Iranians Say Trump’s Intervention Brought Destruction, Not Liberation

 https://time.com/article/2026/03/10/iran-war-trump-us-israel-regime/

After nearly two weeks of U.S.-Isreali airstrikes, Iranians describe a country exhausted and uncertain. Bombing campaigns that targeted military sites and security infrastructure have also damaged police stations, fuel depots and power facilities.

Residents who cheered the death of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Feb. 28 in the first wave of strikes, say they are confounded by Trump’s suggestions that the assault may end with his regime still in place. 

"Trump either didn't have a clear strategy to begin with, or it was based on wrong data," said Mahmood, the CEO of an IT company in Tehran. "None of what he has done has helped the people of Iran. Our situation isn't any better.”

Despite the scale of the bombardment, the Islamic Republic’s core institutions appear to have held firm. At night, its security forces and loyalists fill the streets of major cities, first to mourn the “martyrdom” of the elder Khamenei, then to laud the appointment of his son, Mojtaba, whose ascension to Supreme Leader was announced Monday.

Trump’s war in Iran fractures MAGA media

 https://thehill.com/homenews/media/5777711-maga-media-trump-iran-conflict/

President Trump’s war in Iran has sparked a heated fight in conservative circles, pitting some of Trump’s most ardent supporters in the media against GOP lawmakers who are backing what critics argue is a conflict pushed by Israel but unpopular with the American people. 

Popular podcaster Joe Rogan, who endorsed Trump before the 2024 election and has since criticized the president over a host of issues, pushed back on arguments coming from the likes of Graham and Cruz, calling them “insane.”

“I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed, right? He ran on ‘no more wars, end these stupid, senseless wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly define why we did it,” Rogan said this week. “It just doesn’t make any sense to me, unless we’re acting on someone else’s interests, like particularly Israel’s interests.”

Lindsey Graham Draws MAGA Anger Over Israel Comments

 https://www.newsweek.com/lindsey-graham-draws-maga-anger-over-israel-comments-11651141

South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham has sparked fierce backlash from big MAGA names after he professed his loyalty to Israel and said he was asking Americans to send their sons and daughters to the war in the Middle East.

Graham said in an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity in Monday’s episode of Hannity: "To our friends in Israel, God bless you I’m with you in every way. To all the antisemites, to all the isolationists, forget it. I’m not with you, I’m with Israel, I will be with Israel to our dying day. They’re the best ally we could hope for."

Several MAGA supporters have spoken out against Graham and his comments, and others he has made recently, with one calling him "traitorous" and conservative podcaster Megyn Kelly calling him a "homicidal maniac."

Rand Paul: Midterms will be ‘disastrous’ for Republicans

 https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/5776845-rand-paul-warns-midterm-disaster/?tbref=hp

Republican Sen. Rand Paul (Ky.) warned Tuesday that the midterms could be “disastrous” for his party if the war in Iran continues. 

“Already, we are behind the eight ball as far as the electoral process,” Paul told host Maria Bartiromo on Fox Business’s “Mornings with Maria.”

“I think if you add in high gas prices, high oil prices, and if we are still bombing Iran with kinetic action — people don’t want to call it war — if there’s still kinetic action that causes oil to be over $100, I think you’re going to see a disastrous election,” the libertarian senator added.

Idolatry even at Sinai

 Tehilim (78:36-37) 36. Nevertheless they flattered him with their mouth, and they lied to him with their tongues. 37. For their heart was not constant with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant.

Shemos Rabbah (42:8):Even while they were standing at Sinai itself - proclaiming “We will do and obey” - their hearts were intent on idol worship.: They spoke fraudulently with their mouths and lied to Him with their tongues …

Shir HaShirim Rabbah (07:08) Rabbi Berekhya said in the name of Rabbi Levi: In two places, Israel acted deceitfully with G-d. At Sinai, they acted with their mouths but did not act with their heart, as it is stated: “But they beguiled Him with their mouth and lied to Him with their tongue…their heart was not steadfast toward Him”. In Babylon, they acted with their heart but did not act with their mouth, as it is stated: “For He does not afflict willingly”, as it is stated: “A man who is an adversary and an enemy. This wicked Haman”, and made their wound more painful.

Meiri (Avos Introduction): There is a strong emphasis and constant warning in the Torah to stay far away from idol worship since there has always been a strong attachment to it generation after generation. An intelligent person would naturally ask why this error of idol worship has repeated itself generation after generation? The answer is that the average person more readily believes that which he can perceive and comprehend that which is intangible and abstract. Therefore, a person’s nature draws him to idol worship.

Meshech Chochma (Shemos 12:21): It is said about the Jews that they are believers the descendants of believers. However Taanis (5b) notes that non Jews have stronger religious beliefs than Jews - even when their religion is utter nonsense. “The Kittites worship fire and the Kedarites worship water, and even though they know that water can put out fire they have not yet changed their gods but My people hath changed their G d for that which doth not profit.” And even if you want to answer that the faith that is being praised, is believing in things that will happen in the future such as the resurrection of the dead - non Jews also have strong faith in events that will happen in the future. To explain the distinction between Jewish and non Jewish faith, one must note that the appreciation of things such as love, beauty and power are all inherent in a person. The ancient peoples sanctified all these natural powers and placed high value on them and described them as resulting from specific gods. Thus they had a god of beauty, a god of power and a god of love as is well known. A person who personified one of these natural attributes was described as a godly person. Even today, the peoples of the world make images and sanctify these tangible - directly experienced characteristics. Even the Moslems have sanctified the grave of their savior in Mecca and done other things. Consequently, we see that the emotions and senses directly support their faith which is built upon experience and imagery. Thus, non Jewish religious faith is essentially just an extension of natural emotion. That is not how G d conceives religious faith…. In fact, all tangible existence is totally separate from the one Creator. All this is such pure abstract intellectual awareness that Chovas HaLevavos (1:2 Shaar HaYichud) asserts that true service of G d is for either the philosopher or prophet. Nevertheless, all Jews - even without reaching the levels of prophets or even philosophers - truly believe in these pure abstract thoughts of His existence and His unity and they scoff at all that which is entirely based upon natural emotional experience. They understand that faith based entirely on innate human feelings and thoughts is worthless and transient representing only conjecture –G d in the image of man. This is why Chazal state, “How did the Jews merit to recite the Shema which extols the unitary of G d? Because they were descendants of Abraham, Yitzchok and Yaakov.” Because of this knowledge gained from their forefathers - Jews understand this profound abstract philosophical issue and scorn emotion based faith...

