The king’s heart is in the hand of the LORD, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will.” – Proverbs 21:1

One of the oldest themes in the Bible is God putting his will into the hearts of rulers to do what he wants them to do. In fact, he not only chooses the rulers, raises them up or takes them out, but he decides what they will do during their administration, or during the period of their rule, even though they think they are in charge.

Fox News, Reuters, and Axios are all reporting that Ali Khamenei was killed, and his body has been found. The 86-year-old Khamenei led Iran for the last 35 years. He has plunged Iran into conflict with many major nations and his own neighbors. Many are glad to hear of his demise.

Over a period of nearly fifty years, thousands of Americans have died at the hands of Iran. Many of the Americans were wounded by roadside bombs built by the Iranians and will carry their wounds throughout the rest of their lives. There is little love lost over the death of Khamenei in the United States.

But Religion and Politics Do Not Mix

We’re using the term “religion” in the broadest sense here, but what we mean is any kind of prayer or intervention on the part of religious advisors, or leaders. The greatest heroes of our days, especially in times of conflict or war, have been men who have gone to God. They have bent their knees , they have called for wisdom, they have asked to be guided. What we have here, today, is a case where President Trump has already done that.

The idea that theology and politics can’t come to a meeting is an absurdity given to us by Satan, the god of this present world. We must always seek God in all matters, but especially when millions of lives are involved or at stake.

It would be easy to conclude that Iranian leaders probably have also prayed, but it is the fruit of a man or a nation that shows to which God they are praying.

In the case of Iran, we see them attacking civil centers, destroying people randomly in hospitals, in apartment houses, on the street, and without any discrimination.

We watch the United States and her allies striking military targets only to cause Iran to lose her power to strike or to harm others. We don’t need to ask which God they are praying to. They are praying, obviously, to the God of life, not the god who promotes death for all people that Iran and other Muslims consider infidels.

Beyond the question of which God people pray to is the math of the Bible. The Bible explains quite clearly that there aren’t several gods to choose from. Americans probably know more about Greek and Roman gods and other nonsense fed to them by the secular world, but the Bible counts the gods for us. How many are there? Let’s look at it.

“For the LORD shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants, when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up, or left. And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted, Which did eat the fat of their sacrifices, and drank the wine of their drink offerings? let them rise up and help you, and be your protection. See now that I, even I, am he, and there is no god with me: I kill, and I make alive; I wound, and I heal: neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand.” (De 32:36-39)

This is the math of the Bible – “there is no god with me,”

There is only one God, not many, and the refusal to see this basic truth will cause suffering and death around the world until the very last moment of time.

Muslims introduced a new god in the seventh century, but he is no god, and if he were, he would be 700 years too late. God established his kingdom through his son, the Lord Jesus Christ, starting at about 4 BC.

We have only to ask three simple questions

Does our president humbly confer with God to ask Him for his wisdom, his guidance, and his help in all the decisions he makes? Anyone who knows Donald Trump can say yes, he has prayed and he will pray until the end of this entire matter.

The second question is, does he, Donald Trump, care about the safety of Americans? Asking this question almost seems ridiculous, because that would be the most basic impetus for his even entering into this fray against Iran. It is because he is concerned about the safety of his fellow Americans.

The final question is: is he concerned for the safety of others, like our allies, or even nations who may not necessarily be our allies but they may be attacked by Iran. President Trump has made his concern known for Israel and other nations surrounding Iran repeatedly. He cares about other nations being pummeled or pulverized by a nuclear power and a nation that believes it has a right to terrorize all of its neighboring countries

Just today, the Iranians sent a ballistic missile and bombed a synagogue. Later in the evening, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described how a rocket, a ballistic missile the size of a bus, came slamming into this synagogue at the speed of Mach-8. This is what they think is normal warfare. This is something that neither Netanyahu nor Donald Trump nor any right-minded modern leader would think to do to another country.

This is why Iran is being pummeled at this moment.

Let’s put it this way.

America is praying. Iran is paying. And the righteous are saying, “You get what you pay for.”

“And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?” (Daniel 4:35)

Michael Bresciani

Retired Special Agent Bassem Youssef, who ran the FBI’s Communications Analysis Unit from late 2004 until late 2014, witnessed agents hired under Jim Comey’s watch, for political leanings and warned of potential for abuse of surveillance programs. Those warnings were ignored.

