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Mar 5, 2026 - World

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed that Spain has already agreed to cooperate with the United States on any war with Iran — but almost immediately, the Spanish government contradicted this.As CNBC noted, when Leavitt was pressed by reporters on Wednesday about Spain's refusal to allow U.S. use of its military bases for staging such an operation, she replied, “With respect to Spain, I think they heard the president’s message yesterday loud and clear, and it’s my understanding, over the past several hours, they’ve agreed to cooperate with the U.S. military. The president expects all of our European allies, of course, to cooperate in this long sought-after mission, not just for the United States but also for Europe, to crush the rogue Iranian regime.”However, Madrid swiftly disagreed, with Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares telling a local outlet that, “The Spanish government’s position on the war in the Middle East ... and the use of our bases has not changed at all.”Spain is one of the member states of the NATO alliance, which would compel the Spanish government to protect the United States if it were attacked; but they aren't obliged to give unlimited cooperation to the U.S. to help them invade another country.Already, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has condemned President Donald Trump's move to strike Iran, saying, “You can’t play Russian roulette with the destiny of millions ... Nobody knows for sure what will happen now. Even the objectives of those who launched the first attack are unclear. But we must be prepared, as the proponents say, for the possibility that this will be a long war, with numerous casualties and, therefore, with serious economic consequences on a global scale.”Trump, for his part, has threatened to "cut off all dealings" with Spain if they do not commit to stand behind U.S. military objectives.

Mar 5, 2026 - World

A Democratic Party representative who served in the Iraq war has issued a statement denouncing the rhetoric around the ongoing strikes on Iran. Donald Trump approved a bombing campaign against Iran earlier this week, with veterans now serving in government airing their concerns. New York Democrat Rep. Pat Ryan, a veteran who twice served in Iraq, issued a statement to CNN expressing his concern over the current Iran situation. He said, "If I hear one more chicken hawk who’s never served a single day in uniform sitting in a gold-plated office in DC or Mar-a-Lago or anywhere else, try to talk tough having never seen what war is about, I’m going to lose my mind."Fellow representatives backed Ryan's comments, with Rep. Eugene Vindman calling the conflict with Iran an unnecessary use of US resources. He said, "I will not be shedding a tear for the Iranian regime and the Ayatollah. I understand the threat but I also understand that wars are easy to start and hard to finish. "This is a commitment of American blood and treasure to a conflict that we didn’t need to be engaged in." Donald Trump has said the U.S. will stay in the fight for as long as it takes to achieve the country's objectives, although his administration has not yet laid out a compelling case for the operation, according to some lawmakers on Capitol Hill.John Bolton, the president's national security advisor during his first administration, told Joanna Coles on a new episode of "The Daily Beast Podcast" on Wednesday that he is concerned that Trump hasn't thought through the implications of the strikes. He added that the president's lack of a decision-making process "magnifies the risk" that something could go wrong.“As long as things are going successfully, he’ll stick with it," Bolton said. "If we run into real difficulty, and I hope we don’t, and we shouldn’t at this point, but if we do, because anything is possible, that would be the testing time to see whether he was able to stick it out."

Mar 5, 2026 - World

Donald Trump has reportedly scrambled energy experts to find an alternative source of energy following the strikes on Iran. While some experts believe a hold-up in the Strait of Hormuz supply line will be temporary, other insiders are concerned there could be longer-term consequences at play. Nobel Prize winner Paul Krugman suggested the route, which has been used by the US and other Western nations as a supply line through the Persian Gulf, could be cut off for longer than the few days industry experts were predicting. Ben Lefebvre, writing in Politico, noted two energy industry insiders had been asked by the president's team to find a solution - and fast.Trump's chief of staff, Susie Wiles, reportedly asked advisers to bring the president ideas on how to tackle the rising oil price and the subsequent effect this will have on gasoline prices. One insider said the administration had been "looking under every rock for ideas on improving energy prices, especially gasoline prices" for a solution. The unnamed executive went on to say that current energy heads of staff are being "screamed at to find some good news" on the situation. "Folks are scrambling for announcements and messaging to counter the narrative," they added. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "I think it speaks to why this action was so necessary that ultimately the energy industry is going to benefit from the president’s actions with respect to Iran, because Iran will no longer be controlling the Strait of Hormuz and restricting the free flow of energy."Insiders also confirmed a handful of ideas had been pitched to the president or members of his team, but that none were considered viable at this time. Lefebvre wrote, "Some of the ideas the administration is considering include a temporary holiday on the gasoline tax, people familiar with the discussions said. But that might not bring immediate relief since it would require action from Congress. And there’s no guarantee oil refiners and gas stations would pass the savings along to drivers."Some administration officials have also floated using the U.S. military to defend energy infrastructure in the Middle East. But that idea isn’t likely to win over Saudi Arabian officials, who are cool on it given the sensitivities around American boots on the kingdom’s soil."

Mar 5, 2026 - World

Pacific island says the US weakened its proposal to advance a key climate ruling but vows to hold major polluters accountableThe Trump administration’s attempt to sink a UN resolution demanding countries act on the climate crisis has caused cuts to the proposal but hasn’t entirely killed it, according to the tiny Pacific island country spearheading the effort.The US has demanded that Vanuatu, an archipelago in the south Pacific, drop its UN draft resolution that calls on the world to implement a landmark international court of justice (ICJ) ruling from last year that countries could face paying reparations if they fail to stem the climate crisis. Continue reading...

