MMN Editor

Powerful 7.5-Magnitude Quake Hits Northern Japan, Triggers Tsunami Warnings

A powerful and shallow 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck off Japan’s northeast coast, triggering a tsunami at Kuji Port in Iwate Prefecture.

Public broadcaster NHK initially warned that a tsunami up to 10 feet high was expected to hit the Iwate area on Honshu’s main island. However, so far, it has been reported to be about 31 inches high.

The quake was reported shortly before 17:00 local time, rattled towers as far away as Tokyo, and forced the suspension of Shinkansen high-speed rail services in Iwate, NHK said.

Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said the government had mobilized an emergency task force and urged citizens in affected areas to evacuate.

“Possible damage and casualties are now being looked into,” Takaichi told reporters in Tokyo.

Japan sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” one of the world’s most seismically active zones, where multiple tectonic plates collide and generate earthquakes.

Since the 2011 Fukushima disaster, when a 9.0-magnitude quake and tsunami sparked triple reactor meltdowns, Japan has overhauled its response and evacuation systems to improve disaster readiness.

NHK cited the Tokyo Electric Power Company as saying that no issues were reported at the Fukushima Daiichi and Fukushima Daini nuclear power plants.

The Japan Meteorological Agency warned that aftershocks are possible over the next week and could be similar in size to the quake recorded earlier today.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 04/20/2026 – 06:55

The midterm elections might be historically difficult for the controlling party, but Republicans are building a war chest to break that trend, reporting smashing first quarter fundraising totals of $47.1 million, including a record $28.1 million in March alone.The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) was set to report the strongest first quarter fundraising haul in its history Monday, according to figures shared first with Fox News Digital, giving House Republicans a fresh sign of financial momentum as they look to defend their narrow House majority in a cycle that has often favored the party out of power.”This historic fundraising quarter proves House Republicans have a tremendous amount of enthusiasm behind our agenda to lower costs and keep Americans safe,” NRCC Chairman Richard Hudson said in a statement to Fox News.”House Republicans are united, battle-tested, and building the financial firepower to protect our majority and take the fight directly to Democrats’ extreme agenda.”ON FILING DEADLINE, GOP BLASTS DEMOCRATS FOR OPPOSING TRUMP TAX CUTS, ‘MAKING LIFE MORE EXPENSIVE’NRCC officials are framing the numbers as part of a broader trend they say has defined the cycle so far, with Republican incumbents and allied groups posting stronger-than-usual early fundraising numbers and narrowing, or in some cases reversing, Democrats’ traditional money advantage.The NRCC is staking claim to having outraised the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) on average for five straight quarters, including snapping a long-standing trend by outraising the minority party in the first year of an election cycle for the first time in decades in 2025.The NRCC reported this week its swing-district patriots have raised an average of $1.2 million and hold $3.5 million cash on hand, compared to $919,000 raised and $2.4 million cash on hand for DCCC frontliners.MCINTOSH: MIDTERMS A CHOICE BETWEEN TRUMP’S ‘GREAT PROGRESS’ AND ‘SOCIALISTS BACK IN’”Vulnerable House Democrats are getting outraised, outworked, and outmatched. Republicans have the momentum, and the money is following it,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella said in a statement last week.The financial windfalls do not end there.The House Speaker Mike Johnson-backed Congressional Leadership Fund (CLF) and its nonprofit American Action Network (AAN) have raised a combined $192.6 million thus far in the 2025-2026 cycle. Those groups brought in a combined $56.6 million in the first quarter of 2026, which Republicans say is a record for the first quarter of a non-election year. CLF alone raised a record $38.1 million and is expected to report $91.4 million cash on hand.REPUBLICANS WIN BUT DEMOCRATS ALSO CLAIM VICTORY WITH BALLOT BOX SURGE IN TRUMP TERRITORYTop House GOP leaders have also posted eye-catching numbers, according to the NRCC:MIDTERM ALARM BELLS: DEMOCRATS FACE STEEP FAVORABILITY DEFICIT DESPITE ELECTION GAINSThe committee also pointed to the wider President Donald Trump-aligned fundraising network, noting that MAGA Inc. entered 2026 with more than $300 million cash on hand.”This unprecedented momentum is part of a sustained trend that’s held this entire cycle and is now accelerating,” Marinella said in a statement to Fox News. “Republicans are consistently outpacing Democrats in the money race where Democrats have traditionally dominated.””This is a fundamental shift from the traditional dynamic where Democrats build an early financial edge and force Republicans onto defense,” he added. “That script has flipped.”Insiders pointed out to Fox News that circumstances of the spring have combined to provide the unprecedented financial push, including Trump peacemaking in the Middle East and wildly successful military operations in Venezuela and Iran.Also, Democrats have been hurt in the fundraising coffers by House Oversight, Judiciary and Administration committee investigations into the big-ticket Democrat fundraising platform ActBlue, and the Senate Democrat-forced government shutdown of Department of Homeland Security funding.Notably, the record NRCC March came amid massive spring break delays and four- to- eight-hour security line waits at crowded spring break airports, which were hamstrung by Transportation and Security Administration (TSA) agents not showing up because they were not getting paid for work.