The former FBI agent who ran the bureau’s warrantless spying program said this week that he personally witnessed the director and other senior officials recruiting agents based on political leanings, not qualifications, during Director James Comey’s tenure.

Bassem Youssef, a retired special agent who ran the FBI’s Communications Analysis Unit from late 2004 until his retirement in late 2014, also says he warned senior officials about the potential for civil liberties abuses in the surveillance program that he oversaw, but said neither Comey nor the White House took his warnings seriously.

FBI’s improper — possibly illegal — snooping

The FBI’s surveillance practices have been back under a microscope in recent months. FBI records released by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, last year showed the bureau snooped on phone records of Republican elected officials as part of its investigation into Jan. 6.

Just the News also reported in February that the Government Accountability Office assessed that the FBI opened 1,200 probes related to politicians, journalists, religious leaders, academics and others tied to “sensitive investigative matters,” using a special investigative tool that required no factual predicate to launch. The vast majority of those probes were closed without accusations of wrongdoing or criminal charges against those targets being scrutinized.

Youssef told the Just the News, No Noise TV show on Tuesday that he believes the failure of the bureau to learn from past intelligence collection mistakes, like in the Trump-Russia probe whose underlying allegations were later discredited, is because FBI leadership had begun to hire employees based on political leanings rather than merit or capability.

Comey’s “soft recruitment of people of like mind”

“When I worked in the bureau, in field offices, and then eventually at FBI Headquarters, where I oversaw the Communications Analysis Unit that there was already a process where you could see that from the highest levels of the FBI, meaning the director’s office and the executive assistant, directors that there is a soft recruitment of people of like mind that didn’t necessarily meet the requirements for the job, but they were recruited because of their leaning, which was, in fact, very politically motivated,” Youssef said.

Just the News reported this week that President Trump and his supporters were targeted by four consecutive FBI code-named counterintelligence investigations over the last decade that subjected hundreds of Americans to privacy-invading tactics and essentially treated the man twice elected president as a national security threat for most of the first nine years of his political career.

FBI Director Kash Patel has led an effort in the administration to review the four operations code-named Crossfire Hurricane, Round River, Plasmic Echo and Arctic Frost that stretched from summer 2016 to January 2025.

Those who have seen the records told Just the News they chronicle how the FBI’s expanded counterterrorism and counterintelligence missions after the Sept, 11, 2001, terrorist attacks eventually became hijacked by politics and led agents to deploy tools meant for terrorists and spies against everyday Americans in a bid to find a way to bring criminal cases against Trump.

“It tells you that the FBI, unfortunately, during the previous administration has cast a wide drag net that got so many people who were not involved in any way,” Youssef told Just the News. “And I hate to use that word, but it’s really framing those people for some kind of malfeasance when there really wasn’t in the first place.”

Before Youssef departed the bureau in 2014, he approached then-Director Comey to warn that he saw the potential for civil rights abuses in the FBI’s warrantless surveillance, which he oversaw from his perch atop the Communications Analysis Unit.

Snowden’s leaks raised, but given mere lip service by Obama

“I had been trying to brief the director at that time, it was Comey, of this special program, the program that was leaked by Snowden, if you remember, in 2012 and the executive assistant director under him was blocking me from briefing him,” Youssef said.

Edward Snowden, who was a National Security Agency contractor, leaked classified information in 2013 detailing several U.S. surveillance programs, including the FBI’s PRISM program to monitor internet communications and details about the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court.

“I had a concern about this particular program,” Youssef said.

“And eventually, I went up to see [Comey], before I retired, [and] explained to him that the program has some issues and could be misused and abused, and he assured me that the program would be taken a very good look at it,” the former official explained.

“At that time, the then-President, Barack Obama, gave a press release saying that this is unacceptable, that we will definitely curb the authority of this program, if not shut it down altogether,” said Yousseff.

“Fast forward to the end of his tenure, the end of his administration, and to find out that the program was not curbed, but in fact, it was expanded, and authority was given to people who had no business in the Intel world, such as the then UN ambassador who was given access to that program,” he said.

Youseff previously detailed his specific concerns with the program, including an audit that showed it was generating large numbers of “false negatives and positives.”

