Wednesday, April 8, 2026
Trump claims Iran won’t enrich uranium, will give up uranium, while US lifts sanctions
No indication Tehran accepted such terms, as US president threatens tariffs, touts progress; Pentagon claims Iranian military decimated, despite ongoing missile, drone attacks
Netanyahu says Iran’s enriched uranium will leave 'by agreement or renewed fighting'
https://www.ynetnews.com/article/syqsawv2be#google_vignette
PM says Israel aligned with US on removing Iran’s remaining enriched uranium, casts temporary ceasefire as only waypoint in war and vows that Hezbollah would remain outside truce as Israel stays ready to resume combat at any moment
Retired general: Trump ‘an absolutely terrible commander in chief’
CNN’s Kate Bolduan asked Brig. Gen. Steve Anderson about his reaction to Trump’s heightened rhetoric. The president was doubling down on an earlier warning to Iran after giving them until 8 p.m. EDT on Tuesday to agree to a deal.
“Well, we already knew that Donald Trump was a pretty bad president, but now we know that he’s an absolutely terrible commander in chief as well,” he answered. “I mean, he continues to vacillate –– offers contradictory messaging about what’s going on and does he support the Iranian people? Does he not? Does he support regime change? Does he not? Are the allies with us? Does he need them? It goes on and on and on.”
“This guy is just not competent in terms of leading this force,” Anderson continued. “He has not set clear objectives, clear definable objectives, that the military can truly execute.”
Anderson predicted Trump will extend the deadline because Trump cannot do what he said he will do, “which is to bomb every single civilian target in the theater in Iran.”
Iran insists on uranium enrichment as Trump promises ban on enrichment
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/425199
While President Trump insists Iran will not be allowed to enrich uranium under the negotiated agreement, Iran's version of the plan includes an acknowledgement of its right to enrichment.
Israel greets Iran ceasefire with more unease than relief
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/08/israel-netanyahu-iran-ceasefire-00863490
Critics on the left and right say the truce leaves Israel’s core concerns unresolved, even as Trump hails a new opening for the region.
Trump’s Iran brinkmanship reaches truce, escalates backlash at home
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/08/trump-iran-threats-deal/
The president’s ultimatum drew condemnation across the political spectrum and intensified open debate about his credibility, morality and sanity.
“The President’s threat that ‘a whole civilization will die tonight’ cannot be excused away as an attempt to gain leverage in negotiations with Iran,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) said in a statement on Tuesday. “This type of rhetoric is an affront to the ideals our nation has sought to uphold and promote around the world for nearly 250 years. It undermines our long-standing role as a global beacon of freedom and directly endangers Americans both abroad and at home.”
Iran’s government also portrayed the deal as a victory and is demanding a role in supervising passage through the Strait of Hormuz, which it did not have before the war.
“There is no military solution to the conflict right now,” Joe Kent, Trump’s counterterrorism adviser who resigned last month in protest of the war, said in an online video after the president’s announcement Tuesday night. “Every action that we’ve taken militarily has only strengthened the regime, and it’s done a lot to destabilize the entire region.”
Former congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia) called Trump’s threat “evil and madness.” Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who maintains a large following online, accused Trump of desecrating Sunday’s Easter holiday with a profane social media post and of being willing to commit “a moral crime.”
Tuesday, April 7, 2026
Monday, April 6, 2026
Trump brushes off questions about potential war crimes in Iran
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5818411-trump-iran-strikes-war-crimes/
On Sunday, Trump threatened to strike Iranian bridges and power plants if the country does not open the Strait of Hormuz.
International law experts are warning that following through on Trump’s threats of total destruction in Iran could constitute war crimes. On Thursday, more than 100 international law experts in the U.S. signed an open letter warning that U.S. strikes in Iran, including threatened strikes on energy infrastructure, could be deemed war crimes.
The U.S. has already faced backlash for the missile strike on the all-girls Iranian Shajareh Tayyebeh elementary school. The strike killed at least 175 people, most of them children. There is an ongoing military investigation that preliminarily determined responsibility was on the U.S.
The U.S. and Iran received a ceasefire proposal from Egypt, Pakistan and Turkey that included a 45-day ceasefire and the Strait of Hormuz opening.
Trump’s many threats of possible war crimes reach a crescendo in Iran
https://edition.cnn.com/2026/04/06/politics/war-crimes-trump-iran
Just five months after President Donald Trump and his allies appeared indignant over a video in which six congressional Democrats warned service members not to obey illegal orders, Trump is showing exactly what they were talking about.
