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Reason
Reason
Liz Wolfe

A 'More Decisive' Response

More targets struck: The U.S. shot down four Iranian drones yesterday, as well as a launch unit, while Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) said it targeted the enemy base from which the strikes were fired from. Further strikes, warned the IRGC, would be greeted with a "more decisive" response.

Iran's military "thought they were going to outwait me," President Donald Trump said in a Cabinet meeting yesterday, adding, "I don't care about the midterms." He seemed to signal he wasn't worried about how unpopular the war has been with American voters, and that he's becoming a bit obsessive about bending the Iranians to his will and/or gaining U.S. control of the Strait of Hormuz, by any means necessary.

Then again, Trump tends to be rather distractible.

Trump also warned Oman—which tends to be a friend to the U.S.—that it should not agree to share control of the Strait of Hormuz with any Persian authorities (an idea that had been on the table) and that he would bomb them if they did. "Oman will behave just like everyone else, or we'll have to blow them up," said Trump, adding, "Nobody's going to control it."

For a few days, it had looked like Trump and his counterparts in Iran were going to agree to a legitimate ceasefire, as well as a plan for control of the strait. Now, hostilities have resumed, and Trump seems rather hardheaded about his expectations for control of the shipping corridor.

Meanwhile, "the Israeli military said on Thursday that it had launched new strikes against Hezbollah targets in Tyre, a city in southern Lebanon," reports The New York Times. "The resurgence in fighting between Israel and the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon has complicated the broader peace efforts because Iran wants any deal to cover Lebanon." TL;DR: everything's falling apart again.


Scenes from New York:


QUICK HITS

  • "The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll , the former magazine columnist who accused President Donald Trump of sexual assault," reports CNN. Oh boy. I want everyone to lose.
  • "Many public employers started covering weight-loss medications for teachers, firefighters and police officers a few years ago when the blockbuster drugs hit the market, following the lead of big companies," reports The Wall Street Journal . "Far more employees were prescribed the drugs than expected." Now, some of these towns are being hit with massive bills for the pharmaceuticals—including Buffalo, New York, and North Attleborough, Massachusetts—and struggling to figure out how they're going to pay for it, or whether they ought to reduce the benefit.
  • Not sure I feel so great about this form of "markets in everything." Seems ripe for abuse if custody isn't hammered out clearly in advance:
  • It's pretty obvious that she's lying:

The post A 'More Decisive' Response appeared first on Reason.com.

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