A young man who went viral for confronting California lawmakers about harms he says he faced from childhood medical transition is speaking out against a bill he believes could make it harder for vulnerable minors to get proper counseling.Jonni Skinner, a detransitioner and ambassador for Genspect, testified at a California Senate Judiciary Committee hearing last week against SB 934, a bill sponsored by Democratic Sen. Scott Wiener that would let victims of “conversion therapy” seek damages through malpractice lawsuits, even years after the counseling occurred. Wiener’s office defines conversion therapy to include “sexual orientation or gender identity change efforts.”Critics, including the California Family Council, say SB 934 is so broadly written that it could expose therapists to lawsuits for talk therapy on sexuality and gender identity.Skinner says that he grew up in a small town in Michigan in a religious family and was diagnosed with high-functioning autism at a young age. He said he struggled with feeling different from other boys and was bullied for having stereotypical feminine interests. As he reached puberty, he became increasingly uncomfortable with his body and carried shame that he might grow up to be gay or an effeminate man. After seeing online influencers he admired undergo gender transitions, he said he found the idea appealing.CHLOE COLE REVEALS INTENSE PRESSURE TO TRANSITION AS A MINOR, PARENTS WERE TOLD SHE’D ‘PROBABLY DIE’Skinner told Fox News Digital that he was referred to a gender therapist and an endocrinologist who affirmed his feelings and suggested medically transitioning would be a way he could feel “normal.””The medical and mental health providers didn’t bother to ask why I felt the way I did,” Skinner told Wiener at the hearing. “They poisoned my body with blockers and hormones, arresting my puberty and messing with my development. The result is I’m a 23-year-old gay man who’s never had an orgasm and may never experience one. Let that sink in.”Though his mother resisted the idea of making permanent changes to his body, Skinner said the medical professionals told her that his gender dysphoria originated in the womb from a hormonal imbalance, claiming he had a “girl brain in a boy body.” He said they were told that transitioning with hormones was the only solution to his problems.But the drugs left him with fainting spells, painful muscle spasms and urinary problems.I WAS A CHILD AND BELIEVED GENDER TRANSITION WOULD HEAL MY PAIN. IT BECAME A NEW TRAUMAIn 2023, a new endocrinologist suggested he stop taking the drugs to see whether that would resolve his problems. Around the same time, he began questioning what doctors had told him over the years after reading leaked internal reports from the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, or WPATH, which he said revealed doubts about the science behind the treatments.This led Skinner down “a rabbit hole of research essentially.””And I had found that there was, you know, no — low quality to no evidence to doing this to me,” he told Fox News Digital.Skinner said he eventually stopped treatment, but years later still suffers from urinary problems and sexual dysfunction that he attributes to the drugs. He said those lasting effects are part of what now drives him to speak out.SUPREME COURT OVERTURNS BAN ON SO-CALLED ‘CONVERSION THERAPY’ ON FIRST AMENDMENT GROUNDSHe believes the California bill targeting “conversion therapy” as it relates to gender identity is one that would “actually end up harming gay people.””For me, it did very much act as a chemical conversion therapy,” he told Fox News Digital.Skinner argued that therapists should be allowed to explore the underlying causes of a minor’s distress before steering them toward a gender identity outcome.”In all those years, if one therapist would have just talked with me about the origins of my distress, instead of just affirming me and suggesting, you know, further medical intervention is the only solution to me, perhaps I could have been spared much of what I’m suffering with today,” he said.”And this bill, SB 934, would criminalize therapists for questioning that,” he continued. They’re not able to, under this bill, question gender identity or really delve with these patients into the underlying causes of their dysphoria. That would be considered conversion therapy under SB 934.”TEXAS DETRANSITIONER SHARES HOW DOCTORS AND INTERNET ‘COSPLAY’ GROOMED HER INTO PERMANENT SURGERYDETRANSITIONER PREDICTS MASSIVE WAVE OF LAWSUITS AFTER LANDMARK $2 MILLION VERDICTSkinner believes lawmakers are not fully grappling with the permanent consequences of these treatments for minors.”They feel like they’re doing it out of compassion because that’s what they’re being told … but no one is thinking along the lines of, well, what is making these kids distressed in their bodies? No one is trying to delve in and understand where they’re coming from or how they’re arriving at these conclusions,” he added.Sen. Wiener’s office disputed Skinner’s claims in a statement to Fox News Digital defending the bill.”Conversion therapy is psychological torture and quack science that does nothing but harm vulnerable young people,” Wiener said. “SB 934 cracks down on that horrifying practice, but makes clear that therapists will not be penalized for good faith explorations of a patient’s gender identity or sexuality. They will be penalized if they attempt to intentionally change a patient from any one gender or sexual orientation to another, such as from gay to straight, straight to gay, trans to cis, or cis to trans.”The bill is currently pending in the California Senate after passing one committee and is scheduled for another hearing on April 20.The California bill comes following the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Chiles v. Salazar last month, where the court ruled that a Colorado law banning so-called “conversion therapy” violated the First Amendment because it discriminated against certain viewpoints.

