u/Debunk2025

This new ‘world order', where rogue nations can pick and choose their next acquisitions, gives the green light to other bad actors,

If this is the new “world order”, it surely gives the green light to those with more legitimate claims – China with Taiwan, Spain with Gibraltar, Argentina with the Falklands. So, what can be done to halt this descent into madness?

Trump’s flip-flopping on the Iran war.

In the fifth week of the war, Trump continues contradicting himself on its objectives and how Americans are affected.

In the fifth week of the war alone, Trump said the war had nothing to do with oil, then posted that the US should “take the oil & make a fortune”. He described the war as nearly over and simultaneously threatened weeks of escalating infrastructure strikes in a primetime address.

And within 48 hours of that, he went from telling other nations they could reopen the strait of Hormuz themselves once the US left, to insisting Washington could “easily” do it.

Trump is using unabashed viciousness in his language against Iran.

The opposite of a euphemism is a dysphemism: a name for something that makes it sound maximally horrible. Politicians normally use dysphemisms for their opponents:

The Trump administration, however, revels in the use of dysphemism for its own actions. “This was never meant to be a fair fight, and it is not a fair fight,” Hegseth said on 4 March. “We are punching them while they’re down, which is exactly how it should be.”

A very dangerous person. Alarm as Pete Hegseth revels in carnage of Iran war**.

In 2018 Hegseth’s mother, Penelope, sent him an email that said: “You are an abuser of women – that is the ugly truth and I have no respect for any man that belittles, lies, cheats, sleeps around, and uses women for his own power and ego. You are that man (and have been for years) and as your mother, it pains me and embarrasses me to say that, but it is the sad, sad truth.”

Source: The Gaurdian.

**China Yuan now emerges as an alternate to the greenback in Asia**.

Iran is imposing transit fees on vessels passing through the Strait of Hormuz and collecting part of the charges in yuan and stablecoins, according to a Bloomberg report citing anonymous sources.

The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is effectively exercising control by demanding payment as a condition for granting passage permission to ships transiting the strait.

Ship operators must submit vessel information and cargo details through intermediaries linked to the IRGC before negotiating passage terms.

The transit fee typically starts at about US$1 per barrel of crude oil, with payments reportedly made in yuan or stablecoins.

Iran is applying differentiated passage terms based on the level of friendliness by country, offering favorable terms to vessels from friendly nations while imposing passage restrictions or issuing attack threats against vessels from hostile countries, the report said.

Vessels that pay are assigned a passage code and route, then pass through the strait **under escort by the Iranian navy**.

U.S. job growth surged past expectations in March and the unemployment rate dropped, giving President Donald Trump some breathing room as the economy comes under increasing pressure over the war in Iran and rising oil prices.

Companies added a net 178,000 jobs last month, the Labor Department reported Friday, a huge swing from February, when the economy actually shed jobs. But it was roughly in line with January — a sharp fluctuation that is making it hard to gauge the job market’s health. But the overall positive trend suggests that the economy remained resilient during the first quarter of the year.

Guy Berger, a senior fellow at the Burning Glass Institute, called it an “incredible zig-zagging employment situation.” He added, “you have to average out all these jobs reports. But the average looks pretty good.”

The unemployment rate now stands at 4.3 percent, and the manufacturing sector — which has been anemic for a long time — added 15,000 jobs in March, the highest number since November 2023.

That gives Trump some useful talking points as polling shows deep dissatisfaction with the state of the economy, particularly in the wake of the war in the Middle East, which has led to a surge in gas prices. 

Source: Politico

A-10 Warthog Crashes Near Hormuz Shortly After F-15 Shootdown.

Friday has witnessed a sudden spate of disasters for the US Air Force over Iran.

The downed F-15 situation is still ongoing, there are unconfirmed reports a Blackhawk helicopter may have been shot down, and now the NYT is confirming an A-10 Warthog crashed in the Persian Gulf region:

US President Trump tells NBC News  downing of US jet won't affect Iran talks.

"No, not at all. No, it's war. We're in war."

In the meantime Iran's parliament speaker and the man who appears to be de facto running the day-to-day of the country is trolling the United States:

**Iran Unwilling To Meet US Negotiators In Pakistan**, Talks At 'Dead End'.

Iran targets Gulf infrastructure, including a Kuwaiti desalination plant, while UAE defenses intercept large-scale missile and drone waves and energy facilities face disruptions

The odds of imminent boots on the ground are soaring...

Tehran is settling in for a long war, hoping to keep imposing serious costs on America, the global economy, and on Washington's allies. The White House has at various points over the last days and weeks presented a level of optimism for talks that just wasn't there in reality. 

