Monty
April 9, 2026, 2:27am
1273
Bubble? It’s an absolute fog.
Monty
April 9, 2026, 3:31am
1274
Let’s hang out and make big money!
President Trump on Wednesday declared “big money” is to be made by the U.S. “hangin’ around” the Strait of Hormuz following a two-week ceasefire agreement reached between the U.S. and Iran.
Trump wrote on Truth Social that it was a “big day for World Peace” and that “Iran wants it to happen, they’ve had enough!”
“Likewise, so has everyone else!” the president continued. “The United States of America will be helping with the traffic buildup in the Strait of Hormuz. There will be lots of positive action! Big money will be made. Iran can start the reconstruction process.”
He added, “We’ll be loading up with supplies of all kinds, and just ‘hangin’ around’ in order to make sure that everything goes well.”
Trump said he felt confident that all goes well, writing, “Just like we are experiencing in the U.S., this could be the Golden Age of the Middle East!!!”
An important detail was lost in translation.
A key phrase omitted from the English version of Iran’s 10-point ceasefire plan with the U.S. could backfire on President Donald Trump.
On Tuesday, the U.S. and Iran agreed to a conditional two-week ceasefire less than 90 minutes before Trump’s 8 p.m. deadline, after which Trump had said he would obliterate Iran.
In a statement from Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, and posted to Truth Social by Trump, Araghchi claimed that Iranian forces would “cease their defensive operations” and that passage through the strait would be permitted with “coordination” from Iranian forces.
He added that Trump had accepted the “general framework” of Iran’s 10-point ceasefire plan as “a basis for negotiations.”
However, the Farsi-language version of Iran’s 10-point plan included a key detail that the Associated Press noted was left out of the English versions.
The plan said the country would require “continued Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz, acceptance of enrichment, lifting of all primary and secondary sanctions.”
For reasons that remain unclear, “acceptance of enrichment” was absent from the English versions shared by Iranian diplomats to journalists.
“Most evil empire to ever exist and should be bombed off the face of the earth. Also I am going into business with them.” Donald J. Trump
Monty
April 10, 2026, 1:36am
1277
Evidently, a certain party in the US government does not want an exit strategy from this war.
WASHINGTON — House Democrats unsuccessfully attempted to pass a resolution to halt Donald Trump’s war with Iran on Thursday — a response to the president’s shocking threat two days earlier to annihilate “a whole civilization.”
House and Senate lawmakers are at the tail end of a two-week spring recess, but Rep. Glenn Ivey, D-Md., and other Democrats returned to Washington for a routine “pro forma” session to try to pass the resolution by unanimous consent.
However, the Republican lawmaker presiding over the session, Chris Smith of New Jersey, gaveled out of the brief session without calling on Ivey. Democrats howled in protest, with some shouting “Shame!”
When the idiotic bull in the china shop stops smashing, you give it a treat. Not as praise, but as a means of training something too stupid to be trained any other way.
DWMarch
April 10, 2026, 7:02pm
1280
An MQ-4C Triton drone, worth somewhere between 200-400 million dollars, just went Total Inability To Sustain Usual Performance over the Strait of Hormuz:
(Forbes via Yahoo! Finance article)
If there are only 20 of these things , that’s 5% of this drone fleet gone, or worse captured. Oops!
CNN Headline:
(https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/10/world/live-news/iran-war-trump-us-ceasefire )
His credibility is less than zero at this point.
bobot
April 10, 2026, 9:03pm
1282
OK, time to buy…whatever those fuckers are buying in the stock market!
Jihi
April 10, 2026, 11:07pm
1283
Euphonious_Polemic:
CNN Headline:
Trump warns Iran that US assault will intensify if deal not reached
We’re going to attack them again in the middle of negotiations. I feel confident in making this prediction.
Monty
April 10, 2026, 11:28pm
1284
@Jihi I feel confident in calling this a forever war.
Trump says it makes ‘no difference’ to him if Iran and US reach deal
Trump says it makes ‘no difference’ to him if Iran and US reach deal | News | Independent TV
Typical. Fuck things up and then walk away. What else did anyone expect?