From Leverage To Liability: The Hormuz Strait Is Now Iran’s Biggest Weakness

Authored by Daniel Lacalle,

For half a century, the Strait of Hormuz was Iran’s weapon. Today, it is its noose.

The mathematics of energy have flipped, and with them the balance of coercive power in the Persian Gulf.

Iran’s implicit deterrent was geographic, spanning from the tanker wars of the 1980s to the sanctions standoffs of the 2010s. Almost 20% of global seaborne oil, and a similar share of liquefied natural gas, passes through the Strait. The formula was simple: any military confrontation that threatened the Tehran regime risked a closure that would halt trade supplies, spike crude prices, bleed Western consumers, and, above all, inflict pain on the United States, who was the world’s largest oil importer.

The strait served as Tehran’s insurance policy and its most powerful bargaining tool. The threat was predicated on the regime’s belief that it could block everyone except its exports. The Iranian regime revealed its biggest weakness by constantly threatening to damage the global economy through a shutdown of the Strait. In reality, a total shutdown has the most severe impact on Iran.

Almost 90 per cent of Iran’s crude exports, and about 80 per cent of its total exports, depend on the transit through Hormuz. Around 25 per cent of Iranian GDP and 60 per cent of government revenues depend completely on having the Strait open.

Before the war, Iran was exporting roughly 1.7 million barrels per day, receiving around $160 million in daily revenue from exports via the Strait. Thus, Trump’s full closure of the Strait costs Tehran hundreds of millions of dollars a day in losses, not accounting for the additional fiscal and currency consequences in a country already facing an economic disaster with 40–50% inflation. The complete dependence on the Strait of Hormuz also adds to another weakness: 95% of Iranian crude at sea is sold to a single buyer, China. Tehran is not selling into a diversified and open market. Its exports are sold to a monopsony that demands large discounts, between 10 and 11 dollars per barrel.

