and not China – would ever fathom giving Iran a nuclear weapon, because the leadership of Iran is sketchy, unstable and, well, potentially batsh!t crazy enough to use it. The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) are just as zero-sum minded as the Islamic clerics they protect."
"'...member that Iraq war - that's was good times."
Member those Hussein boys, Uday and Qusay They would be running Iraq today.
We could have ignored WWII if we wanted to. Critiques of action always assume the alternative would be better with no evidence at all, or even any analysis. It's just a matter of faith, and usually faith in some very bad people, and unlikely events. It's just lazy thinking. They could be correct, but that would be entirely by accident.
"How does the US Navy blockading the strait help the world economy? Its crazy. "
You will be the last to know, and that's by choice.
Blockade is not of the Strait, but rather of Iranian ports, according to recent US statements.
CENTCOM to begin blockade of Iranian ports on Monday
RCO II: Iran hasn't done a Goddamn thing to the USA for 30 years. We keep sanctioning them. And now bombing and attacking them along with murdering their leaders (not to mention school girls).
Those leaders, not to mention school girls, would be alive today if the Islamic Republic had decided to forego supporting regional proxies, long range ballistic missile development, and its nuclear weapons program.
So you are in favor of a Shia supremacist Islamo-fascist regime continuing them?
"Those leaders, not to mention school girls, would be alive today if the Islamic Republic had decided to forego supporting regional proxies, long range ballistic missile development, and its nuclear weapons program."
Yeah, and Israelis who died on October 7th would be alive today if Israel had done blahdeblah. So that means Gaza Arabs were right to attack?
Americans who died on December 7th 1941, would have lived if the USA had done what Japan wanted. SO that means Japan had a right to attack us?
Conversely, you seem to be asserting we can kill school girls in Iran, either 150 or 15,000 if the Iran Government doesn't do what we like.
Your logic escapes me. And your morality is non-existant. I'm not an American-Zionist supremist.
Zionists always think there's one rule for Israel and one rule for everyone else on Planet earth. Morality and rules of international behavior don't apply to them because - Israel. Somewhat understandable, if immoral if you're Israeli. But if you believe that and you're not Israeli maybe you should check into a mental institution.
Of course, there are plenty of non-Jewish Zionists who are motivated by $$$ - like George Bush or Rod Dreher to mention two random examples. Never get between a Yeehaw 'murcian and a dollar bill - they'll do anything for a buck.
Oh my, Trump's illegal war has allowed the Iranians to control the Strait. So say the lefties.
BS on steroids. Place sufficient fire power, rockets mines and the like near the strait and anyone can control it. Iran has fewer boom-boom goodies to hand out to their surrogates now. So, sure Iran can "control" the Straits. But the idiots act like that wasn't possible before we wiped out a large proportion of Iran's firepower.
This is the beginning of the end for the Iran regime, whoever they might be.
It is also the end of NATO.
So lemme get this straight, Ocean. "Zionists" - not raving antisemites such as yourself - "always think there's one rule for Israel and one rule for everyone else on Planet earth." What's that rule? Because it sure appears to be that Israel can do nothing that results in the death of a "civilian," even if a member of Hamas is holding the "civilian" in front of himself and firing at the Israel - or at the trigger mechanism of a nuke, for that matter - over the "civilian's" shoulder.
And "Yeehaw 'muricans" are simultaneously so jingoistic that they experience wet dreams about "bombing brown people," but simultaneously can be counted on to act anytime someone flashes a dollar bill in front of them. That's a tough combination. What if it's a brown person flashing the dollar bill?
What happened to you?
Israel continues to attack Lebanon...
There is no "Lebanon". Even the Lebanese government, so-called, admits that Hezbollah, and therefore Iran, is in actual control of much of the territory.
Because japan wouldnt have invaded the phillipines or malaya otherwise
Post a Comment
Please use the comments forum to respond to the post. Don't fight with each other. Be substantive... or interesting... or funny. Comments should go up immediately... unless you're commenting on a post older than 2 days. Then you have to wait for us to moderate you through. It's also possible to get shunted into spam by the machine. We try to keep an eye on that and release the miscaught good stuff. We do delete some comments, but not for viewpoint... for bad faith.