I had a great conversation with the great Julie Mason on her Sirius XM show this afternoon.

You can listen here.

Bloomberg: “President Donald Trump’s declaration of a two-week ceasefire in the war against Iran has soothed global markets. But a series of conflicting statements — and actions — since the announcement suggests fundamental differences remain, making the truce even more fragile.”

“Trump unleashed a flurry of social media posts starting in the early hours of Wednesday regarding the Strait of Hormuz, Iran’s nuclear material, tariffs, sanctions and the negotiating parameters of a long-term peace deal. Several of his messages contained dubious or incomplete claims.”

Aaron Blake: “For Iran hawks on the right, Tuesday night was initially time to revel in how President Donald Trump had again proven his detractors wrong with his supposed Art of the Deal win in obtaining a ceasefire in the ongoing war.”

“But by Wednesday morning, that revelry gave way to some genuine concern about what Trump was willing to concede to extract himself from the conflict.”

New York Times: “The people logging into Truth Social each day tend to count themselves among the most ardent supporters of President Trump and his MAGA movement. In recent weeks, though, even some in the echo chamber have turned against his actions in Iran.”

“Thousands of users on the social media platform, which Mr. Trump created in 2022, have responded to the president’s drumbeat of posts with a mix of frustration, disbelief and outrage.”

Associated Press: “To end the war with the United States and Israel, Iran is demanding the right to collect tolls in the Strait of Hormuz as a precondition for reopening the waterway vital to world oil supplies.”

“Yet collecting tolls in the strait would violate a basic and enduring principle of international maritime trade: freedom of peaceful navigation…”

“Opening the strait would save the global economy from supply constraints that have pushed energy and fertilizer prices sharply higher since the war began on Feb. 28. But agreeing to Iranian toll-collecting would cement the Islamic Republic’s control over the strait through which 20% of the world’s oil is shipped — and enrich the military against whom the war was launched.”

New York Times: “As President Trump swung this week from threatening to annihilate Iran to announcing a cease-fire whose terms and durability remain murky, Congress — the branch of government vested with the power to declare war and regulate trade — remained in recess and largely in the dark.”

“And its Republican leaders had little to say even as Democrats ratcheted up their criticism, clamoring anew for a vote on military operations in Iran and even calling for the president’s removal after his warnings about wiping out Iranian civilization.”

“It was the latest instance of congressional Republicans, who have deferred to Mr. Trump on matters large and small since he began his second term, ceding their prerogatives and much of their power to the White House.”

Washington Post: “Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine struck different tones on Wednesday while describing the state of hostilities with Iran, with the former characterizing the conflict mostly in the past tense while the general appeared unwilling to use such absolute terms and left open the possibility that additional U.S. troops could be killed.”

“God deserves all the glory. Tens of thousands of strikes carried out under the protection of divine providence. A massive effort with miraculous protection. God is good.”

— Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, speaking to reporters.

Jonathan Last: “Follow the logic: Iran’s purpose in pursuing nukes wasn’t to use the first one on Tel Aviv. It was going to use nukes the same way North Korea does—as a guarantor of regime survival. Once Iran has nukes, it can play chicken with the biggest powers on the planet and get away with literal murder. Russia’s doing exactly that right now.”

“For Iran, the dangerous period was the time between when everyone found out they were going for a nuke—c. 2002—and the time when they actually have a nuke. During that time, their nuclear program was routinely attacked—by sanctions, by cyberattacks, by an assassination campaign against their nuclear scientists, and finally by massive bombs from airplanes. All this to prevent them from obtaining a strategic deterrent that can hold all other powers at bay.”

“But now they have such a deterrent in the Strait of Hormuz, which they have proven they can hold under threat even against the American military. If Iran can hold the strait under threat, then maybe they can prevent anyone from attacking their nuclear program again. Until they get a bomb. And then they have two strategic deterrents.”

Punchbowl News: “Top Trump administration officials — including the president — are talking like the war with Iran is already over…”

“Reality check. Iran maintains that it controls the strait, and is demanding crypto fees for oil tankers that pass through the waterway. Countries in the Gulf region — Kuwait, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates — all reported Iranian attacks since the ceasefire announcement.”

“Iran still has stores of enriched uranium. Tehran’s shoot-down of a U.S. fighter jet last week sparked skepticism that claims of complete American air superiority over Iran are overstated. And a final, lasting peace deal between the U.S. and Iran has still not been inked.”

Phillips O’Brien: “Donald Trump yesterday showed how few cards the USA had to play in his war of choice, when he went from threatening to destroy Iranian people, culture and history, to agreeing to a two-week ceasefire and talks based on an Iranian ten point plan.”

“The details of this plan amount to a comprehensive US defeat. If this indeed is the end of the war and that Iranian plan is the basis of a deal, it makes this if not the longest war in US history, the most pointless and a complete waste. Iran looks on the verge of emerging stronger, with the ability to generate massive new income, while the US looks, in a word, a busted flush.”

“This is no run of the mill TACO. This is complete US strategic failure.”

“Iran is halting oil tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz after Israel attacked Lebanon,” CNN reports.

“Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said earlier that Lebanon was included in the ceasefire between Israel, the United States and Iran, but the Israeli military said attacks on Hezbollah in Lebanon would continue.”

“When President Donald Trump announced a two-week ceasefire with Iran yesterday, he said the US had received a 10-point peace proposal that he believed was a ‘workable basis on which to negotiate,’” CNN reports.

“But when Iran later released a 10-point proposal to reporters, it was different from the one to which Trump was referring.”

Paul Krugman: “So the world’s greatest military power went to war with a poor, medievalist theocracy. It was an incredibly uneven match…”

“Yet Iran won. The Iranian regime has emerged far stronger than it was before, controlling the Strait of Hormuz and having demonstrated its ability to inflict damage on both its neighbors and the world economy. The U.S. has emerged far weaker, having demonstrated the limitations of its military technology, its strategic ineptitude and, when push comes to shove, its cowardice.”

“We’ve also destroyed our moral credibility: Trump may have TACOed at the last minute, but he threatened to commit gigantic war crimes — and for all practical purposes our political and civil institutions gave him permission to do so.”