Then he warns China of “big problems” if they send arms to Iran. I imagine this simply made the Chinese authorities have a chuckle. Threats from the TACO master himself.
Monty
April 12, 2026, 12:48am
1286
Another way of reading this is: Trump doesn’t care how many American service members die in his forever war .
Because to him, they’re not people: they’re the equivalent of tin soldiers to be pushed around a map at his whim.
Monty
April 12, 2026, 1:02am
1288
@OttoDaFe Worse yet, they’re losers who managed to die and thus not win.
And speaking of tin soldiers , this forever war is exactly as ill-advised as that one.
DPRK
April 12, 2026, 3:04am
1289
No deal. Is what they are saying now.
Monty
April 12, 2026, 4:31am
1290
Yep. No deal.
ISLAMABAD, April 12 (Reuters) - U.S. Vice President JD Vance said on Sunday that his negotiating team was leaving Pakistan https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/pakistani-five-star-hotel-becomes-unlikely-site-us-iran-talks-2026-04-11/ after not reaching a deal with Iran following 21 hours of negotiations, jeopardizing a fragile two-week ceasefire.
“The bad news is that we have not reached an agreement, and I think that’s bad news for Iran much more than it’s bad news for the United States of America,” Vance told reporters after the talks ended. “So we go back to the United States having not come to an agreement. We’ve made very clear what our red lines are.”
Vance cited shortcomings in the talks and said Iran had chosen not to accept American terms, including to not build nuclear weapons. A short time later, Vance waved goodbye from the top of the stairs as he boarded Air Force Two in Islamabad.
US Navy ships transit the Strait of Hormuz with their AIS turned on .
U.S. Navy ships sent an unmistakable signal Saturday as they crossed the Strait of Hormuz, challenging Iran’s control over the narrow waterway that will likely determine the outcome of the Middle East war.
The USS Michael Murphy turned on its automatic identification system as it and another destroyer, the USS Frank E. Peterson , transited the strait, breaking the typical protocol of Navy ships sailing with their AIS turned off.
“You just don’t throw AIS on by accident on a Navy ship,” Campbell University professor Salvatore Mercogliano, who specializes in military and maritime history, said on his podcast . “This is purposeful. They wanted to turn this on on the far side of the Strait of Hormuz to demonstrate that they have sailed through.”
Evidently China, whose leader Trump calls a friend, is shipping weapons to Iran.
US intelligence indicates that China is preparing to deliver new air defense systems to Iran within the next few weeks, according to three people familiar with recent intelligence assessments.
It would be a provocative move considering Beijing said it helped broker the fragile ceasefire agreement that paused the war between Iran and the US earlier this week. President Donald Trump is also set to visit China early next month for talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
The intelligence also underscores how Iran may be using the ceasefire as an opportunity to replenish certain weapons systems with the help of key foreign partners.
Two of the sources told CNN there are indications that Beijing is working to route the shipments through third countries to mask their true origin.
The systems Beijing is preparing to transfer are shoulder-fired anti-air missile systems known as MANPADs, the sources said, which posed an asymmetric threat to low-flying US military aircraft throughout the course of the five-week war and could again if the ceasefire falls apart.
Given JD Vance’s mission appears to have failed, will this mean Donald Trump resumes the war?
It seems to me, unless he does resume the war, the Straight of Hormuz is destined to remain closed - or at least restricted to fully free passage. Especially if Israel keeps bombing Lebanon.
And that in turn will result in sustained fuel prices for the entire globe most likely. Let’s refer to “sustained fuel prices” as outcome A. Can anyone see an alternative to outcome A without the USA resuming hostilities towards Iran?
Spoons
April 12, 2026, 6:41am
1292
Note that this quote is from Monty ’s link:
My guess is that Trump sent Vance with a list of American demands, and told him not to negotiate at all, just to present the list. Then if (when?) the Iranians refused to accept the American terms, Vance was to leave. In other words, Trump-style negotiation, “take it or leave it,” with no actual negotiating at all.
Trump never learned to give a little to get a little, which is what real negotiating involves. So if Iran came back with a counter-offer, trying for a real negotiation, Vance would have been instructed by Trump to walk out.
