Get It All Out of the System
Plus: Strait of Hormuz possibly closing, NYC's socialist nonsense hopefully coming to a close, and more...
Don't worry, guys: Iran's gotten all the "Death to Israel"/"Death to America" out of their system.
Or so President Donald Trump contends.
Iran attacked a U.S. military base in Qatar on Monday; there were no casualties, and sources tell American outlets that both the Americans and the Qataris were notified ahead of time that the attack was coming. "Iran's Supreme National Security Council released a statement earlier claiming the number of missiles fired at Qatar was equal to the number of bombs the U.S. used in its strike on Saturday," per Axios, "signaling a desire to de-escalate." To keep up appearances, Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei threw a flag-burning pic up on X, but if that's all the retaliation they've got planned, it all seems for show.
Trump agrees, and seems to have interpreted Monday's events as a win. The attack on Al Udeid Air Base was, according to Trump, rather "weak," but the good news is "they've gotten it all out of their 'system,' and there will, hopefully, be no further HATE"—emphasis his. Trump then thanked Iran "for giving us early notice, which made it possible for no lives to be lost, and nobody to be injured."
"Perhaps Iran can now proceed to Peace and Harmony in the Region, and I will enthusiastically encourage Israel to do the same," he continued. ("Thank you for your attention to this matter!" he finished.)
— JD Vance (@JDVance) June 23, 2025
Shortly after, he started declaring that Israel and Iran agreed to a ceasefire—something both sides slowly embraced, several hours (and strikes) after his initial announcement. Per Trump's plan, which was apparently agreed to by both sides at one point, "Iran is to observe the ceasefire first, starting at 7:30am local time (04:00 GMT), with Israel following suit 12 hours later (16:00 GMT)," per Al Jazeera. But the hours-old ceasefire is not going well at all: Israel's military claims Iran fired another barrage of missiles after the ceasefire had already gone into effect, and that they must retaliate. (There's some evidence coming out that it may have been the result of countries mixing up timezones.)
Get your morning news roundup from Liz Wolfe and Reason.
Meanwhile, Iran's nuclear program might be back sooner than we think. "We have taken the necessary measures and are currently assessing the areas that were damaged," said Mohammad Eslami, the head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran, in a statement carried by Mehr, Iran's semiofficial state-sponsored news agency. "Preparations for recovery had already been anticipated, and our plan is to prevent any interruption in production or services." (Remember, they still claim it's for civilian nuclear energy.)
Doesn't it all seem rather…ridiculous, for a war? The unilateral Trump declarations, the negging of the Persians, and the idea that Khamenei just needed to blow off some steam. Or it's possible Trump's anti-war bona fides really are there, and he's masterminded a legitimately precise strike that's set back Iran's uranium enrichment capabilities by many years, and now a ceasefire that will avoid further bloodshed. Or it's possible that Iran believes itself to be in too deep, so it's legitimately interested in coming to the negotiating table once again. Or it's possible that Iran in the coming hours and days attacks much more than just Al Udeid, that Israel continues to pummel them, that the U.S. gets more deeply embroiled, and that none of these strikes targeted to cripple their nuclear program were effective because Iran was several steps ahead and had already moved the stockpile of enriched uranium. It's just really hard to say right now.
Reason's Jack Nicastro got some incredible quotes from inside the White House Press Pool that kind of perfectly sums up the situation:
"They've been fighting so long and so hard that they don't know what the fuck they're doing."—President Donald Trump re: Israel violating the ceasefire in response to one middle fired from Iran @reason
— Jack Nicastro (@jack_g_nicastro) June 24, 2025
Possible next moves: It's very possible that, if tensions continue, Iran will shut down the Strait of Hormuz, which would present a massive problem for pretty much all of Asia, as well as the U.S. Navy.
The Strait of Hormuz is a critical passageway for oil and gas, especially that which is bound for Asia. But U.S. Navy ships in the Persian Gulf would also be stuck there if the Strait were closed or mined, and it would be a huge escalation.
"Many of Iran's options are the strategic equivalent of a suicide bombing," Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told The New York Times. "They can do enormous damage to others if they mine the Strait of Hormuz, destroy regional oil facilities and rain a missile barrage against Israel, but they may not survive the blowback."
