White House sends mixed signals on Iran

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It’s Tuesday. It’s expected to hit 80 degrees in Washington today, and it feels like the whole city is coming out of hibernation. Please, don’t let this be fool’s spring.

Mixed signals from White House over Iran

Mixed signals from White House over Iran

Hegseth says today will be ‘most intense day of strikes’

Hegseth says today will be ‘most intense day of strikes’

Iran’s ominous threat to Trump

Iran’s ominous threat to Trump

Pentagon burns through $5.6B of munitions in 2 days

Pentagon burns through $5.6B of munitions in 2 days

Trump official accused of ethical violations

Trump official accused of ethical violations

Report shares latest tea on Rubio vs. Vance in 2028

Report shares latest tea on Rubio vs. Vance in 2028

Are we gearing up or winding down?:

Henry Nicholls / AFP via Getty Images

The Trump administration has given mixed messages about the timeline and outlook for the war in Iran.

The Defense Department has been gung-ho about the conflict: “We have Only Just Begun to Fight,” a Pentagon-run social media account posted on Monday. And Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told CBS’s “60 Minutes” over the weekend that “this is only just the beginning.”

This morning, Hegseth stressed that “we will not relent” until enemies in Iran are defeated. Hegseth also told reporters that Iran will be hit harder today than ever before. “Today will be, yet again, our most intense day of strikes inside Iran. The most fighters, the most bombers, the most strikes. Intelligence more refined and better than ever,” Hegseth said.

The messaging from the White House has been more mixed.

President Trump labeled the war as an “excursion” on Monday, signaling it will end sooner than his initial four- to five-week timeline. When asked if it would end by the end of the week, Trump responded, “Very soon.”

The Wall Street Journal reports that Trump’s closest advisers are actively looking for an “exit ramp” from the war, worrying there will be significant political backlash.

Trump even publicly acknowledged that Vice President Vance was “maybe less enthusiastic” about starting a war with Iran, noting Vance is “philosophically a little bit different” from him.

However, Trump’s team is publicly disputing that he is looking to quickly end the war. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt strongly pushed back on the Journal’s reporting, arguing it is “full of crap.”

Meanwhile, Iran issued an ominous threat: Iran’s Supreme National Security Council secretary threatened Trump today. “Be careful not to get eliminated yourself,” Secretary Ali Larijani warned Trump over the president’s comments about the flow of oil.

This is a wild figure: The Pentagon spent $5.6 billion on munitions during just the first two days of the U.S. war with Iran, a congressional source told The Hill’s Filip Timotija.

💬 Follow today’s live blog

➤ A SIGN THE WAR MAY NOT BE OVER SOON:

Iran selected Mojtaba Khamenei, son of former Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, as the country’s next leader. This is not optimal for the U.S. It’s seen as a rebuke of Trump and a signal Iran is willing to fight.

Remember how Trump mentioned there was a list of possible successors the U.S. would like to see take over Iran? However, they were all killed in strikes.

➤ ARE AMERICANS WILLING TO MAKE ECONOMIC SACRIFICES FOR THE WAR?:

Oil prices and financial markets have been on a rollercoaster over the past week. Trump is betting that Americans are willing to swallow the higher gas prices, but that’s a high-stakes bet.

Where oil prices stand: The price of a barrel of oil spiked on Monday and later dipped. Regardless, the price of oil is much higher now than it was before the conflict began. New polling shows that most Americans are bracing for surging gas and oil prices.

Republicans are a bit worried: Republicans on Capitol Hill are growing worried about Trump’s bet, according to Al Weaver and Sudiksha Kochi’s reporting. Republicans are defending their House and Senate majorities in the midterms — and affordability is a key concern for Americans.

Do Americans support the war?: No, most Americans are opposed to this war compared to other past conflicts. Check out this New York Times graphic of Americans’ support for recent wars.

➤ FIVE IRANIAN SOCCER PLAYERS WERE GRANTED ASYLUM:

Australia granted asylum to five women on the Iranian soccer team after facing pressure from Trump.

