Trump Foreign Policy
April 2, 2026 — Scott Johnson
President Trump spoke to the nation last night on the status of our conflict with Iran. I have posted the video below. RealClearPolitics has posted the text of his remarks. He invoked his own consistency on the problem of the Iranian regime: From the very first day I announced my campaign for president in 2015, I vowed I would never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. This fanatical regime
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March 30, 2026 — Scott Johnson
As the Hudson Institute’s Michael Doran declares, Secretary Rubio brings a certain clarity to the issues underlying our conflict with the Iranian regime. Speaking in “simple English,” he briefly explains what it’s all about for those who don’t appear to understand, or who support the other side. He doesn’t mention Israel or Prime Minister Netanyahu. He claims credit for President Trump. He is a great spokesman both for the Trump
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March 29, 2026 — John Hinderaker
The Pentagon is sending ground forces to Iran. Trump administration officials gave a story to the Washington Post that is being repeated everywhere: The Pentagon is preparing for weeks of boots on the ground operations in Iran, a major escalation in President Trump’s goal to dismantle the remaining faction of the murderous Iranian regime, according to a report. Thousands of US Marines would be sent to the Middle East to
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March 26, 2026 — Scott Johnson
According to media reports, President Trump has submitted a 15-point set of demands on someone or other in Iran — let us postulate Iranian Parliament Speaker Qalibaf and Foreign Minister Araghchi, who have been removed our target list — to resolve the current conflict. Citing unnamed sources, Israeli media specify 14 of the 15 demands conveyed to Iran as follows: 1. Iran must dismantle its existing nuclear capabilities. 2. Iran
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March 25, 2026 — Scott Johnson
According to the New York Times and others, President Trump has submitted a 15-point plan to the surviving authorities in Iran for a resolution of the conflict. However, the Times is ludicrously vague on the terms: “The New York Times did not see a copy of the plan, but the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details, shared some of its broad outlines, saying that it
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March 24, 2026 — John Hinderaker
But what it is, is entirely unclear. President Trump has announced a breakthrough in negotiations with Iran: President Trump said Iran has agreed to his biggest demand in order to stop the war: no nuclear weapons. “They’ve agreed,” he said. “They will never have a nuclear weapon. They’ve agreed to that.” Tehran has not stated that publicly — and denied even talking to the US. But Trump has made clear
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March 24, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The news site Semafor sends out 10 newsletters every morning. I subscribe to two of them, both of which feature an item today that is flagged in its lineup as “Conflict is US ‘blunder.’” Scrolling down to find the story, we learn (bold in original): “Attacking Iran is a far worse blunder for the US than the Iraq war, and the consequences will be much longer lasting, a former Washington
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March 24, 2026 — Scott Johnson
American diplomacy with Iran is apparently not mythical. Foreign ministers from Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan gathered before dawn on Thursday in Riyadh for talks aimed at a peaceful resolution of the conflict with Iran. According to the lead story in today’s Wall Street Journal, Egyptian intelligence officials opened a channel with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and proposed a cessation of hostilities for five days. The discussions reportedly
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March 23, 2026 — Scott Johnson
President Trump has just posted on Truth Social: I AM PLEASE[D] TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WITCH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I
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March 22, 2026 — Scott Johnson
The Iranian regime made a statement in its own way Friday night. It fired a ballistic miles at the US-UK base in Diego Garcia, some 2500 miles from Iran. For the benefit of eager American chumps who served in administrations before and after President Trump’s first term, Iran has previously denied developing such missiles. The missiles did not make it to their intended target this time, but the regime’s statement
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March 21, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Iran fired two intermediate range ballistic missiles at the important U.K.-U.S. base at Diego Garcia, in the Indian Ocean. They missed: one reportedly failed in flight, while the second was intercepted. But the significant point is that Iran has intermediate range missiles, something they have consistently lied about. Diego Garcia is around 2,500 miles from Iran, which means that Iranian intermediate range missiles can hit much of Western Europe. The
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March 18, 2026 — John Hinderaker
Today members of the intelligence community testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee. This follows the submission of this year’s Annual Threat Assessment by the Director of National Intelligence. This is DNI Tulsi Gabbard’s opening statement: Below is the entire public portion of the hearing. Much of the discussion is informative, some of it is frivolous: for example, the Democrats’ outrage that there is nothing in this year’s Threat Assessment on
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March 18, 2026 — Scott Johnson
We must have been paying insufficient attention to the appointment of Joe Kent as head of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. Yesterday Kent made himself a hero of the mainstream media when he resigned in protest over President Trump’s leadership in the Iran conflict. One has to read the fine print, however, to discover there is a little more to it. The
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March 17, 2026 — John Hinderaker
“America, Alone” is the heading of today’s New York Times email. I thought, are they channeling Mark Steyn? Obviously not. The Times bemoans the fact that we are fighting Iran alone, with no allies. That isn’t true, of course: we have teamed up with Israel, by far the best ally we could have for this mission. The Times doesn’t see fit to mention Israel’s contributions. The Times focuses specifically on
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March 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Yesterday John and I interviewed an Israeli government official on the conflict with Iran and issues closer to home, such as the attack at Temple Israel in Michigan and the press treatment of the attack. The interview was partly off-the-record and partly on background with specific quotes authorized. I asked about the press treatment of the attack on Temple Israel at the outset of our conversation. That set him off.
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March 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson
In what may be the most important story of the day, Al Jazeera reports “The US-Israeli strategy against Iran is working. Here is why.” It’s a long opinion column by Muhanad Seloom, Assistant Professor of International Politics and Security at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies and an Honorary Research Fellow at the University of Exeter. The fact that it appears in Al Jazeera is indicative of the earth shifting.
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March 17, 2026 — Scott Johnson
Israel’s defense minister announced that the IDF has relieved Iranians of Ali Larijani, head of the Supreme National Security Council of Iran. He’s the guy who warned President Trump last week to “watch out for yourself — lest you be eliminated.” Only last week Larijani had joined Iran President Masoud Pezeshkian and Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in the streets of Tehran at a Friday rally marking the pro-Palestinian Quds Day.
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