He’s set an 8 p.m. ET Tuesday deadline for Iran to agree to a deal and re-open the Strait of Hormuz. Otherwise, Trump has repeatedly said, he will strike Iranian infrastructure sites including power plants, bridges, oil wells and possibly others like water desalination plants in ways that could well amount to war crimes.
It remains to be seen whether he follows through if there is no deal. He has repeatedly delayed his deadline, which was initially set for two weeks ago, despite little evidence of serious negotiations.
When asked Monday about possibly committing war crimes, Trump said he wasn’t worried about it.
“You know the war crime?” he told reporters at the White House. “The war crime is allowing Iran to have a nuclear weapon.”
G-d Can Alter Nature but Generally Doesn't
Ramchal (Derech Hashem (02:06.06) Regarding miracles: But note that He changes the rules of creation according to His will at any time that He wants; and He does miracles and wonders with different things as He desires. He does this as He decrees that it will be proper for the purpose of creation according to the situation or according to the time. So what is this that the Sages said, "G-d made conditions with all of the work of creation."? It is not that G-d would not change anything from now on. For He could certainly make a complete change any time He wants. Rather the matter is that at the time of the creation, He showed and informed all of the roots of the creatures their functions, the truth of their existence, the purpose of their creation, what they would effect in the future with their processes and what would be the end of their functions. And they grasped and knew that all was going to be for the purpose of the true good. And they accepted the thing and rejoiced in it. And this is the meaning of that which the Sages said in a homiletical teaching, "All the works of creation were created with their consent." However when G-d informed them of their true function and laws and the truth of all the processes, He also showed them that those miracles that would be performed upon them for Israel or for the righteous among them at certain times were from among the things that were needed for their perfection. Of course, this thing was [first] stated to the roots of the higher ones and afterwards unfolded down; and [then] the things were established in the physical realm as is fitting for them. And appointees were placed over them that strengthen them in their natural law. However at the time that G-d wants, He decrees over His appointees and they stop their assignment and change their natural process, due to the decree that was upon them. And it is actually possible that the decrees coming to them be in different ways. The explanation of this is that it comes - by way of example - like the command of a king or like the rebuke of a furious governor, as the matter is stated, "And He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried, etc." Likewise that which is similar to this among the ways; everything according to the situation and its time.
Man's Nature is not changed through Miracles
Moreh Nevuchim (03:32) Although in every one of the signs related in Scripture the natural property of some individual being is changed, the nature of man is never changed by God by way of miracle. It is in accordance with this important principle that God said, “O that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me,” etc. It is also for this reason that He distinctly stated the commandments and the prohibitions, the reward and the punishment. This principle as regards miracles has been frequently explained by us in our works: I do not say this because I believe that it is difficult for God to change the nature of every individual person; on the contrary, it is possible, and it is in His power, according to the principles taught in Scripture; but it has never been His will to do it, and it never will be. If it were part of His will to change at His desire the nature of any person, the mission of prophets and the giving of the Law would have been altogether superfluous.
Miracles are built into Nature
Rabbeinu Bachya (Avos 05:08) What we learn from these medrashim is that everything – the past the present and the future has been decreed from the time of Creation and there is nothing new under the Sun. Thus what seems to be new is merely something built into Nature which is first manifesting itself at the appropriate time> Because if you want to say that G-d did not want something until it is seen and He is making something totally new and thus changing his Mind – Heaven Forfend! In fact there is no change or innovation in Nature after the original Creation and everything that seems to be a change was built into Nature.
Moreh Nevuchim (02:29) God made an agreement with the sea that it should divide before the Israelites: thus it is said, “And the sea returned to its strength when the morning appeared”. R. Jeremiah, son of Elazar, said: Not only with the sea, but with all that has been created in the six days of the beginning was the agreement made: this is referred to in the words, “I, even my hands have stretched out the heavens, and all their host have I commanded”; i.e., I have commanded the sea to divide, the fire not to hurt Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, the lions not to harm Daniel, and the fish to spit out Jonah. The same is the case with the rest of the miracles.
Avos (05:06) Ten things were created on the eve of the Sabbath at twilight, and these are they: [1] the mouth of the earth, [2] the mouth of the well, [3] the mouth of the donkey, [4] the rainbow, [5] the manna, [6] the staff [of Moses], [7] the shamir, [8] the letters, [9] the writing, [10] and the tablets. And some say: also the demons, the grave of Moses, and the ram of Abraham, our father. And some say: and also tongs, made with tongs.Avos D'Rabbi Nassan (36:5) These seven have no share in the World to Come: the scribe, the schoolteacher, the best doctors, the city judge, the magician, the sexton, and the butcher.