Additionally, he said “there was collateral damage in terms of civil liberties” of Americans whose phone records were unnecessarily searched or who were falsely identified as connected to terrorism, Just the News rep

Steven Richards, Just the News

Joseph Vazquez

March 12th, 2026 1:17 PM

Is it any real surprise that the crown prince of the most notorious left-wing empires in American politics is getting all bent out of shape because President Donald Trump decided to finally dismantle the murderous Islamist regime of Iran? 

Alex Soros got his panties in a bunch after the United States launched coordinated strikes on Iran with Israel, and praised the leftist-run Spain for grandstanding against the attacks in a March 2 X post that got ratioed into oblivion. “Why aren’t more Europeans standing up to an illegal war! Same with Canada! They make nice speeches at conferences, but do little. Spain is becoming the leader of the free world,” Soros whined, as if the world would have been better off with a bloodthirsty “Death to America” cult wreaking havoc across the Middle East.

Alex apparently doesn’t see the absolute incoherence of angrily opposing action against the Islamists in Iran while he reshared the Open Society Foundations X post for International Women’s Day that reads, “This International Women’s Day, and every day, we are called to show moral clarity and stand up for the rights of every person on this planet.” Uh, hello!

But a deep dive into his daddy’s history gives a clue as to why Alex has come out full froth against the U.S. and making himself a useful idiot for the floundering Islamic extremists seeking to cling onto power like a barnacle in Tehran.

The Jewish News Syndicate reported on September 3, 2018, that “Iran admitted on Sunday that it had worked closely” with George Soros’s Open Society Foundations, “which has often been accused of promoting an anti-Israeli agenda through left-wing NGOs.”

MRC Business has documented how Soros poured small fortunes into a litany of groups that celebrated terrorist group Hamas’s October 7 genocide against the Jewish people as some sort of a Palestinian liberation effort. Then-Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tried to downplay this connection by saying during a question-and-answer session before the Iranian parliament that Tehran’s work with Soros “predated his term and boast[ed] ‘regulating’ it.” 

Oh, but there’s more! Soros also dumped $50 million into a “network” of Iran-sympathizer groups connected to disgraced former U.S. Special Envoy to Iran under the Biden administration Robert Malley, according to a December 9, 2023, New York Post report. The irony was that Alex had been appointed as chair of the OSF board just a year earlier. Malley, who was one of the core architects behind the infamous Iranian Nuclear Deal under President Barack Obama, had his security clearance suspended amidst an investigation into his alleged mishandling of classified materials concerning “his dealings with his Iranian interlocutors,” according to Commentary Magazine.

The members of the Soros-funded groups tied to Malley, wrote Post reporters Rich Calder and Mary Kay Linge, “gained significant sway within the Biden White House — pushing to defang US sanctions on Tehran while advocating for a renewed nuclear deal.”

The problem is that there’s anecdotes like this showcasing some kind of hidden affinity by the Soros empire for the Iranian regime all over cyberspace if you look under enough proverbial rocks. 

When MRC Business published its January 2023 deep dive investigation into Soros’s connections and influence over global media — George Soros: Propaganda Powerhouse — one of the more alarming examples of connections to the Iranian regime involved his bankrolling and deep ties to powerful lefty opinion clearinghouse Project Syndicate, which boasted having its commentaries published 18,700 times in 2025 alone, being active in 156 countries, working with 573 media outlets, having its columns published in 66 languages, and having at least 140 heads of states as contributors. George Soros, who dumped at least over $1.5 million into Project Syndicate’s coffers between 2016 and 2020, had contributed at least 115 columns to the organization at the time.

One notable Project Syndicate contributor was none other than the anti-American and anti-Israel former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Project Syndicate allowed Rouhani to push propaganda in 2014 threatening conflict with the U.S. if an agreement on his country’s notorious nuclear program wasn’t reached. “By diminishing the prospects for a permanent negotiated agreement on our nuclear program, such behavior increases the likelihood that the Iran-US standoff will continue,” Rouhani wrote.

Rouhani also reportedly denounced Israel in 2021 as “‘the enemy’ of the Middle East in comments leading up to World Al Quds Day, which Iran inaugurated after the 1979 Islamic Revolution to protest the existence of the Jewish state,” according to i24News. Rouhani proclaimed: “‘The Zionists are the enemies of the region and of the security of the Palestinian people.’” 

