Iran
July 14, 2026 — Scott Johnson
President Trump ordered another round of bombing Iranian military assets last night. Centcom made the announcement on X. The New York post reports here. I think we need to target the IRGC thugs who are running the show and conducting the hosilities. At 4:45 p.m. ET today, U.S. Central Command began launching the third consecutive night of strikes against Iran, at the Commander in Chief's direction. These strikes will continue
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July 12, 2026 — Scott Johnson
President Trump gave the thugs calling the shots in Iran a deadline of Saturday evening to declare the Strait of Hormuz open. No threats, no tolls, no shooting, no drones. In other words, he sought a statement of compliance with our understnading of previous agreements. The Wall Street Journal summarized the state of play as of Friday night: The Trump administration believes that a nuclear deal with Iran is growing
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July 11, 2026 — John Hinderaker
President Trump says the Iranian government may try to assassinate him: “1000 Missiles are Locked and Loaded and aimed at the Islamic Republic of Iran, with thousands of more to immediately follow, should the Iranian Government act on its threat, pronounced in many corners of the Globe, to assassinate, or attempt to assassinate, the sitting President of the United States of America, in this case, ME!” Trump wrote on Truth
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July 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
It seems unlikely that President Trump will choose to leave the Strait of Hormuz under the control of the Iranian thugocracy. Can he really leave the Strait in a condition worse for us than it was before the commencement of the current hostilities? It makes it hard to claim victory. It would in fact represent a significant defeat. The Institute for the Study of War has posted this Iran Update
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July 10, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The Reuters caption on a photograph taken from the scene captured in the video below reads: “A person enters a refrigerated truck carrying the coffin of Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on February 28 in Israeli and U.S. airstrikes, as people attend Khamenei’s funeral procession, in Karbala, Iraq, July 9, 2026.” Video of the incident can also be seen in this Times of India story.
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July 8, 2026 — John Hinderaker
As Scott noted earlier this morning, President Trump has given up on dealing with Iran. I take it that he will now do what we recommended a long time ago: bomb for a while to complete the degradation of Iran’s military, and then go home. As for the Strait of Hormuz, we can leave that problem to the countries in Europe and Asia who depend on oil from that source.
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July 8, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The bellum waged by Iran doesn’t seem to have been interruptum either by the April 7 ceasefire or the June 17 Memorandum of Understanding. The terms of those agreements to the contrary notwithstanding, the Iranian thugs have continued to assert control over the Strait of Hormuz. From our perspective, this constituted the primary desideratum (a Latin word that has made its way into English) of these agreements. Vice President Vance’s
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July 7, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Following up on “Unstrait is the gate,” I think this deserves a separate note: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired at least two missiles at commercial vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz early on Tuesday, two senior U.S. officials told Axios. Both ships suffered significant damage, but no casualties were reported, one of the cited officials said. U.K. Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) confirmed one of the incidents, saying a tanker
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July 7, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Athough the Iranian regime agreed to open the Strait of Hormuz in the June 17 memorandum of understanding with the Unites States, it has failed to do so. General Jack Keane states it as a matter of fact in his bluntest appearance on Fox News yesterday. His statement of the case brings us up to date. Vice President Vance’s new friends in Iran appear not to be all that he
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July 3, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Ayatollah Khamenei has been dead for a while, but his funeral will take place tomorrow. Reportedly the funeral needed to await a truce agreement between Iran and the U.S. Perhaps the timing–July 4–is coincidental. The Telegraph headlines: “Supreme leader’s funeral expected to draw 20 million Iranians to streets of Tehran.” Around 20 million Iranians are expected to pack the streets of Tehran for the funeral of Ali Khamenei, the country’s
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July 2, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Melanie Phillips posted her interview with Konstantin Kisin and Francis Foster of the British podcast TRIGGERnometry under the title “Realism or Appeasement?” TRIGGERnometry gave it the title “Has Trump surrendered to Iran?” The discussion takes up the possible folly of President Trump’s stalemated war on the Iranian regime. Neither title quite captures the gist of the conversation. Phillips provides this summary at her Substack site: While in London, I was
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June 30, 2026 — Scott Johnson
There’s something happening in the Strait of Hormuz. What it is ain’t exactly the Jews. I have expressed my doubts about the the Memorandum of Understanding that was to open the Strait. Complications have arisen. Vice President Vance’s negotiating partners do not appear to be operating in good faith’ I read the news today, oh boy: US envoy Steve Witkoff and President Donald Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner are in Doha
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June 30, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The terms of the Memorandum of Understanding to the contrary notwithstanding, the IDF continues at least some of its efforts to remove the threat of Hezbollah from its northern border with Lebanon. Havind discovered a massive underground weapons cache in recent days, the IDF destroyed if on Sunday evening after warning Israelis that the resulting explosion might feel like an earthquake. The explosion could be heard across northern Israel. Now
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June 28, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Vice President Vance has bragged about “the deconfliction channel” Washington and Tehran agreed to set up during talks in Switzerland. Representatives from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the US Army’s Central Command are to sit together — where else? — in Qatar: “One of the things we wanted to come out with [was a] channel on the Iranian side [for reducing conflict], which we did,” Vance said in an
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June 27, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Michael Oren is the Israeli historian and author of Power, Faith and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present (2007), among other excellent books. In the first chapter of Power, Faith and Fantasy he tells the story of our submission to, our subsequent struggle against, and our final victory over the Barbary pirates. Turning to that chapter this morning, I see how much of it I have
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June 26, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Is the Strait of Hormuz open or closed? The Iranian thugocracy has sold the opening of the Strait to us twice, first in the April 8 ceasefire agreement and again, most recently, in the Memorandum of Understanding. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, the thugs are reaping huge and immediate finanicial gains. Based on President Trump’s public comments, one may infer that the many concessions made to the thugs in the
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June 24, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Last night I was on the Rita Panahi Show, and the conversation was lively as usual. We talked about the Karmelo Anthony case, the bizarre situation in Iran, the Democrats’ rush to socialism, Elon Musk’s threatened libel suit against Ro Khanna, and the Supreme Court’s most recent immigration decision. All good stuff. I come on following the video clips at 4:30, but you shouldn’t miss Lefties Losing It:
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