These weaknesses were visible long before the war. Capital flight reached $15 billion in the first half of 2025 alone; the rial collapsed against the dollar, and the government’s budget, which allocates 51 per cent of oil revenues to the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, became even more dependent on a single export route it could not afford to close. When the war began, Iranian crude shipments collapsed by 94%. Then, the United States’ decision to block all Iran export vessels showed that Iran’s chokepoint had become self-choking.

In the past 30 days, 80% of the essential volumes that moved through the Strait have been rerouted or offset by other oil producers, including US record exports.

The world is very different from what the Iran regime thought. In 2025, U.S. crude oil production hit a new annual record of 13.6 million barrels per day, making the United States the world’s largest producer but also the biggest exporter. The United States shipped 5.2 million barrels per day of crude and 7.2 million barrels per day of petroleum products in March 2026, both global records. For the first time, America exported more petroleum than it imported, by a net margin of almost 2.8 million barrels per day, according to the EIA. Total US liquids production now exceeds that of Saudi Arabia and Russia combined. On the natural gas side, U.S. LNG exports reached well over 15 billion cubic feet per day, surpassing Qatar and Australia to make the United States the world’s largest liquefied natural gas exporter, while U.S. dry gas production exceeds the combined output of Russia, Iran, and China. Furthermore, the United States is also the world’s largest producer of nuclear electricity, at roughly 30 per cent of global generation, and a global leader in renewable energy.

When President Trump could say in April 2026 that the United States was “clearing the Strait as a favour to countries around the world, including China, Japan, Korea, and Germany,” the framing was an accurate description of who needs Hormuz open and who does not. Only 4% of the traffic through the Strait goes to the United States, according to SP Global.

According to the International Energy Agency, throughput at Hormuz collapsed from its long-run average of about 20 million barrels per day to 3.8 million since the beginning of the war through the second week of April. Daily ship transits fell roughly 95 per cent. The Tehran regime, in a gesture more theatrical than realistic, attempted to levy a $2 million toll on each vessel crossing the strait, without understanding that the move showed desperation instead of leverage.

The US response has been the most important measure deployed against Iran in two decades of standoffs. Operation Economic Fury established a full naval blockade of Iranian ports. Iranian naval losses in the first 38 days of combat exceeded 150 vessels. The ceasefire framework under negotiation requires Iran to reopen Hormuz, but the US maintains control. Thus, negotiations revolve around Iranian dismantlement, not American concessions.

The lesson is not just that Iran miscalculated but that it massively underestimated its obvious weaknesses. The United States is not a hostage of the Gulf; it is the guarantee of its safe sea lanes. Europe is tied to U.S. LNG while keeping a substantial Russian dependence, which complicates its energy security and makes it vulnerable to fluctuations in supply and price from both sources. Asia’s largest economies, particularly China, are suffering the marginal cost of a Hormuz disruption, which has led to increased energy prices and supply chain uncertainties that further exacerbate their economic challenges. Iran’s economic nightmare has only started.

Three important factors must be considered.

First, the traditional Hormuz risk premium in Brent, which refers to the additional cost added to oil prices due to geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, is structurally smaller than in the 2010s because U.S. supply can absorb shocks that previously had no substitute. The Brent price is lower in real and nominal terms than in the 2008, 2018, or 2022 peaks.

Second, the strength of American energy, including economics, export infrastructure, and LNG capacity, has become a key global geopolitical variable, influencing global energy prices and the strategic decisions of other nations.

Third, Iran’s economy has not only suffered damage; it has also been demolished, and its extremely weak fiscal position indicates that it cannot sustain the threat posture in Hormuz.