Need we say more? Well, we may not need to, but George Soros himself does. In a 2014 interview that celebrated the Obama administration’s ongoing work with Rouhani on the feckless nuclear deal, suggested that “a new order would emerge in the Middle East” if the Palestinian, Iran and Syria conflicts were resolved. He took a potshot at Israel Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu, sneering that he was “dead set against a deal with Iran” simply “because peace with Palestine would end his political career in Israel.” It couldn’t possibly be because the Iranian regime under now-deceased Ayatollah Khamenei had made the destruction of Israel its inherent obsession, right? For goodness’ sake! Even German publication DW ran this Captain Obvious! March 1 headline following Khamenei’s recent assassination: ” Ayatollah Ali Khamenei: The man who wanted to destroy Israel.” This was never hidden knowledge.

But for Soros, Netanyahu’s retrospectively judicious warnings against dealing with Iran were inconsequential because “the broad outlines of a potential new order can already be discerned,” one of which being that “Iran may emerge as America’s closest ally, second only to Israel.” 

Holy crud. No wonder Alex is throwing a fit now. The twisted dreams of Daddy Dearest are getting blown to bits in real time!

Sign up for the newsletterlogin

Sponsored Content by Best 5 I Auto Insurance

Pennsylvania’s 7 Worst Zip Codes for Car Insurance Rates: Check the Updated Map Read more. 

Mar 2, 2026 –Politics

Florida moves to pass its own “SAVE America Act”

• Yacob Reyes

• facebook (opens in new window)
• twitter (opens in new window)
• linkedin (opens in new window)
• nextdoor (opens in new window)
• email (opens in new window)
• sms (opens in new window)

Add Axios on Google

A polling precinct in Hillsborough County on Nov. 8, 2022. Photo: Octavio Jones/Getty Images

A proposal to rewrite Florida’s voter identification requirements aimed at verifying citizenship could make it harder for out-of-state college students and married women to register to vote.

The big picture: The legislation is the state’s answer to the Safeguard American Voter Eligibility (SAVE) Act, which Republicans are muscling through Congress at President Trump’s insistence.Florida’s version (HB 991 and SB 1334) would, among other things, require new voters and those who update their registration to show proof of citizenship, such as a passport, a REAL ID or a birth certificate.It would also require the State Department to verify the citizenship status of existing voters with the Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, affecting those who don’t yet have a REAL ID.What they’re saying: “Just as the SAVE America Act is common-sense, this election integrity bill is common-sense,” state Rep. Jenna Persons-Mulicka (R-Fort Myers), the bill’s sponsor, said during a state House vote last week.”Floridians want election integrity,” she added. “They want to ensure that only U.S. citizens vote.”The other side: “We shouldn’t be doing anything to weaken the confidence in our democracy… [or] place new barriers between eligible citizens and the ballot box,” state Rep. Rita Harris (D-Orlando) said.Between the lines: The bill is intended to deter noncitizens from voting. But by the state’s own admission, such instances are rare: only 198 noncitizens have been found among the more than 13 million people on its voter rolls.

We didn’t START a war with Iran. After 47 years of relentless attacks, for the FIRST time we FOUGHT BACK.

From David Harriman, on Facebook:

“The American people have lost the concept of war. It is not entirely their fault. Our political leaders have involved us in endless wars all over the world, which they had no desire to win. The United States has by far the most powerful military in history, and yet we lose wars to Afghanistan and Somalia. We have been conditioned to accept such defeats with a shrug. We have forgotten the soldiers who stormed Omaha beach and Okinawa. Today, General Patton would shake his head in disbelief at the strength of our military and the weakness of our people.

After many decades, we finally have a President who is defending our country. He has vowed to destroy the Iranian regime, which has been attacking us and screaming “Death to America!” for 47 years. In less than two weeks, the top Iranian leadership is gone, their navy is nearly gone, their missile defense systems are almost gone, and most of their missiles are gone. They have suffered 1,400 fatalities and we have suffered seven. That is called winning. We haven’t done it since WWII.

