Politico: “It’s not just Hormuz. There’s a second strait in the Middle East vital to global energy markets that Iran is threatening to close if President Donald Trump fails to wind down the Iran war.”

“The world is already experiencing the worst disruption to global energy markets in history following U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. But if Iranian proxies close the Bab el-Mandeb strait — a busy Red Sea choke point — it would compound global financial woes and likely push oil prices to $150 a barrel, experts said.”

Reuters: “The United States can only determine with certainty that it has destroyed about a third ​of Iran’s vast missile arsenal as the U.S. and Israeli war on the country nears its one-month mark, according to five people familiar with the U.S. intelligence.”

“The status of around another third ‌is less clear but bombings likely damaged, destroyed or buried those missiles in underground tunnels and bunkers.”

“Nearly one month after the U.S. began strikes on Iran, President Donald Trump is sending thousands of troops to the Middle East to potentially fight in a war he said he has ‘already won,'” MS NOW reports.

“That contradiction has frustrated some senior White House aides and outside allies… They described it as confusing, internally inconsistent and increasingly detached from battlefield reality.”

“Trump calling the war already won is ‘mostly hyperbole,’ said a senior White House official granted anonymity to speak candidly about the administration’s thinking. ‘It’s part of Trump just wanting to declare victory and move on.'”

Said the official: “Trump is getting a little bored with Iran. Not that he regrets it or something — he’s just bored and wants to move on.”

Bloomberg: “The fissures are still relatively isolated, at least publicly, but include some critical GOP figures on the Hill, suggesting there’s growing unease about the length of the war, Donald Trump’s endgame, the possibility of sending ground troops, and results Republicans will own.”

“If ground troops go in, the party could lose 60 to 70 House seats, one House Republican who requested anonymity said… That would be among the worst midterm losses in a century.”

“The U.S. and Israel are pounding Iran’s missile-launching sites, hitting some over and over across almost a month of war. But Tehran’s missiles keep flying,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“Iran has shifted to firing from deeper inside its territory with longer-range missiles, military analysts and former U.S. officers said, after airstrikes early in the war inflicted a heavy toll on Iranian bases and truck launchers near the Persian Gulf coastline. Iran is firing far fewer missiles now—down to around a dozen a day—but they have turned them against less-defended targets in Israel and Gulf Arab states, causing greater damage in some cases.”

“Even in small numbers, the weapons have helped Tehran achieve its goals—prolong the conflict, raise the economic costs on oil-exporting Gulf countries and in the U.S., and survive to fight another day.”