Peace at Last?
Trump still has plenty of work to do
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Is it too soon to write the obituary for the Iran war? Are reports of its demise greatly exaggerated?
A deal has, apparently, been made; although the details of that deal haven’t been revealed in full yet. We have some idea—Iran renouncing its nuclear ambitions and handing over its enriched uranium, most notably—but the specifics, the nitty-gritty, remain to be established.
The fact that a deal has been made at this time, with the Iranian regime still intact and Israel still fighting Hezbollah in Lebanon, has been enough for some to declare the deal a non-starter—even a betrayal. As I type, Mark Levin’s heart rate has been dangerously elevated for the better part of 18 hours. I hope he calms down soon, for his own sake. Israeli officials are saying the US has somehow “screwed” their country, which is pretty rich really, because if this is what getting screwed looks like—having the world’s most powerful nation fight your mortal enemy, Amalek, for you, with her own blood and treasure and Tomahawk cruise missiles—well, I’d love to know what winning is like. It must be great.
Publicly, Netanyahu has been gracious and thanked Trump for achieving peace, but you can bet he’s dropped the most furious shit of his life in private. Cracked toilet bowl. Water and poo everywhere. Imagine the smell. Bibi knows his political survival depends on being the tough guy and beating his enemies to a pulp—or, rather, being seen to let America beat his enemies to a pulp—so there’s a very real chance a “premature” deal means he’s out at the next election, maybe sooner, and probably ends up being prosecuted for corruption. And he is very corrupt.
Itamar Ben Gvir, Israel’s National Security Minister, has vowed on Twitter that Israel doesn’t take its orders from the US, as if anybody believed the contrary, and said the fight against Hezbollah will continue so long as Israel deems it necessary. “Israel is not a banana republic,” he wrote, despite bananas being Israel’s largest fruit export in 2025, something I didn’t know (I thought it would be dates). No conquered territory will be returned either, Ben Gvir added. Israel has now pushed beyond the Litani river in southern Lebanon and occupied Beaufort Castle, a stronghold it last held during the war in 1982.
Israel remains the fly in the ointment of any peace deal. Events in Lebanon could easily be used to precipitate a return to hostilities between the US and Iran. President Trump is reported to have called Bibi “f***ing crazy” because of Israel’s strikes in Lebanon over the past couple of weeks, which have been massively disproportionate and obviously timed to frustrate the negotiations and make peace impossible.
Then again, there are signs—cosmic signs, portents, call them what you will—that this really is it. Somehow it just feels right that events should coalesce this way, on Sunday 14th June: President Trump’s 80th birthday. The day of UFC Freedom 250, on the White House lawn.
Bread and circuses, people are saying. Real Roman Empire hours. Gladiatorial games in the capital on the emperor’s birthday, the emperor present and receiving homage from the fighters—morituri te salutant!—a fearsome storm suddenly splits and avoid the emperor’s palace, and we have peace, at last, with the Parthians. All on the same day, the sacred day consecrated to the all-power Sky-Father.
If the muse History is trying to tell us something, I’ll leave it up to you to decide what her message is.
Anyway, if the Iran war really is done and dusted, that’s a great thing. I can fill my oil tank for the winter, and more importantly President Trump can get back to his domestic agenda, which is in need of some serious work.
In recent weeks we’ve heard a lot of talk—and seen some clear evidence—that President Trump’s flagship policy of mass deportations has started to slow considerably after a flying start. Former Border Patrol chief Greg Bovino, who led daring raids into sanctuary cities just a few months ago, has now become one of the admin’s most vocal critics. His criticisms have garnered a lot of attention, and if they’re true, we should be worried. Bovino says the admin has all but abandoned the original goal of deporting tens of millions of illegal immigrants and is now committed only to removing the “worst of the worst.”