Scenes from New York: "If you listen to Zohran Mamdani talk about New York, you'd think he was describing a low-tax, low-spending jurisdiction that is failing to meet its citizens' basic needs due to austerity budgeting," writes Matt Yglesias at Slow Boring. "He saw a tweet about a signaling malfunction on the 7 Train, for example, and called it an example of the 'disinvestment' from mass transit that was typical of Andrew Cuomo's time as governor. But the combined top state, federal, and local tax rate in New York City is higher than in Norway and about equal to Sweden. New York State has the highest combined state and local spending per capita of anywhere in the country, and taxes and spending are higher in NYC than the state average."
I cannot express enough how much I want this man to lose. Anyway, today's Election Day if you're a NYC Democrat voting in the primary (as I am, can't you tell?). Godspeed!
QUICK HITS
- Related: A solid, critical interview of Mamdani. Apparently we're back in the Peak Wokeness era of guilt by association, in which journalists interviewing political candidates they disagree with, and pushing back on their assertions, is somehow "bending the knee."
I think it's rude to over-generalize, but my opinion of a lot of left-wing media is unfortunately well-summarized by these two facts:
1. The Chapo guys refused, repeatedly, to talk to me and Ezra after we were pitched for their show during the abundance tour.
2. Now, Will… pic.twitter.com/a687eqK10e
— Derek Thompson (@DKThomp) June 23, 2025
- "New York is planning to build a nuclear power plant capable of producing enough electricity for as many as 1 million homes in an as-yet-unnamed upstate location, Gov. Kathy Hochul said on Monday," reports The New York Times. It's almost like we should've never listened to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and shut down Indian Point some four years ago, but we'll take what we can get!
- Speaking of the Kooky Falconer, America's dietary guidelines might be getting the RFK treatment rather soon. In a lot of ways, this might actually be a huge improvement on the old version: The old guidelines stood at a whopping 149 pages; Kennedy plans to use just four, telling people primarily to "eat whole food" and "eat the food that's good for you," which is honestly quite refreshing: With obesity rates as high as they are, it's not like people are listening to government guidelines much anyway. But, at a minimum, government guidelines could be made clear and concise, and easy for the general public to understand and use. Kennedy is known for issuing broadsides against ultra-processed foods and certain food dyes and added sugars, so expect him to steer the public away from those. And, if the Make America Healthy Again movement can inspire any sort of cultural change that gets people to eat more whole fruit and fewer massive sodas, or to understand just how bad added sugar is for them, then that will be a bit of a win.
- "A sharply divided US Supreme Court let the Trump administration resume quickly deporting migrants to countries other than their own, lifting a judge's order that gave people 10 days notice and a chance to argue they would be at risk of torture," reports Bloomberg. "Over a scathing dissent from the court's three liberals, the high court granted an emergency request from the administration, which said the order from a Massachusetts federal judge usurped presidential authority and interfered with diplomatic efforts."
- Incredible scenes:
Where would we be without fact checkers? pic.twitter.com/kLFIhqyfn8
— Drew Holden (@DrewHolden360) June 22, 2025
- Greenpeace is protesting the Jeff Bezos/Lauren Sanchez wedding in Venice. It's not clear why exactly they and many other progressive activists believe Bezos should not have a nice wedding. Something about how he doesn't pay enough taxes?
- Inside a new, massive import market: illegal Chinese vapes.
- For every movement, there is a backlash: Inside SkinnyTok and the death of "body positivity" as a social movement. ("It's not a sin to want to be thin," read SkinnyTok influencer Liv Schmidt's bio.)
- Something literally no one asked for: "Alex Soros and Huma Abedin Share Their Love Story and Wedding." I'm sure you can guess which publication.
- I survived Bukeleville, and all I got was a cute but weird family photo in the Bukele chairs:
Was in El Salvador this past week. Airport provides convenient Bukele photo opp as soon as you land. ???? pic.twitter.com/VOnxOXTeV1
— Liz Wolfe (@LizWolfeReason) June 24, 2025