Iran has shot down a U.S. fighter jet, per Iranian media and a source familiar with the incident, and a search and rescue effort is underway to locate two crew.

The U.S. military and the White House didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

On Friday, Iranian state media published pictures and videos that allegedly show parts of the downed plane and one of the ejection seats.

The photos and videos suggest it is an F-15 fighter jet.

Iranian state media on Friday circulated photos and videos of debris from what appeared to be an F-15 fighter jet, including an ejection seat, claiming it had been shot down.

The Associated Press reported that Iranian state media was urging residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to police and promised a reward for anyone who did.

April 3 — US forces have yet to begin “destroying what’s left in Iran,” President Donald Trump warned late yesterday, as he said more of the country’s bridges and energy infrastructure were in his sights.

The US military “hasn’t even started destroying what’s left in Iran. Bridges next, then Electric Power Plants!” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform, several hours after he said Iran’s tallest bridge had been destroyed.

Trump has repeatedly stated that the vast majority of major military targets in Iran have already been damaged or destroyed over the past month of war.

Iran’s “New Regime leadership knows what has to be done, and has to be done, FAST!” Trump said, seemingly referring to his call for Tehran to strike a deal with Washington that will bring about a ceasefire. — AFP

Based on early 2026 reports regarding conflict with Iran, the U.S. and Israel have used massive amounts of high-end munitions, with estimates suggesting that certain, critical weapon stockpiles—particularly interceptors like THAAD—could take years to replenish.

**In the first 16 days, over 11,000 munitions were reportedly used, costing roughly $26 billion**.

Analysts indicate that the rapid pace of missile usage in the Middle East war has caused significant strain on U.S. stockpiles.

Reports indicate roughly 14% of the U.S. THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense) interceptor stockpile was used in a short period, with some reports suggesting up to one-third of available THAAD missiles were fired.

Reports suggest hundreds of Tomahawk missiles were used in the initial weeks of the conflict.

The high-end munitions consumed in just over two weeks cost billions, with one estimate placing the cost at $26 billion over 16 days.

The high rate of consumption threatens to outpace the U.S.'s ability to produce new missiles, raising concerns about readiness for other potential global conflicts.

In the first 16 days of the conflict the US burnt through 11,294 munitions at a cost of about $US26 billion ($38 billion), according to estimates from the Payne Institute for Public Policy.

It estimated more than 5,000 were fired in the first 96 hours alone.

On March 19 Armin Papperger, chief executive of major German arms manufacturer Rheinmetall, warned global stocks of missile interceptors needed for air defence systems were "nearly empty" as a result of the US-Israel war on Iran.

These reports come from analysis based on the conflict with Iran occurring in early 2026. 

President Donald Trump suggested in an interview with a British newspaper that he’s considering withdrawing the US from NATO after repeatedly criticizing a lack of support from members for the Iran war.

Asked by the right-leaning Telegraph if he would reconsider the US’ membership of NATO after the war, Trump said: “Oh yes, I would say (it’s) beyond reconsideration… I was never swayed by NATO. I always knew they were a paper tiger, and (Russian President Vladimir) Putin knows that too, by the way.”

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Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen said they had fired a third barrage of ballistic missiles toward Israel, aiming at “sensitive” targets.

The Houthis had stayed out of the war in the Middle East until Friday, when they fired their first missiles toward Israel, raising fears they could also resume attacks on ships in the Red Sea when global trade and energy prices have already been disrupted by Iran’s effective blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

31 March. - U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on Tuesday the next few days in the war against Iran would be decisive ​and warned Tehran that the conflict would intensify if it did not make a deal.

Iran's Revolutionary Guards hit back with a new threat, saying that they will target U.S. ‌companies in the region in retaliation for attacks on Iran from Wednesday, listing 18 groups including Microsoft, Google, Apple, Intel, IBM, Tesla and Boeing.

President Donald Trump threatened on Monday to obliterate Iran's energy plants if it does not agree to a peace deal and open the strait, a vital waterway for global ​oil shipments that has effectively been blocked by Iran.

Secy Hegseth, who said he visited U.S. troops in the Middle East on Saturday, said Trump was willing to make a deal and talks were ongoing and ​gaining strength, but that the U.S. was prepared to continue the war if Iran did not comply.

Iran has remained defiant despite heavy U.S. and Israeli attacks for the past month. It has received U.S. peace proposals via intermediaries, but its foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday they were "unrealistic, illogical and excessive".

The war has also revived conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah, while Iran, which has the highest casualty toll in the ​war, has fired at targets in Gulf Arab states, where the U.S. has military bases.

Source: Reuters.