The strait was open before your war. Your war closed it. And then you had to pledge billions and billions to these autocrats to reopen it.
This unnecessary war is Trumps worst foreign policy mistake.
FLASH: Justice Dept refuses to make official court filing which would've confirmed they're halting the Trump $1.7 billion slush fund
Judge in Virginia ordered such a declaration by today
Justice Dept instead writes to court: "Such declarations are unnecessary and the compelled testimony of senior officials from the Executive Branch implicates serious separation of powers concerns"
At this time, the only ships visible moving within the Strait of Hormuz via https://t.co/bYX0jXrfTw appear to be in transit to/from Iranian ports following notice by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy (IRGC-N) of the closure of the Strait.
It wasn't American money, but what's funny is that this the exact same claim he's going to have to counter when people start asking where the money Iran gets under the MOU comes from. Like that famous 80s anti-drug commercial: "I learned it from watching you!"
🚨Republican Senate Armed Services Committee Chair Roger Wicker:
“I am concerned that the memorandum of understanding negotiates away the victories of Operation Epic Fury in ways that are completely out of step with the President’s goals.”
Q: "You keep saying that Iran will only reap economic rewards if they comply and change their behavior, but under this deal they are being allowed now to sell oil…without making any new concrete nuclear commitments. How is that not lopsided?"
Vance: "They've made very concrete nuclear commitments…All we've done is lift the blockade on the Strait of Hormuz. We've basically returned it to where it was before the contract."
JD Vance: "We felt it was reasonable that if we're gonna allow everybody else to sell their energy during this period of negotiation, we would allow everyone to sell their energy. That's all we're doing."
Trump started a war he couldn't finish and is now handing Iran the biggest payday in its history: sanctions relief, unfrozen assets, a $300 billion economic development fund, for the Islamic Republic of Iran, and ZERO progress on nukes.
Now we know why Trump didn't want to release his "deal" to the public...
>Give $14M no-bid contract to your friend to paint the pool blue
>Pool turns green anyway because algae grows in warm stagnant water
>Pour hydrogen peroxide into the pool to kill the algae
>The hydrogen peroxide peels off the blue paint
.@monacharen: "It is our very reverence for the country that makes us recoil from the tawdry circus Trump hosted."
If you're having trouble trying to decide whether to celebrate or ignore America's anniversary, Mona can relate.
Kathleen Harriman was there at the center of it all, at Churchill's side in the Blitz, in Stalin's Moscow, at Yalta, and somehow history almost forgot her. My guest today, renowned historian Geoffrey Roberts, is fixing that, and I promise you, once you hear her story, you won't.
Watch/Listen to Open Book on X, YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
Timestamps
0:00 Geoffrey Roberts Introduction
1:38 How Roberts discovered Kathleen Harriman's letters
4:59 Who was Kathleen Harriman? Skier, correspondent, diplomat's daughter
7:07 Her wartime journey: London, Moscow, and life on the front lines
18:45 Would Kathleen approve of the book being published today?
19:42 Can great powers with different systems ever trust each other?
21:38 Roberts' ulterior motive: a lesson from history for the present
22:01 Five Words
Sometimes you might be tempted to argue that "woke right" is a meaningless phrase, and then you hear J.D. Vance come out against "tone policing," and you're just like, "What year IS this?"