In a virtual meeting with G7 leaders Trump boasted that Iran is about to surrender. That was Wednesday. This is from Axios:
State of play: The call took place amid grave concern among G7 leaders over the war’s growing economic fallout.
All of the other leaders urged Trump to end the war quickly, stressing that the Strait of Hormuz must be secured as soon as possible, two officials briefed on the call tell Axios.
Trump said the Hormuz situation is improving and that commercial ships should resume operations in the area, an official briefed on the call said. At least two tankers were set ablaze off the coast of Iraq that night.
The big picture: Trump was “ambiguous and noncommittal” on his objectives and timeline for ending the war, sources said. Some participants left the call believing he wants to wind it down — others felt the complete opposite.
If Iran is about to surrender, maybe we can bring some of our military assets home. Oh, wait …
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is sending an amphibious assault ship, the USS Tripoli, and its Marine expeditionary unit to the Middle East, a senior U.S. official confirmed to Axios on Friday.
Why it matters: The deployment will add thousands of Marines, several warships, and F-35 fighter jets to support those already in the region, the U.S. official said.
The U.S. official said U.S. Central Command asked for the new force in order to have more options for military operations against Iran.
The Marine expeditionary unit will be able to conduct ground operations if ordered. The U.S. official declined to comment on that possibility.
Three G7 leaders, — German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron — urged Trump not to lift sanctions on Russian oil shipments. So yesterday Trump lifted sanctions on Russian oil shipments
While Trump is widely expected to TACO, sooner rather than later, it’s a real question whether he can. It’s widely reported Iranians have laid mines in the Strait of Hormuz. By all reports the new Ayatollah is more radical than the old one. And then there’s Israel. They are not likely to stop. Trump may take his “boats” (he persists in calling naval vessels “boats” instead of “ships”) and other assets and go home, but the war will continue, and its effects will continue to jerk us around.
But Trump still thinks he’s just producing a really cool reality tv show. The White House persists in releasing video clips of bombing in Iran mixed with video from video games and sports. I understand one video shows real bombing set to the music of “The Macarena.” I have only seen sample clips of these. They aren’t on YouTube. You’d probably have to go to X or Truth Social to see them. I won’t bother. But here retired NFL star Ryan Clark reacts to NFL footage in a war video. Worth watching.
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See also Welcome to the Derp State by Paul Waldman.
In other news — Trump is pulling out all the stops to get the SAVE America Act passed so he can interfere with the Midterms. At TPM, Emine Yücel explains what would have to happen to get the bill passed in the Senate. I think passage in the Senate is extremely unlikely, but we’ll see.
Today a federal judge blocked the Regime’s subpoenas against Fed chair Jerome Powell.
“A mountain of evidence suggests that the Government served these subpoenas on the Board to pressure its Chair into voting for lower interest rates or resigning,” Judge James Boasberg, the chief judge on the U.S. District Court for Washington, D.C., wrote in a court filing.
Boasberg continued: “On the other side of the scale, the Government has produced essentially zero evidence to suspect Chair Powell of a crime; indeed, its justifications are so thin and unsubstantiated that the Court can only conclude that they are pretextual.”
“The Court therefore finds that the subpoenas were issued for an improper purpose and will quash them,” the order states.
There's a scene from 'Die Hard' where Bruce Willis is screaming, "No, no, no" as the LAPD closes on Nakatomi Plaza with an armored vehicle. He advised the cops how the baddies were armed. Hubis, ya' know.
That's how I feel about opening up a ground war in Iran. We got toasted in Iraq and Afghanistan (And Vietnam, for that matter) going up against an enemy who would not quit. Superior force is not enough. Air superiority is not enough. Overwhelming naval power isn't enough. You can do incredible damage out of arm's reach of your adversary, but you can't force a surrender. (It was done to Japan in WWII, but the world would sanction us into oblivion, nukes or conventional, if we slaughter tens of thousands of civilians.) The point being, they are not close to surrender.
Trump's brain thinks they will apply his depraved standards to the situation they're in. I think they will use the anger to raise an army of suicide bombers. A ground war would level the battlefield. GIs would shed blood and Trump will double down with more troops. In my mind, I'm screaming, "No, no, no!" But hubris rules.
The joker in the deck is domestic terrorism in the US.civilian fatalities here. Think Fox will balance an attack on a girls' school in Houston with the strike we made and have not expressed regret for? I do not want it, but how would it be different? Will the Senate act to tamp this down?
Yep, a big show, the show of shows by the orange king of mis-colored kings. Whiskey Pete, wanting to prove to himself that he is a real macho man, just said that the US will give "no quarter" in Iran. Hmm, about "no quarter". You know the little death's head on the Nazi SS uniforms? Well, that is a little military heraldry symbol that means "no quarter given, no quarter expected." No quarter expected.
Are we the baddies?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h242eDB84zY
https://boingboing.net/2026/03/13/whiskey-pete-admits-to-committing-war-crimes.html
What's next for the Marines heading for Kharg Island?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Totenkopf
Vietnam
Laos
Cambodia
Lebanon
Grenada
Iraq
Panama
Somalia
Serbia
Syria
Afghanistan
Libya
Venezuela
Iran
In my lifetime (1954-), we have bombed and/or invaded 14 countries, some more than once. (Note: this only counts overt military attacks; there are dozens of other cases of covert CIA/etc attacks which involved fatalities).
