🛢️ BACK TO WAR
Donald Trump told CNBC’s Squawk Box Tuesday morning he has “very little appetite” for extending the Iran ceasefire past its Wednesday-night expiration, that an extension is “highly unlikely,” and that he is “ready to go” back to war if no deal lands in the next thirty-six hours. JD Vance and Steve Witkoff have pushed back their departure for a second round of Islamabad talks. Iran’s state broadcaster told the region no Iranian delegation has departed for Pakistan. Iran’s parliamentary speaker said Tehran has prepared “new cards on the battlefield.” Does this mean Chinese made air defenses?
⚖️ PERVERSION OF JUSTICE
Joe DiGenova, the Trump 2020 election-overturn lawyer, was sworn in Monday in Florida as special counselor to the attorney general, with the Brennan file in front of him ands he is wasting no time. Former senior intelligence and FBI officials cooperating with the Justice Department’s probe of former CIA director John Brennan received subpoenas over the weekend; they are scheduled to appear in person at the DC grand jury starting Today. The move — pulling cooperators into the grand jury room instead of continuing voluntary interviews — is the procedural jump prosecutors make when they intend to charge. The prosecutor who had been running the case, career national-security attorney Maria Medetis Long, was removed last week after, according to the reporting, expressing doubts the case held up.
🏛️ LUTNICK: CANADIANS ‘SUCK’
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick arrived at the Tuesday Senate hearing with a bipartisan pile of resignation calls in front of him. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie told reporters Sunday Lutnick should “make life easier on the president” and step down. Democratic Rep. Robert Garcia, ranking Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said he “must resign or be fired.” Senator Adam Schiff and Senator Jacky Rosen have both filed formal calls. Public Citizen and Democracy Defenders filed their own last month. The Science Committee Democrats sent a letter.
The Commerce Secretary called Canada’s trade strategy is “the worst strategy I’ve ever heard,” that the country’s negotiators “suck”. Lutnick is four days away from a Senate appearance.
🛰️ THE DRUZHBA OPENING
While the Islamabad clock runs down, Ukraine is cutting the other lever. Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced Tuesday that the Druzhba pipeline — out since January’s Russian strike — is repaired and ready to resume; the restart unlocks the €90 billion EU loan to Ukraine and the next Russia sanctions package Hungary had been vetoing. Kaja Kallas expects the veto gone within twenty-four hours. Overnight, Ukrainian drones struck the Samara dispatch station that mixes crude for the Urals export blend. Reuters reports Russia is cutting production.
🏛️ THE LABOR EXIT
Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer resigned Monday amid a Labor Department Inspector General probe into an alleged sexual relationship with a security-team member, drinking on the job, and personal travel booked under business-trip cover.
🎯 THE PATTERN
The White House is squeezing Iran’s oil to force Iran back to a table Iran has not arrived at — and every pull on that lever lifts the price of a barrel, and the price lifts Russia’s ledger. Ukrainian drones are cutting that same ledger at the other end. The Druzhba restart drops Hungary’s veto on the €90 billion the EU is about to wire Kyiv. Two levers, one pipeline of money. In Washington, the prosecutor who doubted the Brennan file was pulled, the Commerce Secretary publicly insulted the Prime Minister on the other side of the USMCA table, and the Labor Secretary was out by Monday. Will Lutnick follow?
Invasion is imminent. Strikes will likely begin at 6:30pm ET tonight. He is going to attempt to seize Kharg Island, a plan he first outlined 39 years ago, in an interview with The Guardian in 1988. He named Kharg Island specifically, saying he would "do a number" on it. Read thorough analysis here.
https://charliepgarcia.substack.com/p/kharg-island-assault-iran-war?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=1r9beh