Moreh Nevuchim (02:29) Our Sages, however, said very strange things as regards miracles: they are found in Bereshis Rabba, and in Midrash Koheles, namely, that the miracles are to some extent also natural: for they say, when God created the Universe with its present physical properties, He made it part of these properties, that they should produce certain miracles at certain times, and the sign of a prophet consisted in the fact that God told him to declare when a certain thing will take place, but the thing itself was effected according to the fixed laws of Nature. If this is really the meaning of the passage referred to, it testifies to the greatness of the author, and shows that he held it to be impossible that there should be a change in the laws of Nature, or a change in the will of God as regards the physical properties of things after they have once been established. He therefore assumes, e.g., that God gave the waters the property of joining together, and of flowing in a downward direction, and of separating only at the time when the Egyptians were drowned, and only in a particular place.
Rambam (Shemoneh Perakim 8) The sages said that all miracles which deviate from the natural course of events, whether they have already occured, or, according to promise, are to take place in the future, were fore-ordained by the Divine Will during the six days of creation, nature being then so constituted that those miracles which were to happen really did afterwards take place. Then, when such an occurence happened at its proper time, it may have been regarded as an absolute innovation, whereas in reality it was not. The Rabbis expatiate very much upon this subject in the Midrash Koheleth and in other writings, one of their statements in reference to this matter being, "Everything follows its natural course". In everything that they said, you will always find that the Rabbis avoided referring to the Divine Will as determining a particular event at a particular time. When, therefore, they said that man rises and sits down in accordance with the will of God, their meaning was that, when man was first created, his nature was so determined that rising up and sitting down were to be optional to him; but they as little meant that God wills at any special moment that man should or should not get up, as He determines at any given time that a certain stone should or should not fall to the ground. The sum and substance of the matter is, then, that thou shouldst believe that just as God willed that man should be upright in stature, broad-chested, and have fingers, likewise did He will that man should move or rest of his own accord, and that his actions should be such as his own free will dictates to him, without any outside influence or restraint, which fact God clearly states in the truthful Law, which elucidates this problem, when it says, "Behold, the man is become as one of us to know good and evil". The Targum, in paraphrasing this passage, explains the meaning of the words mimmenu lada'at ṭob wara'. Man has become the only being in the world who possesses a characteristic which no other being has in common with him. What is this characteristic? It is that by and of himself man can distinguish between good and evil, and do that which he pleases, with absolutely no restraint. Since, then, this is so, it would have even been possible for him to have stretched out his hand, and, taking of the tree of life, to have eaten of its fruit, and thus live forever. Since it is an essential characteristic of man's makeup that he should of his own free will act morally or immorally, doing just as he chooses, it becomes necessary to teach him the ways of righteousness, to command and exhort him, to punish and reward him according to his deserts. It behooves man also to accustom himself to the practice of good deeds, until he acquires the virtues corresponding to those good deeds; and, furthermore, to abstain from evil deeds so that he may eradicate the vices that may have taken root in him. Let him not suppose that his characteristics have reached such a state that they are no longer subject to change, for any one of them may be altered from the good to the bad, and vice versa; and, moreover, all in accordance with his own free will. To confirm this theory, we have mentioned all these facts concerning the observances and the transgressions of the Law.
Idolators are not Stupid
Derashos HaRan (04): For there is no question that those who were drawn after idol worship and who became its devotees, as we learn from Scripture and from the words of our sages— there is no question that they were not fools. Beyond a doubt, experience confirmed them in their expectation of benefit from their idolatrous acts, for if this were not the case, so many sound individuals would not have strayed into idolatry generation after generation. But it is as we have said. In the early times there were many acts which were known to result in great benefit. There was no error on this score but only in the conception of the means by which this benefit was derived. In reality, it derived solely from the nature of the thing acted upon; but the practitioners of these acts attributed the benefit to the will of the acting and protecting agency and compounded their sin by bringing offerings and sacrifices to the heavenly host. It follows from this that anything which is known to derive from the predisposition of the recipient is beneficial in truth and permitted by the Torah, and what is thought to derive from the will of the celestial agent is vain and empty and in the realm of idolatry. Therefore, every act which does not contain the intent of drawing-down the favor of a celestial agent and which is not distinctly idolatrous is not in the forbidden category of "the ways of the Emorites."