➤ TIDBIT ABOUT TRUMP’S SOCIAL MEDIA POSTS ABOUT THE WAR:

“As of Monday morning, of the 222 posts on Truth Social he made since the Feb. 28 video announcing the start of the war, fewer than one in five was about Iran,” notes The Washington Post’s Michael Birnbaum.

A Trump official has been accused of ethical violations:

Ed Martin, an outspoken lawyer in President Trump’s Justice Department, has been accused of ethical violations for a letter he sent to Georgetown Law about its diversity programs.

In the letter, Martin told Georgetown Law’s dean threatened that he would not hire any Georgetown Law students unless the school ended its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs.

Martin will now face disciplinary proceedings.

Shut it down. Shut it all down:

“A group of Senate Democrats are threatening to use every procedural tool at their disposal to hold up business on the Senate floor unless Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and other senior officials testify before key committees under oath on the military conflict with Iran,” reports The Hill’s Alexander Bolton.

Which Senate Democrats are involved?: Sens. Cory Booker (N.J.), Chris Murphy (Conn.), Tim Kaine (Va.), Tammy Duckworth (Ill.), Adam Schiff (Calif.) and Tammy Baldwin (Wis.).

What to expect, via Booker: “We have collectively agreed that we’re going to use the levers that we have,” Booker said Monday evening. “We should be having hearings on the biggest military engagement since the war in Afghanistan.”

Read more on how this could play out: ‘Democrats vow to shut down Senate over Iran conflict’

Thune is not giving into Trump on this one:

Trump has been pressuring Republicans to pass sweeping voting reform. To do that, he wants Republicans to radically reinterpret the filibuster rule. However, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) is standing his ground against Trump, warning it will cause chaos.

Why Thune thinks this could be bad for Republicans: “Thune warned that requiring Democrats to hold the floor continuously to block the House-passed voting reform measure would force Republicans to vote on repeated amendments, giving Democrats chances to force vulnerable Republicans such as Sen. Susan Collins (Maine) to take tough votes ahead of the November election.”

Read more: ‘GOP leaders, Trump see tensions flare over Senate filibuster’

Interesting read about what’s on Trump’s mind these days:

The Wall Street Journal’s Alex Leary, Natalie Andrews and Meridith McGraw report that “less than a day after the U.S. began bombing Iran, President Trump met with two dozen donors at his Mar-a-Lago club. As attendees dined on jumbo crab and rib-eye steaks, Trump asked the crowd: What do you think of JD Vance and Marco Rubio? The guests applauded louder for Rubio, according to people in the room.”

“The 2028 election is more than 2½ years away, but it is very much on Trump’s mind, as he casts about for a suitable heir to his MAGA empire. For months, the president has privately polled advisers, donors and friends about the political strengths and weaknesses of his vice president and secretary of state, pitting the two young, ambitious Republicans against each other—whether they like it or not.”

It’s worth reading: ‘Vance or Rubio in ’28? It’s a Question Trump Can’t Stop Asking’

— A 1,300-pound NASA satellite will reenter Earth’s atmosphere this evening after spending more than a decade in orbit (!)

— Charlie Kirk’s widow, Erika Kirk, has been appointed to the Air Force Academy board, replacing her late husband.

The Washington Post: That video of Epstein and Trump? It might be pro-Iran disinformation

The Wall Street Journal: Seniors Paid Billions in Extra Premiums Due to Alleged Medicare Overpayments

The Atlantic: Imagine Losing Your Job to the Mere Possibility of AI: The technology may not be ready to replace workers, but that isn’t stopping execs from pushing forward anyway.

The Ezra Klein Show, via The New York Times: I Asked a Former Trump Official to Justify This War

The Hill: What to know about the crowded House race to replace Greene in Georgia

The House is out. The Senate is in. President Trump is at the White House with no public events on his schedule. (All times EST)

Today: Primary elections in Georgia and Mississippi.

12:30 p.m. Senators meet for weekly caucus meetings. 📆 Today’s agenda

2:15 p.m. The Senate votes.

3 p.m. Trump holds policy meetings in the Oval Office.

🫐 Celebrate: Today is National Blueberry Popover Day.

To leave you with a smile, I want you to meet this gentleman who politely dines for breakfast each morning.

Please, no one tell him he’s a dog. I truly don’t think he knows.

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