Monday's Final Word

I'd kinda like to be the President so I can show you where your tabs all went ... Since President Trump revealed contacts with the Islamic Republic, we’re seeing something very telling inside Iran: chaos at the top.

Regime officials are either turning on each other, pointing fingers, accusing one another of negotiating with the United States or in their own…— Masih Alinejad 🏳️ (@AlinejadMasih) March 23, 2026 ... or in their own media and social platforms, they’re warning against character assassination of figures like Ghalibaf or Rouhani, because suspicion is spreading inside the regime itself.

Some are even calling for arrests or worse. Others are publicly shaming officials, accusing them of secret talks.

This is the atmosphere on the Islamic Republic’s side of social media. Total panic. Ed: I suspect that this is the entire reason for the five-day extension on the ultimatum.

It's a stress test for the IRGC and the regime generally, to see if it's ready to crack. Alinejad has far better sources in Iran to assess this, and she's seeing the same thing. Trump has the luxury of time, as I wrote earlier, and the room to let the situation in the Strait of Hormuz stretch out until the Marines arrive.

At that point, the next move may well be on Kharg Island rather than electrical infrastructure, or both simultaneously. Noah Rothman at NRO: It’s not so much that there is an eagerness abroad in the press for an American defeat in its ongoing war against the theocratic regime in Tehran. If, however, Donald Trump is sufficiently humiliated at the end of this campaign, it seems that, for some, an American defeat is acceptable collateral damage.

What other conclusion could you draw from the American press corps’ reaction to Trump’s announcement on Monday morning that he will delay for five days his promised attacks on Iranian power plants following “in-depth, detailed, and constructive” talks with Iranian representatives? The statement resulted in a stampede of journalists alleging that the president had capitulated.

“TACO” Tuesday came early this week. Such was the political press’s commitment to the default notion that Trump backed down that they took the Iranian regime’s pronouncements at face value.

“There is no direct contact with Trump, not even through intermediaries,” Iran’s Fars News Agency reported.

“Trump retreated after hearing that our targets would be all power plants in West Asia.” Why did so many assume that a notoriously mendacious regime was, in this instance, telling the truth? Ed: Why did no American outlet note that the IRGC controls Fars?

Why did not American outlets ask the obvious question: what if Trump is talking to other powers in Iran to isolate the IRGC? The answers to all of these questions are (a) Trump Derangement Syndrome and (b) the Protection Racket Media's narrative maintenance on the Trump Is Disqualified argument. Netanyahu: "I spoke earlier today with President Trump.

He believes there is a chance to leverage the military achievements of the war to get all the objectives of the war through an agreement. Such an agreement will safeguard our interests" https://t.co/hPxezRUbKy— Barak Ravid (@BarakRavid) March 23, 2026 Ed: Looks like Netanyahu has at least been read into the strategy at this point. His government was reportedly surprised by the extension on the ultimatum.

I suspect they aren't all that concerned about a five-day extension, although they may worry that Trump will take a deal out of expediency that will fall short later. Semafor: Now in its fourth week, the US-Israeli war on Iran has disrupted life across the Middle East and hit aviation, energy, equities, logistics, and trade globally. With few signs of an off-ramp, and officials in Washington and Israel still expecting weeks more fighting, escalation was becoming the default strategy — though Trump’s allusion to constructive conversations with Iran (without saying who on the Iranian side had been talking, or where) suggests that might be changing.

What has become clear is that the supposed rift between the Gulf and Washington, driven by Trump’s decision to go to war despite the risk to Gulf security and prosperity, hasn’t emerged. Instead, there is growing recognition in Gulf capitals — excluding Muscat? — that the Iranian threat is now central to their security calculus for the long term.

However this conflict ends, Gulf states will need to confront and deter Iran’s missiles and drones, Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed, said. To do so, the Gulf will need to “solidify our security partnerships with Washington.” Whatever the outcome of Trump’s ultimatum, he is unlikely to lose the support of Gulf leaders in a way that benefits Tehran (or China and Russia).

Ed: Mission accomplished. It's worth noting that this mission mainly got accomplished by the Iranian regime, which proved the threats it posed to the region almost immediately. That made it very easy for the other Gulf states to choose the US as its partner rather than Iran, and the lack of effective assistance from Russia or China to Iran solidified those choices.

All the legal geniuses who claim Trump attacking Iran’s energy infrastructure would be a “war crime” are eerily quiet about Ukraine’s successful attacks on Russia’s energy infrastructure. https://t.co/6kKwuu

ZBX9— Marc Thiessen 🇺🇸❤️🇺🇦🇹🇼🇮🇱 (@marcthiessen) March 23, 2026 Ed: That's different because SHUT UP FASCIST. More seriously, there is no war crime in attacking infrastructure that supports military and government operations, even if it also supports civilian activities. Trump has wanted to preserve those resources for the next government of Iran, not because targeting them amount to a war crime.

Plus, why is no one discussing the attacks by Iran on civilian energy infrastructure and actual civilians throughout the region? Shanaka Anslem Perera on X/Twitter: BREAKING: Iran built a subway system for ballistic missiles inside a granite mountain south of Yazd. Automated rails move warheads and transporter-erector-launchers between assembly halls, storage vaults, and three to ten blast-door exits carved into the mountainside at depths reaching 500 metres.

A TEL rides the tracks to an exit, surfaces, fires, and retreats underground before the strike aircraft can respond. The mountain has been under construction for two decades. The IRGC did not build a bunker.

It built a weapons factory with its own internal railway, buried deeper than any conventional bomb can reach. The United States and Israel have struck Yazd Imam Hussein on March 1st, March 6th and March 17th and even earlier today! Satellite imagery shows collapsed portals, cratered ventilation shafts, and destroyed surface infrastructure.

The visible damage is real. The invisible infrastructure is intact. On March 20, a long-range ballistic missile launched from the Yazd complex, failed during boost phase, and crashed near Kohistan Park inside Yazd City itself.

The launch failed. The fact that it happened at all is the proof. Three weeks of precision strikes on the portals did not stop the railway behind them from delivering a missile to a surviving exit.

Ed: Be sure to read all of this. It explains why eradicating Iran's missile threat may be just as complicated as eliminating its nuclear threat, and may not be entirely possible with an air campaign alone. It will likely require regime change, a negotiated deal, or both.