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President Donald Trump's Iran war has spiraled so far off the rails that he's now turning his fire on America's own friends, and analysts warn the fallout could be catastrophic, according to a new analysis.The latest target: Oman, a venerable regional ally that had quietly stepped in to broker peace, opening talks with Iran over a toll system for ships stranded by the Strait of Hormuz standoff. Trump's response wasn't gratitude. It was a threat to bomb them."If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s--- out of them," he told Fox News — a stunning vow to attack a partner that was trying to clean up his mess.David Graham, a staff writer for The Atlantic, argued in a new article that Trump's about-face against a U.S. ally was "understandable," but no less "shocking.""Throughout Trump’s two terms, many analysts have sought to discern some sort of guiding doctrine to his foreign policy," Graham wrote. "The incoherence of his actions in the past week alone should provide further evidence that looking for a framework is futile. Earlier this year, my colleagues Missy Ryan and Ashley Parker reported that the White House’s foreign-affairs philosophy was 'F--- around and find out.' Administration officials meant this as a warning to the leaders of other countries. But as the current crisis festers, they, too, are finding out."The outburst is the product of a foreign policy that no longer holds together, Graham added. One day the war's mission is stopping Iran's bomb. The next, it's cheaper gas at the pump. Trump insisted this weekend that the "number one Goal is, and always will be, that Iran cannot have, in any way, shape, or form, a Nuclear Weapon" — even as his own vice president reportedly countered that lowering fuel prices is now "goal No. 1."The whiplash keeps coming. Trump vowed to declare the Strait of Hormuz "a territory of the United States," contradicting his own Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Tehran mocked the claim, scoffing that the waterway "cannot be seized with a tweet."Meanwhile, he snubbed South Korea while gushing over North Korea's Kim Jong Un — a dictator whose nuclear program has never slowed.Analysts have hunted for years for a Trump doctrine. A single week of contradictions suggests there's nothing there to find.

Energy Secretary Chris Wright took to Fox News Monday to boast about the amount of vessels currently transiting the Strait of Hormuz, but quickly pivoted to attacking the Biden administration and blaming Democrats after being issued a blunt reality check.Wright boasted that 30 vessels had transited the Strait of Hormuz Sunday amid the ongoing U.S. war against Iran that’s caused severe disruptions to the critical waterway, and bragged that the United States was “continuing to get oil and gas and other critical products” out of the channel.“So even if the numbers were 30 ships per day, that's still down from a pre-war high of about 130 ships per day,” noted Fox News host John Roberts. “When can we expect to see the traffic increase back up to pre-war levels?”Wright dodged Roberts’ question by informing him that he didn’t “know the future.” He also insisted a generous amount of oil was, in fact, being transited through the Strait of Hormuz, and dismissed the need for oil coming out of the strait, citing the United States’ own oil production.“Oil is still $83 a barrel, up from I think low $60s back in early February,” Roberts said. “Why is the price of oil so high if almost all the oil that was getting out before the war is getting out now?”Wright was forced to admit that “we’re not fully back to the full flow” and that there was a “disruption” before pivoting to attack the Biden administration and Democrats.“I've got to point out: oil prices were far higher during the Biden administration when there wasn't disruption of flows in the Middle East, and another huge thing for energy prices in the United States is Democratic policies!” Wright said. “Foolish green energy policies, they're at least as responsible for high energy prices as the conflict with Iran.”"Foolish green energy policies, they're at least as responsible for high energy prices as the conflict with Iran!"- Energy Secretary Chris Wright pic.twitter.com/ivRUDSxl57— Alexander Willis (@ReporterWillis) August 17, 2026

Another fiasco has struck a Navy warship as a guided-missile destroyer lost power for four days in the middle of one of the most tense maritime zones on Earth while President Donald Trump has downplayed worrisome conditions for sailors serving at sea, according to reports on Monday.Military service members aboard the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyer USS Benfold spent four grueling days without working toilets, potable water, hot meals and air conditioning as the ship baked in the brutal South China Sea heat after a total power failure, The Daily Beast reported. The warship, which was built 30 years ago to shoot down enemy aircraft, sink enemy ships and hit targets on land, was in the middle of standard patrols in the Indo-Pacific when its generators gave out, Navy Cdr. Matthew Comer, a spokesperson for the 7th Fleet, told CNN."There were no injuries to the crew, who demonstrated resilience, grit, professionalism, and unwavering steadiness in their response," Comer said.The power outage has remained under investigation.Former Navy captain Carl Schuster told CNN about his experience on a destroyer that lost power near Puerto Rico, which went dead in the water for about four hours. He explained what conditions would have been like for the crew on the USS Benfold."It would have been quite stressed. Operations officers were worried about crew morale and operational concerns, the engineers were focused on how to solve it, and the navigator was worried about the direction they were drifting and what weather was coming," Schuster said."I can assure you four hours in the waters southeast of Puerto Rico is not nearly as stressful as four days in the South China Sea," Schuster explained.Beijing claims vast stretches of those waters as its own — a claim Washington rejects.The Navy reportedly scrambled to keep its crew fed, sending the guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls to deliver hot meals while other vessels from the Japan-based USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group pitched in to help, according to The Beast. Eventually, the crippled destroyer had to be towed to the Philippines, where repairs weren't finished until Aug. 8.This isn't the only disaster to hit a Navy warship. It's the second Pacific Command destroyer this year to go dark. In May, the USS Higgins lost power and propulsion for hours in the Indo-Pacific after what the Navy vaguely described as an "engineering casualty" in its electrical system.