Mar 5, 2026 - World

As of this writing, six American troops are dead. Donald Trump says there will be more. More than 1,000 Iranians are dead, and there will certainly be many more. The map of the Middle East is a sea of fire under “Operation Epic Fury,” and only 27 percent of the U.S. public is onboard.So the real question isn’t whether “we” can win this war. It’s how fast Trump will claim he already has.Trump has been crowing that while Iran allegedly tried to kill him three times, he “got Khamenei on the first try.” Secretary of “War” Pete Hegseth called that “guts.” It isn’t guts. It’s the reckless bragging of a man treating a potential world war like the season finale of a reality series: blow everything up, grab the ratings, cancel the show before the numbers tank and the shark is jumped.But in Iran, the shark is taking a big bite out of the truth about why the war began.The trap Trump has walked into is staggering. He explicitly demanded regime change. Every historian and military strategist will tell you regime change has never happened without boots on the ground. Trump ruled that out. Sort of. It depends on the day.Utterly distasteful and offensive, Trump said he doesn’t get “the yips” about troops on the ground. The reason his predecessors, like anyone with a soul, got the yips was because they were risking American lives. What a heartless jerk.The most dishonest person in the world keeps making half-assed promises. As each falls apart, he makes another.We are almost a week in, and the reasons America went to war remain embarrassingly murky. Secretary of State Marco Rubio claimed it was to neutralize an imminent threat to Israel. Trump said he was the one who pushed Benjamin Netanyahu, not the other way around. Hegseth, equally untruthful and idiotic, has his own theories.Americans were disillusioned and confused from day one. Now they’re getting angrier by the hour. There is no justification for this war. There never was. There never will be. And that’s becoming horrifically obvious.Meanwhile, the dominoes are falling. Gas prices are spiking. Economists warn that petroleum-linked inflation is just getting started. Refineries are destroyed. The Dow is spooked.Trump built his entire political identity on economic and no-war braggadocio: “best economy ever,” “I alone can fix it,” “no World War III,” “no forever wars.” Now he owns an oil shock and a war he started that has the makings of World War III.In May 2003, just six weeks into the Iraq War, George W. Bush famously strutted onto the USS Abraham Lincoln under a “Mission Accomplished” banner. He wanted to project strength, declare an end to major combat operations, and pivot to domestic politics before a long, bloody insurgency exposed the whole enterprise as a catastrophe built on lies.The same false premises are in play now: imminent threat, weapons of mass destruction, regime change, a grateful population to welcome Americans as liberators. Those premises collapsed. Wars started on false pretenses never end well.Trump is too ill-informed, and too reckless, to understand.There can be little doubt he is preparing his own “Mission Accomplished” moment — except he is more selfish, less humble, and has even less patience than Bush. To be clear, Bush was never known for humility. But compared to Trump, he looks like a pussycat.Trump will surely declare “victory” soon, not because the threat is eliminated but because the markets are screaming, the oil industry is hemorrhaging, and Trump sees giant losses on the horizon, along with the prospect of getting tied down trying to fix a country he broke.The only difference is that Trump won’t bother with a flight suit. He’ll do it in front of those flimsy black curtains that doubled as a Situation Room at Mar-a-Lago.Fresh off his attack on Venezuela, Trump wants the world to see him as the man who makes strongmen disappear, the most imperial of imperialists.But just as the Iraq justifications shape-shifted from WMDs to spreading democracy when the WMDs turned out not to exist, so “Operation Epic Fury” has mutated in real time from stopping an “imminent nuclear threat” to personal score-settling by a president who treats foreign policy like a drive-by shooting.Trump will simply “kill you,” as Hegseth might say. Make a mess, speed away, let someone else clean it up.Trump didn’t go to war for America. He went to war for Trump. And now he has to get out fast — for Trump.After September 11, Bush had the benefit of 90 percent public approval. He had goodwill. Trump is starting his war in the basement, with an approval rating at a record low, 36-39 percent, and 60 percent disapproval. With his war, he barely has a quarter of Americans behind him.Rising body counts will not move Trump the way they would move a normal president. What will move him are the Dow and oil futures. When the financial fallout becomes intolerable, he will declare victory and bolt, leaving a destabilized Middle East to deal with the wreckage he made.Trump has zero patience. He cannot stand to be associated with losing. A grinding, inconclusive Middle East war is the definition of losing — slowly, expensively, in public.When his lies grow old and the polls get even worse, Trump will sprint for his “Mission Accomplished” banner. He will announce that he has eliminated Iran’s nuclear program, degraded its drone and missile capabilities, avenged three assassination attempts, and secured a historic win.Then he will leave Israel alone in the fight, the region in flames, the cleanup to whoever’s still standing.Trump doesn’t care about our soldiers. He doesn’t care about peace, stability, or the families of the six Americans already killed and the others to follow. He cares about one thing: how Donald Trump looks when “the show” comes to an end.John Casey was most recently Senior Editor, The Advocate, and is a freelance opinion and feature story writer. Previously, he was a Capitol Hill press secretary, and spent 25 years in media and public relations in NYC. He is the co-author of LOVE: The Heroic Stories of Marriage Equality (Rizzoli, 2025), named by Oprah in her "Best 25 of 2025.”