News Vérité

On TV, General Wesley Clark seemed to perfectly sum up President Trump’s announced agreement with Iran for a two-week ceasefire if that country will open the Strait of Hormuz: “Iran has never lost a negotiation and never won a war.” The point being that, if Iran continues to charge ships to traverse the Strait of Hormuz, then Iran will be the clear winner in its standoff with Trump. Now, I don’t know if that’s the case – that Iran will charge transit tariffs — but the general has a valid point. For the president’s part, he was clearly facing a roadblock of his own making. His air campaign had leveled most of Iran’s military assets and eliminated several top leaders, but he was in need of an immediate vehicle to end the war. The world economy, as I noted earlier in an opinion piece, would probably suffer a depression if Trump bombed Iran into the Dark Ages, and if it then continued to block the Strait of Hormuz, inland devastation notwithstanding. Given that grim scenario, Trump had to reach a deal, even if Iran is going to police the strait and expect payback on vessels traveling off its coast. “A

According to a report on Fox News minutes ago, President Trump is predicting a diplomatic deal with Iran by Monday. He also told Fox correspondent Trey Yangst that, back in January, he sent guns to Iranian protestors through the Kurds, but he thinks the Kurds kept the guns. The guns were provided after Trump promised “help is on its way” to Iranian protestors. Now, if there is a deal tomorrow, that would be Easter present number two, following the rescue of a U.S. Colonel earlier today in Iran. However, I still have my doubts. We’ve heard about deals forthcoming before. Let’s hope that this time, the end of hostilities does happen as Trump predicts. [PICTURED: Fox correspondent in Israel, Trey Yangst]

Details are still emerging, but just as Easter Sunday was dawning in the nation’s capital, U.S. forces totaling hundreds, along with dozens of aircraft, succeeded in rescuing the remaining airman from Friday’s downing of an F-15E in Iran. Taking to Truth Social in a lengthy post, President Trump beamed proudly, “WE GOT HIM!” and called it “one of the most daring search and rescue operations in U.S. history.” On this occasion, Trump seems not to have been exaggerating. The scale of the operation appears to have been massive, with planes dropping bombs on encroaching Iranian forces and civilian bounty hunters, as the Iranian regime sought a hostage situation that it could milk for its benefit in both propaganda and ultimate negotiations. From initial reports, the operation saw the loss of U.S. aircraft, including planes and helicopters that had to be destroyed before the operation was completed lest Iran get its hands on sensitive U.S. technological secrets. Trump, in his post, noted that the U.S. had known of the downed airman’s location since his aircraft initially went down, but the terrain and location, to say nothing of armed Iranian forces on the hunt for the survivor, evidently forced a delay for