President Donald Trump’s Sunday decision to side with North Korea over South Korea and then threaten another ally appears to have been the last straw for a contributor to the conservative National Review.Trump rattled two allies within days of each other this week, threatening to bomb Oman while ordering the Pentagon to pull back from decades-old military drills with South Korea.On Monday, as the U.S.-Iran ceasefire expired amid disputes over the Strait of Hormuz, Trump told Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst: "If Oman gets in the way, we'll bomb the s--t out of them,” leading critics to wonder why the president would threaten to bomb a nation widely seen as a neutral U.S. ally.Sunday night, the president ordered Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to "substantially reduce" joint U.S.-South Korea military exercises that have run since the 1970s to deter North Korea.According to the president, the exercises are "totally inappropriate and hostile" to North Korea, as he described strongman Kim Jong Un's regime as "unthreatening and respectful."On X, radiologist and National Review writer Dr. Pradheep Shanker was more than stunned.“So in the last couple days: 1. Trump threatened to bomb ally Oman. 2. Applauded a defense pact between the Saudis and Pakistan. 3. Claimed North Korea is more peaceful than South Korea,” he wrote.He then added, “ If this keeps going on, we may have to question his sanity. Seriously.”He later noted, to his dismay, that the president is kicking the Iran War can down the road again.Reacting to a report stating: “The US and Iran have reportedly agreed to extend their 60-day ceasefire which was set to expire today,” he responded, “This is truly pathetic. I'm almost getting to the point where random Democrats would be handling this better than Trump is.”

UK has refused resettlement application despite ‘years of loyal service’ that have resulted in ‘constant fear’ of reprisalsA man has received threats from the Taliban after his work for the Afghan police was revealed by a Ministry of Defence leak and the UK refused his application for resettlement.Hamid* worked for the Afghan national police special unit and received certificates for his work signed by senior British figures praising his “dedication, unparalleled service and leadership”. His details were also included in an accidental 2022 leak by an MoD official that identified 18,700 Afghans who had worked with or for the British government. Continue reading...

President Donald Trump boasted Saturday morning about how well he gets along with North Korean dictator Kim Jong-Un — even if he does appear "unfriendly." In a Saturday morning post, Trump shared a picture of himself gazing into Kim's eyes in which they almost appear to be holding hands."Despite the unfriendly look on this particular picture, there are many where we're smiling," Trump wrote. "Kim Jong un and I get along GREAT! President DONALD J. Trump."Kim presides over one of the world's most repressive states, and human rights groups and the United Nations have documented a long record of atrocities under his rule. Since he took power in 2011, he's deepened his country's nuclear posture and blamed the U.S. for worsening global instability.The post was accompanied by a slew of Truth Social posts, including one that pushed the story of vandalism at the World War II memorial. Another featured a screenshot from a Fox News segment that called Trump the "influencer-in-chief."One of the posts that immediately followed his Kim photo was a Fox News segment with Lara Trump attacking Democrats as communists, ironic considering he was touting his friendship with the leader of a communist country.Branding Democrats as communists has become a central Trump midterm attack line as progressives backed by New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani have won a string of House primaries. Reporters have repeatedly noted that Trump conflates democratic socialism with communism, and his recent posting spree made his position on communism more unclear.A couple of other posts shared reports by Trump ally John Solomon from Just the News that went after another communist country, China, and that defended Trump's tariffs.Trump and Kim met three times during Trump's first term, including a 2019 Hanoi summit that collapsed and a DMZ handshake that made him the first sitting U.S. president to step into North Korea. No denuclearization deal ever came of it, though.

Campaigners fear deeper diplomatic contacts are undermining demands for improvements in human rights The Taliban in Afghanistan have launched a diplomatic effort to end their isolation as major regional and international powers show a readiness to engage more closely with the repressive regime despite its systematic human rights abuses.Five years after the Taliban took power, an increasing number of countries are renewing ties or scaling up diplomatic contacts with the hardline Islamists, who seized power in Kabul in 2021 after 20 years of brutal insurgent warfare. Continue reading...

CNN anchor Jake Tapper highlighted a moment from President Donald Trump's speech on Friday that could serve as an attack ad for Democrats ahead of the midterms.Trump said he would "never apologize" for higher gas prices even though Americans are struggling to pay for rising costs at the pump during a speech at the David S. Mack Center for Training and Intelligence in Garden City, New York. Trump touted his crackdown on crime and the ongoing Iran war at a campaign rally with Republican gubernatorial candidate and Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman.Tapper commented on the president's remarks."So I have to say that is made for a Democratic attack ad, not all of it, not the part about Iran and the nukes, but for you to pay a little bit more for the gasoline cut to, 'you're at $4. It's OK. I'll never apologize. I did the right thing,'" Tapper said.Matt Mowers, former senior White House adviser during Trump's first administration, argued Trump was defending his decision to launch a joint military operation with Israel against Iran."I think it's explaining the cost of conflict, right?" Mowers said. "What he's now doing is saying there is a reason that we are all paying more for [gas] right now. What he didn't do, and I think this was actually smart politically, is he didn't try to say, 'well, it's actually not that high.' He didn't try to pooh-pooh it. He didn't try to dismiss concerns."Tapper pushed back. "He said a little bit more. That's kind of a pooh-pooh," Tapper said. Tapper added that Trump's statement might not be popular among the GOP."It's probably not the message that Republican candidates want the president to be saying, with only 80-something days until the midterms," Tapper said.