The Strait of Hormuz remains the world’s most important chokepoint. However, a chokepoint hurts whoever depends on it most, and Iran relies on it completely. The United States does not.

The geopolitical advantage that Tehran once held has now become its greatest weakness, likely leading to the disappearance of the regime’s effective bargaining power.

Tyler Durden
Mon, 04/20/2026 – 06:30

President Donald Trump on Sunday said the U.S. had fired on and seized an Iranian-flagged cargo ship in the Gulf of Oman.

Park rangers in Canada have uncovered a centuries-old shipwreck in a region known for many maritime disasters.The shipwreck, which dates back more than 200 years, is believed to be the Swift, a civilian vessel that sank on Sept. 27, 1812. En route from Bermuda to Newfoundland, the Swift sank along with the British Royal Navy frigate HMS Barbadoes and the schooner Emeline.WINTER STORMS REVEAL POSSIBLE 17TH-CENTURY SHIPWRECK TIED TO ARMED CARIBBEAN VOYAGESThe discovery of the ship fragments — and the research that followed — was two years in the making. The discovery was announced by Parks Canada officials last month. The group was first alerted to the site in February 2024 after team members found a pulley wheel with a mark of the British Royal Navy.”Another Parks Canada team member later found a piece of copper sheathing with multiple broad-arrow stamps and an Admiralty stamp dated January 1810 from Portsmouth, which supported the likelihood that we’d unearthed a small fragment of the Barbadoes — we know from historical accounts that the ship had a refit at Portsmouth in 1810,” the statement said.Additional pulley wheels and copper sheathing were uncovered until officials eventually found a sloop-sized shipwreck section made of Bermudan cedar.The artifacts appeared to belong to Barbadoes — while the shipwreck section pointed to the Swift.2,000-YEAR-OLD ROMAN SHIPWRECK DISCOVERED WITH TREASURES STILL CLUSTERED WHERE IT SANK”Initially, only three bits of wood were sticking out of the sand,” the statement said. “We believe the wreck to be that of the Swift.”Sable Island has a reputation as the “graveyard of the Atlantic,” a Parks Canada spokesperson told Fox News Digital.The official cited over 350 recorded shipwrecks since 1583. Many shipwreck fragments, however, can’t be traced back to specific events unless they have “sufficient distinguishing features.”TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZThe official said, “Sometimes, it takes luck.”The spokesperson added that the dig was difficult due to Sable Island’s windy, challenging weather and unusual terrain.Officials worked with Mi’kmaw archaeological technicians alongside both underwater and terrestrial archaeologists to excavate and document the wreck, adapting their methods to Sable Island’s shifting sands.”Sable Island is an unusual site to excavate, because it’s composed mostly of loose sand,” said the spokesperson.CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER”We used sandbags to stabilize the banks and then peeled the sand back from the wreck site. We also used a skid steer to help remove the overburden of sand, then switched to hand tools to avoid damaging the wreck.”When the documentation process was done, archaeologists covered the shipwreck with sand in order to protect it.What stood out most to archaeologists, the official said, was the scale of the wreck.”Most shipwreck pieces on Sable Island are usually small fragments lying on the surface or in the intertidal area,” the spokesperson noted. “This wreck was unusual both in its completeness and its condition.”CLICK HERE FOR MORE LIFESTYLE STORIESThe official added, “This wreck discovery is especially exciting for us, because if we can verify it, it’s one of the rare occasions that anyone has been able to correlate a physical shipwreck on Sable Island with a documented historical wreck event from before the 20th century.”Parks Canada’s statement noted that there are “still plenty of unknowns about the ships, how they ended up on Sable Island and what their crew’s time was like on the island while they waited to be rescued.””The shipwreck we found was quite far inland from the current shoreline, so we’re also still piecing together how it got there, as the island moves considerably over time,” the announcement said.The news comes a year after another archaeological discovery was made at Sable Island — though far more modern.Last spring, officials announced that a message in a bottle from 1983 surfaced on Sable Island’s shores — and still smelled of gin.

