Hot Air,
by
John Sexton
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
—
3/31/2026 8:40:52 PM
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There's a Thomas Edsall column up today which suggests that while Democrats have reason to be optimistic about this year's election, in just a few more years they may be doomed. It's worth noting up front that Edsall, while a Democrat himself, frequently seems to be looking for the dark cloud attached to every silver lining. He is the doomiest Democrat at the New York Times almost without fail. Still, he's also pretty interesting.
Democrats are favored to win the House and have a shot at taking control of the Senate in the midterm elections later this year...
But in 2030,
Hot Air,
by
Ed Morrissey
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
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3/31/2026 8:39:08 PM
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Did Masoud Pezeshkian just signal a capitulation by the Iranian regime? Or is he just trying to claim turf in a power struggle among what's left of the mullahcracy's leadership?
Perhaps the answer is ... yes. Iran's president has been sidelined during the conflict as the IRGC seized power after the death of Ali Khamenei. Both the US and Israel left him alone while targeting other top-ranked regime officials, either to have a potential negotiating partner, a reflection of Pezeshkian's impotence in the war, or both. With Trump threatening to wipe out what's left of Iran's energy infrastructure and B-52s now flying unopposed in Iran's airspace,
PJ Media,
by
Stephen Green
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
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3/31/2026 8:23:28 PM
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The Dow Jones is up 1,000 points today on news that Iran is willing to make a deal, President Donald Trump might terminate Operation Epic Fury prematurely, and yet War Secretary Pete Hegseth insists that the U.S. will "negotiate with bombs" until the regime cries uncle.
It's chaos in the White House! Again! More seriously, before anybody gets all panicky, I'm certain that only two of those things are true. Can you guess which ones?
Yeah, don't believe that Trump is about to quit Epic Fury, and please read on to learn why.
Markets are way up, and oil is down a bit, even as Hegseth said
Reuters,
by
Noel Randewich
&
Purvi Agarwal
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
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3/31/2026 8:21:19 PM
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Wall Street ended sharply higher on Tuesday, lifted by speculation about a potential de-escalation in the Middle East conflict that has sent oil prices soaring and fueled fears of global inflation in recent weeks.
All three major U.S. indexes rallied after the Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that U.S. President Donald Trump told aides he was willing to end the military campaign against Iran, even if the Strait of Hormuz remained largely closed. U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said the next few days in the Iran war would be decisive and warned Tehran that the conflict would intensify if it did not make a deal.
The month-long conflict
Times of Israel,
by
Emanuel Fabian
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
—
3/31/2026 8:11:55 PM
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A month into the war with Iran, the Israeli military has almost completed bombing all of the targets it defined for itself at the start of the conflict, and has now been ordered by Israel’s political leadership to shift to hitting “economic” targets of the Iranian regime, The Times of Israel learned on Monday.
Israel launched its campaign against Iran, alongside the United States, to degrade the regime’s military capabilities, distance threats posed by Iran — including its nuclear and ballistic missile programs — and “create the conditions” for the Iranian people to topple the regime, the military and other Israeli leaders have said.
Times of Israel,
by
Jacob Magid
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
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3/31/2026 8:06:44 PM
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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump says the United States will probably wrap up the Iran war in two or three weeks — an admission that the war will likely extend beyond the White House’s four-to-six week timeline.
Speaking to reporters in the White House, Trump first says that the US will be “leaving” Iran “very soon,” insisting that gasoline prices will subsequently “tumble down” as well.
After a reporter notes that Americans are feeling the financial squeeze at the gas pump, Trump declares they’re also “feeling a lot safer” because Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon.
Times of Israel,
by
Jacob Magid
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
—
3/31/2026 8:04:29 PM
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WASHINGTON — US President Donald Trump says Iran doesn’t have to agree to a deal for the US to end its military operation in the country.
“No, they don’t have to make a deal,” Trump says in response to the question in the Oval Office.
“When we feel that they are… put into the stone ages and won’t be able to come up with a nuclear weapon, then we’ll leave whether we have a deal or not,” Trump says. “It’s irrelevant now.” It’s unclear if the US unilaterally ceases fire that Iran would follow suit.
Politico,
by
Mathias Döpfner
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
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3/31/2026 4:53:07 PM
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Among the pub-table strategists and commentators in Europe talking about Iran you often hear the phrase, “This is not our war.”
That’s a view as wrong as it is strategically unwise.
Of course it is our war. It is far more our war than America’s. The infiltration of European societies by Islamist networks is further advanced and more acute here than in America. (And solidarity with Israel, whose very existence is under threat, ought to be far stronger in Germany than in the United States.) But even if one believed it was not our war, or even if one were disappointed
Breitbart News,
by
John Hayward
Original Article
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Dreadnought
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3/31/2026 4:47:12 PM
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Israeli military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshani said on Tuesday that Israel is “prepared to keep operating for weeks to come,” even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hinted that the war against Iran was “definitely beyond the halfway point” as it entered its fifth week.
“We are prepared to keep operating for weeks to come. We have the targets for that, the munition for that, the manpower for that. And it’s up to the leadership to decide,” Shoshani said on Tuesday.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said on Tuesday that all of its “critical” and “essential” targets in Iran will have been destroyed by Passover
Politico,
by
Gregory Svirnovskiy
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
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3/31/2026 4:36:03 PM
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President Donald Trump had a message Tuesday for U.S. allies whose access to oil has been imperiled by the White House’s war against Iran: You’re on your own.
“All of those countries that can’t get jet fuel because of the Strait of Hormuz, like the United Kingdom, which refused to get involved in the decapitation of Iran, I have a suggestion for you: Number 1, buy from the U.S., we have plenty, and Number 2, build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT,” he wrote on Truth Social Tuesday.
The critical waterway, through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply
Red State,
by
Nick Arama
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
—
3/31/2026 4:29:50 PM
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Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chair Gen. Dan Caine held a briefing Tuesday morning on the progress of Operation Epic Fury against Iran.
Hegseth said that the "upcoming days will be decisive." That sounds like they think they're getting close. "Iran knows that, and there's almost nothing they can militarily do about it," Hegseth claimed.
The Defense Secretary said that "American firepower is only increasing," while saying Iran's is "decreasing."
"Just one month in — only one month — we set the terms," Hegseth said.
"The last 24 hours saw the lowest number of enemy missile
Breitbart News,
by
John Carney
Original Article
Posted by
Dreadnought
—
3/31/2026 4:26:02 PM
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American consumers shrugged off the Iran war and rising gas prices in March, pushing the Conference Board’s Consumer Confidence Index up to 91.8 from 91.0 in February — well above the 87.9 reading economists surveyed by Bloomberg had expected.
It was the second consecutive monthly increase and a sharp rebuke to forecasters who had predicted the combination of military conflict in the Middle East and surging energy costs would send confidence tumbling. The survey period ran from March 1 to 24, capturing the bulk of the initial war shock — meaning confidence didn’t merely hold steady through the conflict but actually firmed.