Iran

Very Complete?

Plus: Trump waves off missile blame, Virginia's latest firearms ban, a California representative leaves the GOP, and more...

Elizabeth Nolan Brown | 3.10.2026 9:30 AM

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(screenshot from press conference via PBS News Hour / YouTube)

Is the Iran war "very complete"? While I was messaging with colleagues yesterday about the president's latest statements on the war in Iran, my 2-year-old hijacked my keyboard and typed: "GBCFDC] GAH] SIQRTIKHrFBG|." This makes about as much sense as the Trump administration's messaging.

Hours after markets slumped in response to concerns about escalation and expansion of the war, President Donald Trump told CBS News reporter Weijia Jiang that U.S. efforts were "very complete."

But just a day earlier, Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said on 60 Minutes that "this is only just the beginning," while scoffing at the idea that U.S. goals in Iran were nearly accomplished. And the department's official "rapid response" account posted to X yesterday: "We have Only Just Begun to Fight."

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At a press conference yesterday afternoon, Trump seemingly tried to reconcile these inconsistencies, saying we could call the war "a tremendous success right now, as we leave here…or we could go further. And we're going to go further."

But Trump's statements yesterday only drive home the aimlessness of our........

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