A Senate Republican hopeful eyeing Minnesota’s open seat accused Minnesota’s Gov. Tim Walz and Attorney General Keith Ellison of turning a blind eye to a multibillion-dollar fraud scandal in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.Michele Tafoya, 61, is running to replace retiring Sen. Tina Smith, D-Minn., in a crowded race where Republicans have heavily targeted Walz and Ellison over a nearly $10 billion daycare, food aid and health clinic fraud scheme that unfolded under their noses.This widespread theft could flip a Senate seat red in Minnesota for the first time since 2008, Tafoya insisted in an interview with Fox News Digital, adding that people in her state are “angry.””Fraud is certainly at the forefront” of this election, she said.MINNESOTA REPUBLICANS REVEAL WHICH FAR-LEFT CANDIDATE THEY WANT TO CHALLENGE IN OPEN SENATE RACE”I think that Tim Walz and Keith Ellison are both to blame for this fraud,” Tafoya alleged. “Look, they’re at the top. And as one very revered former United States senator told me, that amount of money cannot change hands without people knowing.””So people knew this was going on,” the former sports broadcaster added, demanding someone be held accountable for the widespread fraud.Brian Evans, a spokesperson for Ellison, told Fox News Digital that the attorney general’s office has gone after fraud in the state, specifically with the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which has “secured over 340 convictions and regularly ranks as one of the most efficient team of fraud fighters in the nation.””Attorney General Ellison is currently leading the charge to pass a bipartisan bill to give his fraud control unit more resources and authority to go after fraudsters and protect our tax dollars,” Evans said. “He has a strong record of fighting fraud and holding fraudsters accountable.”Both Walz and Ellison defended their actions to address fraud in their state during a congressional hearing. House Oversight Committee Chair James Comer, R-Ky., found ahead of the hearing that Walz and Ellison were aware of fraud in the state but “repeatedly failed to act.”And Tafoya claimed they “laughed it off” during their appearance before the House Oversight Committee in March.”People knew this was going on. We have seen it with the Quality ‘Learing’ Center,” Tafoya said. “We know that there have been so many mistakes made. And when you are the governor, the buck stops with you.”MINNESOTA GOP LAWMAKER URGES CONGRESS TO PRESS WALZ AT FRAUD HEARING: ‘REAL ISSUES TO DEAL WITH’Tafoya, a former sports reporter seeking elected office for the first time, is aiming to flip the seat red and said Minnesotans are “ready for a change.””They are so fed up and disillusioned,” she said.When asked about a noncitizen recently charged with committing voter fraud and perjury in Minnesota, Tafoya tied that issue to the multibillion-dollar fraud scandal and said, “Walz and company want us to believe there’s zero voter fraud.””Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Tafoya said. “I’m certain that’s not the only example. And for them to say that we had perfect elections, when they have just proven that they are willing to lie through their teeth about where our money is going, is laughable.”But Tafoya is not running against Walz or Ellison and despite having the most campaign coffers among her cohorts, she must first survive a crowded primary to win the Republican nomination. Only then will she advance to the general election in November against Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., or Minnesota Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan, both of whom she claims are trying to “out-left” each other.Specifically, Tafoya pointed to Flanagan, saying: “She got dressed in a hijab and told Minnesotans, ‘Somalis built Minnesota.’ That was so offensive to everyone in the state.””So that gives you an example of how much of a leftist she is.”TOP 5 WILDEST MOMENTS AS GOP LAWMAKERS CLASHED WITH WALZ, ELLISON IN HEATED FRAUD HEARING: ‘UNBELIEVABLE’While Tafoya has the backing of Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., who chairs the Senate GOP’s campaign arm, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, former President Donald Trump has yet to issue a coveted endorsement that could make or break her campaign.Tafoya said it is ultimately Trump’s decision whether and when to endorse a candidate in the race.”I’m going to let him speak for himself on any endorsement,” Tafoya said. “We would happily take it. But right now, we are the candidate that has raised the most money by far in the Republican senatorial race in Minnesota, and we think that speaks very highly of our chances.”She has also outpaced her Republican opponents, raising just over $2 million between January and March of this year, with just under $1.9 million on hand, according to filings with the Federal Election Commission. Tafoya also holds a cash advantage over Flanagan, who has raised $1.4 million and still has $1.1 million on hand.Both are surpassed by Craig, who has brought in $2.5 million and has a whopping $4.9 million on hand.Fox News Digital reached out for comment from Walz but did not immediately hear back.