General Patton would not have understood our fear of having “boots on the ground.” Air and sea power are great, but finishing a war requires boots on the ground. At the very least, the ground troops must march into the capitol city and control it. There will be little resistance, but there is always some danger. That is the nature of war.

Democrats have complained that the threat of Iran is not clear. Yet the Iranian regime has an unwavering hatred of Western Civilization, a long history of violence toward us and Israel, and a commitment to improve their ballistic missiles and develop nuclear bombs. The Democrats also claim that this will be another endless war (the kind they create), but it appears that Trump will end a 47-year threat in less than three months. Democrats say that the objective of the war is not clear. But President Trump has stated the objective: Unconditional surrender. The word “unconditional” means “without conditions.” The word “surrender” means that they lay down their weapons and wave a white flag. Then we install an allied government.

We need to recapture our strength and confidence, and we need to remember what it means to win.”

Precious metals like gold and silver are a unique asset.

Not only do they offer stability, wealth protection, and long term financial growth, but they can offer you an entirely unique set of advantages.

What smart and informed retirement savers know is that gold and silver are being pulled into New York for reasons beyond tariffs. The Scottsdale mint recently claimed that gold and silver are being repatriated, which is why we’re seeing the value of these metals increase at record rates.

Unfortunately, many Americans interested in gold and silver aren’t sure of what they should buy.

Some people think that they can get their exposure to gold or silver through an Exchange Traded Fund, or ETF. But that carries some major risks that could potentially come back to haunt you.

With ETFs, you don’t actually own the gold or silver; you can’t take physical delivery of the metal; taxes and fees can eat away at your gains; and most importantly, the shares you purchase may or may not have sufficient gold or silver backing.

But when you purchase physical gold and silver, the kind you can hold in your hand and are shipped directly to your front door.

1. Immediate Access

When it comes to gold and silver, many people think that if you can’t hold it in your hand, you don’t really own it. That’s why the immediate access of owning physical gold and silver is so appealing.

Being able to open your safe and put your hands on the physical gold and silver coins you own brings reassurance to many gold and silver owners. And that’s why so many people choose to buy physical gold and silver that they store at home.

2.  Control

Owning physical gold and silver that you take possession of can offer you even more control. You can stick it under your mattress, hide it in a wall, store it in a safe, bury it in your backyard or put it in a bank safe deposit box.

At the end of the day, you have  control over your gold and silver. And no one but you has to know where you keep it.

3. Easy Portability

That ability to choose where your physical gold and silver is stored also means that taking physical possession of your metals gives you maximum portability. If you think there’s ever a potential situation in which you may have to leave your house at short notice, having personal possession of your physical metals means that you can take it with you if you need to.

For some people, that ability to carry their physical assets with them gives them maximum peace of mind. And because gold and silver are so portable, you can carry over $100,000 in gold in a jacket or purse and no one will be the wiser.

4. Convenient Flexibility

Some people may choose to own gold and silver both with a gold IRA and by taking physical possession of the metals at home. Taking physical possession of gold and silver is just one more tool in the toolbox, one more way to diversify your investments. Sometimes that flexibility and diversity of investments can be an important factor.

5. No Pricey Fees

With ETFs and other forms of owning precious metals, you are forced to deal with fund managers, exchanges, custodial storage, and even sales of fund assets that can carry pesky fees that add up over time. When you buy physical gold and silver, you are personally responsible for it, meaning you will not pay additional fees related to storage or management.

TEHRAN — Rumors of the Ayatollah regime’s nefarious plot to launch an assault on the west coast of the United States hit a snag on Wednesday, as Iran canceled plans to attack California after seeing Gavin Newsom had already destroyed it.

The Iranian government had issued threats that it was prepared to take revenge on the U.S. by launching attacks against California, but leaders were said to have reconsidered their plan after intelligence reports showed that the state had been completely decimated under Newsom’s leadership.

“You can’t destroy something that’s already destroyed,” said a spokesman for the supreme leader. “We were deep into strategizing a way to inflict mass destruction on California in the nation of the Great Satan, but our secret operatives said there’s nothing left to do that hasn’t already been done there. Rampant crime, crumbling infrastructure, raging wildfires, and, how you say… poop all over the streets. We’re not sure we could do anything that would make it worse.”