US-Israel conflict with Iran turning into war of attrition

How Tucker Carlson Lost His Mind: From Fox News Star to Conspiracy King

Tucker Says Trump Believes the Iran War Polls at 90%

Trump admits what the attack on Iran is really for

Donald Trump says it's time to 'show some guts' in a warzone where no Trump would ever go

The Iran war's economic blowback is getting real

 https://www.axios.com/2026/03/09/iran-war-oil-economy-blowback-prices-us

In the first week of the American and Israeli attack on Iran, the economic ripples were looking pretty minimal. But as Week 2 begins, the risks to the global economy are growing much more serious.

You can't decapitate the leadership of a country of 90 million people, with expansive military and intelligence capabilities, in the heart of some of the world's most economically important supply chains, without a huge cost.

Solid GDP growth is no consolation for higher day-to-day prices for American consumers, which doomed Joe Biden's popularity. If the recent energy price surge is sustained, that will be Trump's burden as well.

There are two winners in Iran. Neither one is America.

 https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2026/03/09/us-iran-russia-china-cost/

Oil disruption benefits Russia, as does less U.S. aid for Ukraine. And Iran distracts from China.

Trump is right that Iran has an evil regime and a 47-year record of hostility toward the United States. But it was hard to argue, even before the current bombing, that the Islamic Republic constituted a major threat to the U.S. (as opposed to Israel). Iran’s nuclear program may not have been “totally obliterated” by American air strikes in June, as Trump claimed, but it was definitely set back. There was no “imminent” threat from Iran to justify the war Trump launched on Feb. 28 out of the blue — and the cost of waging it (financed with deficit spending at a time when the national debt is already close to $39 trillion) is likely to hamper U.S. efforts to compete with much more significant adversaries, notably Iran’s allies Russia and China.

Russia is already benefitting from the Iran war. The rise in oil prices (over $100 a barrel on Sunday from $73 a barrel on the eve of war) and Trump’s decision to relax sanctions on India for buying Russian oil will help bankroll the Russian war machine. The U.S. is also rapidly burning through limited stockpiles of missiles, especially air-defense interceptors, that are badly needed in Ukraine. President Volodymyr Zelensky has said more Patriot missiles were expended in just three days of fighting with Iran than have been used by Ukraine since 2022. Imagine how much Ukrainian energy infrastructure — and how many Ukrainian civilians — might have survived the winter if Trump had sent more Patriots to Ukraine rather than to what one journalist dubbed a “war of whim” with Iran.

It’s too soon to tell who will win the war between the United States and Iran. But, at this point, my money would be on Russia and China.

Trump tells The Post there’s no reason to panic over Iran war oil-price surge: ‘I have a plan for everything’

 https://nypost.com/2026/03/09/us-news/trump-tells-the-post-no-reason-to-panic-over-iran-war-oil-price-surge-i-have-a-plan-for-everything/

President Trump told The Post on Monday that he has “a plan” to tackle surging oil prices caused by the war with Iran and that people would be “very happy” — sending oil prices tumbling nearly 30% from the day’s highs. 

“I have a plan for everything, okay?” Trump said in a brief phone interview Monday on the 10th day of the joint US-Israeli war with Iran. “I have a plan for everything. You’ll be very happy.”

Trump did not provide details, but he has a variety of options, including releasing oil from strategic reserves. 

Iran’s Leadership Signals It Is Still in Control and Able to Fight

 https://www.wsj.com/world/middle-east/iran-regime-leadership-us-israel-war-82f80697?mod=WSJ_home_mediumtopper_pos_2

After 10 days of punishing airstrikes by the U.S. and Israel, Iran’s leadership is battered but showing signs it is still in control and able to fight.

Senior Iranian political figures, while hunted from the air and limiting their appearances in public, are regularly posting messages that reflect recent developments and project unity and defiance. Iran’s military continues to hit high-value targets across a wide front encompassing Arab Gulf countries, Israel and beyond, though it is firing fewer missiles than in the first days of the war.

One reason Iran’s leaders have been able to withstand the overwhelming military pressure is because they had been planning for a new war since they suffered heavy losses during the 12-day war with Israel and the U.S. in June.

The joint U.S.-Israeli war strategy is based on a core assumption: that by decapitating Iran’s political and military leadership, and destroying the physical infrastructure that surrounds them, the regime will be forced into collapse or at least surrender. U.S. officials have pointed to the elimination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and other Iranian leaders as a measure of the war’s success.

But Iran’s state apparatus was built to outlive individual leaders, thanks to layered and overlapping centers of political and military power. The clearest sign of confidence in the regime’s survival was the appointment of the late Khamenei’s hard-line son—Mojtaba Khamenei—as the Islamic Republic’s new supreme leader.