Iran

Though clearly resolved to declare victory over Iran’s nuclear program and move on, Donald Trump has been beset this summer by assertions that the Iranian effort has not been “obliterated” after all and that the mullahs will be back at work in no time cranking out the requisite materials for a bomb. Therefore, according to some, Trump should bomb some more – or at least unleash Israel to do so. Whether or not Trump is pushed into further strikes, the argument over Iranian nuclear weapons capabilities will not go away.

“I didn’t ask hard questions because I knew I wouldn’t get an honest answer,” said Tucker Carlson, our edgelord Barbara Walters, in the hype-video run-up to his dull interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian. But he didn’t get any honest answers in the interview anyway, so why bother asking in the first place? Carlson doesn’t seem to grasp that America’s geopolitical opponents grant him special access precisely because he won’t ask the hard questions. Carlson’s interviews are valuable because they give us a glimpse into what it would be like if we had an actual state-run media. Our journalism has its ideological biases.

When Donald Trump called on Iran’s Ayatollah to “surrender” during Israel’s recent war the word struck many as jarring – almost antiquated. No major global leader has used that language publicly since the unconditional surrenders of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan in 1945.But Trump’s invocation, intentional or not and soon abandoned by his call for a “ceasefire,” points to a deeper issue: Are the rules that governed mid-20th century warfare still relevant in the 21st century? Why has “surrender” disappeared from the language of modern warfare? And what, exactly, do today’s ever-growing humanitarian laws offer nation-states forced to operate under them, in a world that looks nothing like the one left smoldering in 1945?

When Trump announced U.S. forces had bombed three Iranian nuclear sites on June 22, he ended with an unusual presidential benediction: “I want to just say, we love you, God, and we love our great military. Protect them. God bless the Middle East. God bless Israel, and God bless America.” Eric Metaxas, one of Trump’s most fervent evangelical supporters, was amazed: “I could not believe what I heard... that was the most bold declaration of faith that any president has made in our history.” The statement thrilled Trump’s evangelical base, but its place in wider events mattered just as much. Pastor Greg Laurie of the Harvest Christian Fellowship called the airstrike “a foreshadowing” of a prophecy fulfilled.

Sitting next to Donald Trump at the end of a short NATO summit, Mark Rutte, head of the organization, looked quite amused as he listened to the President describe the Israel-Iran conflict.  "They've had a big fight, like two kids in a schoolyard," Trump said. "You know, they fight like hell, you can't stop them. Let them fight for about two to three minutes, then it's easy to stop them." Raising a fist, Rutte added: "And then Daddy has to sometimes use strong language to get (them to) stop." Soon after, flanked by two of his Apprentices, Pete Hegseth and Marco Rubio, Daddy Trump gave his own press conference. He talked for 15 minutes before he took a single question. The Netherlands, he said, “has the most beautiful trees. I want to bring some back with me.

Where is Tulsi Gabbard? The country’s Director of National Intelligence has been glaringly absent as the biggest national security story in years continues to develop. In both the lead-up to and the aftermath of President Trump’s decision to strike Iran’s nuclear sites, Gabbard has barely been seen, or heard. It’s a strange time for the chief of the US intelligence community to go silent, leading to a growing number of questions that Americans – particularly MAGA Americans – would like answered.It’s Gabbard’s now-infamous testimony to Congress in March – and a video posted to social media earlier this month – that are thought to have sidelined her from the Trump administration in recent weeks.

In what will likely be remembered as the most monumental decision of his presidency, Donald Trump decided to pull the trigger. The very vocal portion of his supporters that advocated publicly against action to destroy Iran's nuclear capabilities found out, much to their chagrin, where they stand in the pecking order. Under Trump, the President himself, alone, decides what will be done – and he will not be threatened, cajoled or blackmailed out of doing what he believes to be right. Trump has been emphatic since 2011: Iran cannot be allowed to have a bomb. And he was willing to go as far as sending seven B-2 bombers thousands of miles across the seas to make sure of it.What does this do to Trump's coalition?

Zero-hour was approaching. A joint US-Israeli attack on the mullahs’ mountain fastness at Fordow seemed imminent. The B-52s were on the tarmac, the USS Nimitz had taken to sea, Ambassador Mike Huckabee was reaching for the smelling salts.  And then? A last-minute pause. “I will make my decision whether or not to go within the next two weeks,” said the President. Delays like these have now become a standard part of Trump’s box of tricks. If a drama – like the ‘Liberation Day’ tariffs of earlier this year – can be kept going for a little longer, then all the more time to extract further concessions from the opposing party. As negotiating tactics go there are certainly worse ones. But was there another reason?

Tucker Carlson teased an upcoming podcast with Senator Ted Cruz Tuesday night by posting a short, fiery clip from the two-hour interview. The clip spotlights Cruz's alleged ignorance of basic information about Iran. But, after Cockburn watched the much anticipated episode, he is sad to say that the grown men's yelling competition featured in the teaser turned out to be a faithful representation of the podcast as a whole. Here are Cruz and Carlson's zestiest and best delivered zingers: When discussing the Iran-backed assassination attempt of the former secretary of state Brian Hook, Cruz said, "Killing terrorists is a good thing.