Sources revealed that the Iranians had reached out to Governor Newsom’s office to offer congratulations on the job he did wiping out California. “What he has accomplished is impressive,” one insider said. “He’s done more to cripple America and strike fear in the hearts of Americans than we could ever hope to do. Well done, Governor Newsom. We admire you greatly, sir.”

At publishing time, the Iranian government had reportedly asked Newsom if he was interested in becoming the next supreme leader when the position inevitably becomes available.

Babylon Bee

by Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet, opinion contributors – 03/12/26 7:00 AM ET

Conventional military thought, derived from the writings of Prussian military theorist Carl von Clausewitz, dictates that one identify the enemy’s center of gravity, then “concentrate all energy against it.”

For the Islamic Republic of Iran, it center of gravity — “the source of power that provides moral or physical strength, freedom of action, or will to act” — is its Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, whose principal mission is to keep the regime in power.

While the U.S. and Israeli militaries have systematically dismantled Iran’s conventional military and nuclear ambitions — the direct threat to them — they have left the internal security forces — the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’s Basij paramilitary — mostly intact. 

The Basij are the direct threat to the Iranian people and stand in their way of taking back their country, as President Trump urged them to do. They are not likely to “lay down their arms … and accept immunity.”

Last week U.S. Admiral Brad Cooper described Operation Epic Fury as an “unprecedented operation to eliminate Iran’s ability to threaten Americans.” On that score, it is already largely a success.

The Hill’s Headlines – March 12, 2026

“We’re very far ahead of schedule,” Trump said on Monday. He claimed that Iran has “no navy, no communications, they’ve got no air force. Their missiles are down to a scatter. Their drones are being blown up all over the place, including their manufacturing of drones. If you look, they have nothing left. There’s nothing left in a military sense.”

The metrics appear to support these comments. The Iranian navy and air force have been nearly eradicated; ballistic missile and drone mobile launchers, production and storage facilities have been mostly destroyed; Iran’s ability to enrich uranium and produce a nuclear weapon are being neutralized; and their proxies — Hezbollah and Hamas — have been left withering on a vine.

Yet the regime remains in place. Trump’s war has not stopped Iran’s ability to threaten the Iranian citizens whom Trump would prefer to serve as his boots on the ground, rising up and bringing about regime change.

So, what about the guard corps and the Basij? What happens when the Trump administration achieves its military objectives, but fails at regime-change? The question is especially pressing now that Iran’s Assembly of Experts has chosen Mojtaba Hosseini Khamenei — much younger than his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — as the country’s new Supreme Leader.

This is not regime change, nor does it meet the conditions for Trump’s “unconditional surrender.” As the saying goes, they just rearranged the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Last Thursday, Trump told Axios that “Khamenei’s son is unacceptable to me. We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran.”

By most accounts, Mojtaba is more extreme than his father –– a true hardliner. And given the loss in U.S. and Israeli airstrikes of four family members — including his father, mother, wife and one of his two sons — he has a personal axe to grind as well.

But to add an additional layer of complexity to the problem set, he may not even be alive. His whereabouts remain unknown; conflicting reports suggest he was wounded or even killed early in the opening moments of Operation Epic Fury. The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is protecting him — or else it is at least protecting the identity of whoever is actually making the decisions now.

Iran’s regime, and their keepers, are deeply entrenched in the fabric of Iranian society after 47 years. Removing the supreme leader is part of the solution, but so too is destroying the institution charged with keeping him in power. 

Tomahawks, Precision Strike Missiles and bunker busters may set the conditions, but at some point, the physical removal of these forces on the ground will be required.

That could lead to “boots on the ground” in the form of clandestine U.S. operators or special forces teams reminiscent of the initial operations in Afghanistan, working directly with resistance in the regular Iranian military or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps itself.

Recognizing that there is a pathway to the center of gravity — and degrading the military is that pathway — the Trump administration must act to support the Iranian people and set conditions for them to act.

The people need a partner on the ground, and the White House needs someone to step up, take charge and build up a transitional government. But this cannot lead to an Iraq-style occupation. As we have learned, occupation leads to insurgency.

As former U.S. Ambassador John Bolton noted on X, “The regime in Iran is an ideologically driven group of religious fanatics, and it will rebuild if the U.S. declares premature victory.” We need to finish the job this time by attacking Iran’s center of gravity. That means defeating the guard corps and the Basij.

