As Operation Epic Fury progressed, President Trump made a series of increasingly vivid threats to (in effect) destroy the Iranian economy if Iran did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran did not open the strait, and the campaign against economic targets never happened. 1/9 On April 7, the president announced a ceasefire with Iran, conditional on Iran opening the Strait of Hormuz. Iran did not open the strait, but it got the ceasefire anyway. 2/9

250 years ago, tonight:

Listen, my children, and you shall hear
Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere,
On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-five;
Hardly a man is now alive
Who remembers that famous day and year. 👇 He said to his friend, "If the British march
By land or sea from the town to-night,
Hang a lantern aloft in the belfry arch
Of the North Church tower as a signal light,—
One, if by land, and two, if by sea;
And I on the opposite shore will be,

While the President gives stirring speeches about support for Israel, his admin leaks to the press about how hard they are working to restrain Jerusalem. The main mechanism of delay is the hostage question. This is obscene, and Team Biden is handing Hamas a free strategic gift. Demanding time for hostage diplomacy to play out delays any effort by Israel to regain the initiative, perhaps indefinitely, and gives ball control to Hamas, who can dole out a hostage or 2 every few days to rapturous headlines. Meanwhile Israeli politics starts to boil again...