Getting Iran to capitulate is like breaking a wild horse. Anyone who’s done it — or even watched it done — knows how this goes. Calm one minute, violent the next. You get a step forward, then you lose half of it back. The horse is testing you — your patience, your resolve, your willingness to stay in the saddle when it tries to throw you.That’s Iran.And here’s the part the foreign policy commentariat still doesn’t get: Donald Trump actually understands this dynamic.WHAT COMES NEXT IN THE IRAN WAR? WHAT THIS CEASEFIRE WILL AND WON’T DONot from theory. From instinct.Iran is not a normal negotiating partner. It’s not even a unified one. Power is fragmented across clerics, politicians, intelligence services and, most importantly, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps — a state within a state that answers to ideology, money and survival.And inside that system are hard-liners who don’t want a deal — period. These are people who would rather burn down the house than give up their nuclear potential, their offshore wealth and their grip on power. For them, compromise isn’t a concession. It’s extinction.IRAN’S NUCLEAR GAMBLE LEAVES AMERICA ONE CHOICE — AND IT CAN’T BE A DEALSo when I hear the usual noise — why the mixed signals, why the tough talk one day and restraint the next — I have to laugh. That critique assumes we’re dealing with rational, Western-style negotiators who respond to consistency and good-faith process.We’re not.We’re dealing with a regime that has spent 45 years perfecting delay, deception and division. Show them a straight line and they’ll run circles around it. Telegraph your endgame and they’ll stall you to death.STEVE FORBES: IRAN’S NUCLEAR INSANITY LEAVES AMERICA AND ALLIES NO ROOM TO BLINKWhat Trump is doing — whether people like his style or not — is exactly what this situation demands: pressure, pause, pressure again. Open a door, then make it very clear what happens if they try to game it. Keep them off balance. Keep them guessing.That’s not chaos. That’s leverage.And here’s where the leverage really comes from — and it’s something most analysts either miss or are too uncomfortable to say out loud.AMB GORDON SONDLAND: NATO BLINKED ON IRAN, AND TRUMP HAS EVERY RIGHT TO BE FURIOUSThe leverage is the overwhelming military capability that’s been assembled — and the very clear willingness to use it if the horse needs a severe correction.Not as bluster. Not as background noise. As a credible, ever-present option.Tehran understands that when push comes to shove, this isn’t an academic exercise. The same apparatus that can impose sanctions can also impose consequences — rapidly and decisively — against leadership targets, command structures and critical infrastructure if the regime crosses the line or continues to play rope-a-dope.ROBERT MAGINNIS: WHY ISLAMABAD TALKS WERE ALWAYS DOOMED TO FAILThat reality changes behavior.It forces calculations inside a regime that has historically believed it could outlast, outmaneuver or simply exhaust Western resolve. It introduces doubt where there used to be confidence. It sharpens the internal debate between those who want to test limits and those who understand the cost of getting it wrong.This is, at its core, a test of wills and power, carried out to its logical conclusion.WHY TRUMP, IRAN SEEM LIGHT-YEARS APART ON ANY POSSIBLE DEAL TO END THE WARMost leaders don’t understand that. They look for an off-ramp too early. They prioritize optics over outcomes. They confuse activity with achievement.Trump doesn’t.He understands that if you ease off before the dynamic shifts, you don’t get a better deal — you get played. He understands that credibility isn’t built on statements; it’s built on a demonstrated willingness to act. And he understands that regimes like Iran only recalibrate when the alternative becomes