Donald Trump addresses Republicans in Miami, Florida, March 9, 2026 (Reuters)
US-Israel War on Iran: Oil Prices Drop as Trump Wobbles
“A Sense of Normalcy”: Life in the UAE Amid the US-Israel War on Iran
I joined Times Radio’s Maddie Hale on Monday for a 32-minute analysis of Donald Trump’s panic, as oil prices surge and domestic pressure builds, over the US-Israel War on Iran.
We begin with the change in the Iranian regime, as Mojtaba Khamenei succeeds his father Ali — killed in the initial US-Israel strike on February 28 — as Supreme Leader.
I explain why this signals the regime’s refusal to give in to Trump’s demands.
The regime is saying to the US, to Israel, to the Gulf States, “We’re not capitulating. And we’re not going to let you dictate who the leader of this theocratic system is.”
Then we cover the political and economic situation in the US as the Trump camp struggles to get “regime surrender” in Iran. We look at the effect on an American economy which was already struggling, the split among Trumpists over the war, and the majority of Americans who oppose military operations.
This war does not stop until there is enough domestic pressure on the Trump folks. Once you get that pressure and they need an off-ramp, then the Gulf States [and their effort at mediation] provide it.