Col. (Ret.) Jonathan Sweet served 30 years as a military intelligence officer and led the US European Command Intelligence Engagement Division from 2012 to 2014. Mark Toth writes on national security and foreign policy. They are the co-founders of INTREP360 and the INTREP360 Intelligence Report on Substack.

Add as preferred source on GoogleTags Ali Khamenei John Bolton

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

3

SPONSORED CONTENT

Sponsored

Privacy Policy

Doctors Say Alzheimer’s Often Starts When You Can’t Say This WordHealthFrontLine|Sponsored

When Alone: Wrap Aluminum Foil Around Your Doorknobs, Here’s WhyThe Life Helper Focus|Sponsored

Your Neighbors Will Be Jealous Of This Flying Garden PilotWindodream|Sponsored

Top Memory Experts: Avoid These 3 Foods Like the PlagueHealthFrontLine|Sponsored

Here are 13 Strangely Useful Finds at WalmartUnforgettable Gadgets|Sponsored

It’s true drivers with daytime headlights should know this (Hint: it saves many money)Discount Drivers|Sponsored

The #1 Mineral Women Over 45 Are Missing That’s Causing Your Hair to ThinNoor Hair|Sponsored

The Garden Decor Your Neighbors Will Definitely Ask AboutWindodream|Sponsored

12 Things You Should Cut ASAP When Money Gets Tight (Most People Ignore #11)Greensprout|Sponsored

Breaking NewsDonate to the ASPCA.|Sponsored

Place a Bread Clip in Your Wallet When Traveling, It’s GeniusThe Daily Tip Hub|Sponsored

You still have the power to change lives.Donate to the ASPCA.|Sponsored

I Threw Away All My Pans After Reading This ReportKitchen-Experts|Sponsored

This $39 Anti-Aging Find Is 2025’s Top Beauty PickOlavita|Sponsored

12 Things to Cut When Money Gets Tight (Most People Ignore #11)Greensprout|Sponsored

My Kidney’s GFR is back into the safe zone (I’ll tell you how)Kidney Health|Sponsored

Order Custom Mugs Fast & EasyDiscountMugs.com|Sponsored

about:blank

about:blank

about:blank

about:blank

More Opinions – National Security News

Drones pose a massive domestic national security threat — is the US ready?

Opinions – National Security  /  23 hours ago

US military supremacy shines as China fails big in Iran, Venezuela 

Opinions – National Security / 1 day ago

The stakes are high in the Pentagon’s battle against ‘woke AI’

Opinions – National Security / 1 day ago

A mega-deal to end the war

Opinions – National Security / 1 day ago

See All

Video/Hill.TV

Rising: March 11, 2026

THE HILL TV  /  22 hours ago

Rising: March 10, 2026

THE HILL TV  /  2 days ago

Rising: March 9, 2026

Rising  /  3 days ago

See all Hill.TVSee all Video

Top Stories

Rahm Emanuel’s prescription for inflicting pain on Trump over Iran

International  /  5 hours ago

See All

Most Popular

1. Blue states sue Trump administration over new race-based reporting requirements …
2. Rahm Emanuel’s prescription for inflicting pain on Trump over Iran
3. Republicans block Democratic bill to fund DHS agencies other than ICE, CBP
4. Fetterman says he won’t vote for SAVE Act ‘in its current state’
5. Watch live: Clyburn makes announcement in South Carolina

The Hill Podcasts – Morning Report

null

null

null

DON’T MISS A BRIEF.SIGN UP FOR OUR DAILY EMAIL.

Resources

• Sitemap
• The Hill Apps
• People
• RSS
• Print Edition

Other Areas

• Galleries
• The Hill Jobs
• National Jobs

Contributors

• Submit Opinion Content

About Us

• Work For The Hill

Follow Us On

Get the App

Get the Android app from Google Play

Get the iOS app from App Store

• PRIVACY POLICY 09/30/2025
• TERMS & CONDITIONS
• CONTACT
• ADVERTISE
• Unsubscribe from push notifications
• NewsNation
• BestReviews
• Advertise with Nexstar
• Journalistic Integrity
• Your Privacy Choices 

THE HILL 400 N CAPITOL STREET NW, SUITE 650 WASHINGTON DC 20002

© 1998 – 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. | All Rights Reserved.