Pretty sure that Israel comes in a distant second place, with about half that number of countries attacked.
I think there are several countries tied for the third, having attacked two countries (China, Pakistan, Russia, Iraq, others?).
Yes, we are the baddies.
Yeah, I was able to adhere to the illusion of democratic constutialism, but now we are totally mask-off fascists by association.
Quote of the Day:
"why are the only jobs for people over 80 either walmart greeter or world leader."
– ally@missmayn
donnie as Walmart greeter?? Does Walmart serve TACOs?
Now I have to clean the coffee out of my keyboard, darn it!
Donnie is a felon. I think even Walmart would pass on the 24 time felon.
By all reports the new Ayatollah is more radical than the old one.
I think more "hard-line" than radical. He's not some wild-eyed fanatic. He spent years teaching Islamic law apparently. His father, by all reports, was a rather peaceful scholar who spoke 4 languages including English and, IIRC, wrote poetry.
The US–Israel has just murdered his father, mother, wife, and one son. He probably is not all that well–disposed towards the USA at the moment.
Pretty sure that reports of Iran mining the Straits are premature. That would be a last resort, as it would block Iranian exports along with everybody else's.
For now, they are satisfied that they have other – more selective – ways to attack ships in the area. Basically, they have hundreds of miles of mountainous shoreline along the Persian Gulf & the Straits of Hormuz where they have stashed anti-ship missiles & drones, and hundreds of small boats (not "ships"!) which can launch aquatic drones and such. Those can all be targeted at "enemy" ships; or, more importantly, NOT be aimed at friendly ships.
Sal Mercogliano's channel on YouTube is a great source for good info about "What's Going on with Shipping":
What's Going on With Shipping? – YouTube
Note: Iran may be using "Limpet mines", which are attached directly to a targeted ship, but they are not dropping free-floating mines… yet.
"Basically, they have hundreds of miles of mountainous shoreline along the Persian Gulf & the Straits of Hormuz where they have stashed anti-ship missiles & drones, and hundreds of small boats (not "ships"!) which can launch aquatic drones and such. Those can all be targeted at "enemy" ships; or, more importantly, NOT be aimed at friendly ships."
This may answer what the intended mission is for 2000 Maines on the way, probably still ten days out. It makes no sense to do an air assault with no invasion until three weeks after the initial assault. Why weren't the ground troops deployed long ago? Are troops going to be deployed to look for those stashes of missiles, drones, and small craft capable of laying mines?
If that's the case, we are in a prolonged war. It will be close to two weeks before US troops can BEGIN the inspection of hundreds of miles of mountainous shoreline. The Iranians are smart enough to anticipate this, so we can expect boobie traps and ambushes. The game is going to be about the US trying to open the Homuz Straight and keep it open while Iran wants to restrict the flow of traffic until??? What will they demand from their oil-rich neighbors? US out, bases closed, Arabs taking care of their own. (Including Gaza?)
The thing is: bean counters rule here. Insurance companies may be able to halt high-risk voyages. Iran does not have to hit all; just some of the shipping and the insurance companies will tell the shipowners that they will take a complete loss on anything sunk in the region.
The purely political compartment of my brain was computing if this will be ancient history by November. I don't think so.
I've been thinking that an MEU is crazy but a commentator, Aurilian, at Naked Capitalism made an interesting point.
The MEU may be intended to function as an evacuation team. Have US citizens drive to Oman from the rest of the Gulf States and evacuate from there.
It's the only sensible idea for the MEU I've seen. Watching Hegseth in action yesterday I am not sure he's still rationale but some senior military officers may have convinced him.
From the Wall Street Journal, of all places:
So that was WSJ. In other words, Trump seriously thought he could just drop a bunch of bombs on Iran and the regime would collapse, even before Iran could get around to closing the Strait of Hormuz. It’s hard to say if he even yet realizes what a quagmire he’s actually caused. Right after the first bombs fell he was saying the whole operation would be over in a week, although a few hours later he was saying maybe four weeks. And Pentagon Pete isn’t much smarter. He has no head for strategy. I think we need to stop trying to attribute some purpose to anything the U.S. is doing in that war. There is none.
Yes. The attribution of purpose is a thinking error best communicated by the word anthropomorphism. Usually, this term is used when one uses human terms of human characteristics to describe animal behavior. An example of this might be that monarch butterflies navigate using a map in their brains. That is wildly speculative. In all probability it is a thinking error.
We know from testing that many humans cannot navigate using even really simple real maps. We error in thinking this human characteristic is universal or perhaps comes with a title. It does not. It is a common thinking error. That is with a map in hand not a memorized map. Map reading is a skill some humans just lack and cannot acquire. Only some humans can and probably not butterflies. Map or memorized one.
Unfortunately, this anthropomorphism like idea is also an error that some humans just can't get their head around and understand at a level that they can avoid making it. Pet owners especially.
Most humans would not start a war without a well thought thought-out purpose for sure. Too many, it appears, have seen needed human characteristics in humans that do not have them and are incapable of acquiring them or hiring or working with those who do. No plan, a faulty plan or just magical thinking is likely how we got to today from where we were. To ascribe purpose would be just another mental error.
Didn't you have a post the other day about quagmire?
I wonder if orange man will now consider forever wars fun. Still, the Pentagon is saying this war will last 6 weeks. 6 weeks @ ~$bil a day ~= $180bil.
What do you call a financial quagmire.