unacceptable.MORNING GLORY: THE US-IRAN NEGOTIATIONS IN ISLAMABAD BECAME REYKJAVÍK 2.0That’s what’s happening now.And yes, it makes people uneasy.Turn on the TV and it’s a minute-by-minute panic cycle. Gas prices tick up — breaking news. Some leak hits the wires — six hours of speculation. Who said what at 9 a.m. versus 3 p.m. — treated like it’s dispositive.NO RETREAT AT HORMUZ — IRAN MUST NOT CONTROL THE WORLD’S ENERGY LIFELINEIt’s noise.This is not a daily trading strategy. This is a generational geopolitical play.The upside, if we get this right, is enormous. A truly non-nuclear Iran changes the entire equation in the Middle East. It removes the single biggest destabilizing force in the region.PAKISTANI GENERAL SAYS IRAN DIPLOMACY STILL ‘ALIVE, DESPITE US BLOCKADE, FAILED TALKSImagine a world where Iran is not shooting at Israel, not funding proxy militias across multiple theaters and not sitting on the threshold of a nuclear weapon. Even if the regime remains clerical, its ability to wreak havoc is dramatically reduced.That opens the door to something real — trade, investment, normalization. Stronger economic ties between Israel, the Gulf states, the United States and beyond. Capital flows instead of capital flight. Stability instead of constant brinkmanship.That’s what’s on the table.STEVE FORBES: NO MORE DELUSIONS — AMERICA HAS TO FINISH THE JOB IN IRANNow look at Europe.The Europeans, predictably, want to make the campaign contribution after the candidate has already won the election. They’ll criticize the tone, question the tactics and keep one foot in and one foot out — until the outcome is clear.Then they’ll show up and declare themselves indispensable.TRUMP PUSHED IRAN TO THE BRINK — BUT DID WE WIN ANYTHING THAT LASTS?We’ve seen this movie before.The reality is that without sustained American pressure — economic and military — there is no deal worth having. None. Iran has no incentive to move unless it believes the alternative is materially worse.That’s what Trump has restored: credibility.MORNING GLORY: PRESIDENT TRUMP LEADS THE WEST TO A BIG WIN AGAINST IRANAnd credibility is everything in this kind of negotiation.What’s required now is discipline. Not second-guessing every tactical move. Not flinching every time there’s volatility. Certainly not pulling back just because the process looks messy.Of course it’s messy. It’s supposed to be.ONE MONTH AT WAR WITH IRAN — CAN WASHINGTON DEFINE VICTORY?Breaking a horse is messy. Push too hard and you get thrown. Ease off too soon and you lose control. The key is staying on long enough for the dynamic to change.That’s what’s happening here.The pressure is real. Iran’s economy is under strain. Its currency has taken repeated hits. Public dissatisfaction is not theoretical — it’s visible. And inside the regime, the debate over how far they can push — and how much they can take — is intensifying.NOT BLUFFING: STEPHEN MILLER SAYS TRUMP IS DIRECTLY INVOLVED, ‘HOLDS ALL THE CARDS’ IN IRAN NEGOTIATIONSThat’s progress.Not a signing ceremony. Not a neat press release. Pressure.So let’s take a breath.WHY TRUMP FACES AN AGONIZING DECISION ON OBLITERATING IRAN’S OIL SUPPLY IF HE CAN’T GET A DEALStop obsessing over hourly gas prices. Stop parsing every headline like it’s the final chapter. This is a long game, and it’s being played at a level that requires patience and nerve.The stakes are enormous. A neutered, non-nuclear Iran removes the last major obstacle to a more stable, more prosperous Middle East — one where trade, not terror, defines its relationships.CLICK HERE FOR MORE FOX NEWS OPINIONYou don’t get there with process. You get there with pressure.And for all the noise, that’s exactly what Trump is delivering.He’s staying in the saddle.And that’s how you break the horse.CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM GORDON SONDLAND