The Democrats are betting on failure.”

That’s how National Review’s Noah Rothman characterizes the Democratic Party’s response to the U.S.-Israeli attacks on the terrorist regime that controls Iran.

But Rothman has it only half right. Democrats aren’t just betting on failure in Iran. They are trying to engineer it. And not just in Iran, but at home as well, where they are actively trying to undermine the economy.

Because, you see, the midterms are coming up, and to Democrats, what matters isn’t the well-being of Americans or ridding the world of its chief terrorist threat. The only thing that matters is winning elections.

While Ayatollah Khamenei’s body was still warm, Democrats were pushing a War Powers Resolution that would have blocked President Donald Trump’s ability to carry out any further attacks against Iran without first getting congressional approval.

It wasn’t intended to succeed, only to sow division in the country.

Now Democrats are looking to deny the administration funds to continue to prosecute the war.

“We have the power of the purse,” said Minnesota Rep. Betty McCollum, who is the top Democrat on the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Not to be outdone, Gavin Newsom, the California governor drooling over the prospect of being the next president, is now calling on the U.S. to end its support of Israel.

“It breaks my heart because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path, where I don’t think you have a choice but that consideration,” said Newsom.

By immediately attacking the war, calling it a “war of choice,” suggesting, as Newsom did, that we are being manipulated into war by Israel, that will be costly to Americans, that Trump should focus on “affordability,” and so on.

The constant refrain of attacks hasn’t stopped Trump, but has managed to dampen public support, which now sits at 43% and quite possibly is helping to steel the Iranian government’s resolve.

The only Democrat to buck his party has been Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman, who recently pointed out that “Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that.”

So, the Democrats’ strategy is to hope for failure, bet that the region erupts in chaos, even if it means more American lives are lost, all to drive down Trump’s popularity.

None of that is true. Inflation has been well below the Biden years for Trump’s entire second term. Real wages are up. Until the shutdown took a bite out of the GDP, the previous two quarters came in “unexpectedly” strong.

When not sowing discord about the war, Democrats are actively trying to talk down the economy and doing whatever they can to make their dire predictions come true.

As Reuters noted, the 43-day government shutdown that Democrats engineered last fall shaved 1.15 percentage points of the nation’s GDP in the fourth quarter.

When the February jobs numbers came out last Friday, showing an unexpected drop of 92,000, Democrats seized on it to predict economic calamity.

“The warning signs about this economy have been flashing for months,” said Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass, who is the ranking member of the House Ways and Means Committee. He said Trump has “left families with an economy limping as costs soared and growth weakened.”

Don’t expect media “fact-checkers” to point any of this out. But the constant bleating about economic turmoil can affect consumer confidence, which in turn can bring about the results Democrats are predicting.

Rooting for failure so they can seize power. That’s what today’s Democrats are all about.

Issues and Insights Editorial Board

Advisory UKMTO #2026

11 March 2026 Total Incident Summary. Reporting period: 28 February 2026 – 11 March 2026. UKMTO has received 17 reports of incidents affecting vessels operating in and around the Arabian Gulf, Strait of Hormuz (SOH) and Gulf of Oman. Total attack reports: 13. Total suspicious activity reports: 4. Details of these incident reports are available below.

Attack UKMTO #20

11 March 2026 UKMTO WARNING 020-26 – ATTACK Report Date: 11 Mar 2026 Report Time: 0205UTC Issue Date: 11 Mar 2026 Source: Master UKMTO has received a report of an incident 50NM northwest of Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The Master of a Bulk Carrier has reported their vessel being hit by an unknown projectile. There is no report of any environmental impact. The crew are reported safe and well. Authorities are investigating. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.

Attack UKMTO #19

11 March 2026 UKMTO WARNING 019-26 – ATTACK Report Date:11 Mar 2026 Report Time:0435UTC Issue Date: 11 Mar 2026 Source: Company Security Officer UKMTO has received a report of an incident 11NM north of Oman in the Straits of Hormuz. It has been reported that a cargo vessel has been hit by an unknown projectile in the Straits of Hormuz which has resulted in a fire onboard. The vessel has requested assistance and the crew are evacuating the vessel. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO while authorities continue to investigate.