The White House and the Pentagon were abuzz as the specter of uncertainty loomed over Washington and the world. President Trump’s deadline for Iran to relinquish its stranglehold on the Strait of Hormuz or face “total annihilation” would expire in under three hours. He had threatened to expand military strikes to include civilian infrastructure—bridges and power plants—and plunge a nation of 90 million people into total darkness. The death toll could’ve been catastrophic, evidenced by Trump’s social media posts. The highly divisive war sent many of Trump’s onetime staunchest allies filing for divorce. Political and podcasting luminaries such as MTG, Tucker Carlson, Joe Rogan, former Navy SEAL Shawn Ryan, Megyn Kelley, Nick Fuentes, and others accused Trump of turning NEOCON and serving Benjamin Netanyahu. They, along with nearly all Democratic lawmakers, said Trump was maneuvering like Vladimir Putin. On the flip side, Trump maintained that 100% of MAGA supported the war. He was tacitly implying that anyone claiming to be MAGA who didn’t support the war wasn’t MAGA at all. While Trump’s proponents and opponents used their respective media platforms to champion or deride the war, more pertinent conversations were happening at the White House Situation Room and at the Pentagon War Room, a top-secret hub for monitoring global military operations.
At the latter, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, VP Vance, CIA boss John Ratcliffe, and Deputy Prime Minister of Israel Yariv Levin had gathered to watch television and satellite feeds of the abortive attack. Not everyone in the room wanted to witness death and destruction. Four of the eight Joint Chiefs of Staff told Vance that if Trump greenlit the strike, commanders in the Middle East might mutiny, even as, 7,300 miles away, F-18s and F-35s aboard the USS Gerald Ford were being fueled and fitted with destructive ordinance. Aboard Arleigh Burke-class destroyers and Littoral combat ships, munition crews had removed safety mechanisms from hundreds of Tomahawk cruise missiles. At the mouth of the Gulf, a fleet of submerged Los Angeles and Virginia-class attack submarines listened for acoustic contacts, based on National Command Authority (NCA) intel suggesting that China and Russia were surging Type 093 and Akula II subs, respectively, into the region.
Meanwhile, in Iran, citizens had joined hands to form human chains around power plants. Others clogged bridges. The message was clear: If Trump ordered an attack on civilian infrastructure, he’d be slaughtering civilians. Real Raw News has heard, but cannot confirm, that the IRGC forced civilians, human shields, at gunpoint to congregate near bridges, hospitals, power stations, and ports.
At the White House, President Trump and chief of staff Susie Wiles were in a videoconference with the Pentagon and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, who claimed to have negotiated a mutually beneficial ceasefire agreement with the arguably comatose Mojtaba Khamenei, the son of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the opening strikes on February 29.
A White House source familiar with the issue told RRN that Sharif begged Trump to delay the assault. “Mr. President Trump, you have, in your infinite wisdom, postponed attacks. I do believe Iran is coming to the table now, and if you, your eminence, agree to a ceasefire, Iran will cease attacking ships in the Strait as long as we have open communication. This is, Sir, the best course,” Shariff told Trump.
Trump, who values peace over war and is an expert strategist and 3D chess player, told Shariff that if Iran opened the Strait and agreed to abandon its pursuit of nuclear weapons, he would delay further strikes while Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner sued for peace in the Middle East.
Reportedly, Trump’s sensibility infuriated Yariv Levin, who told Trump he would have to answer to Benjamin Netanyahu for delaying the war. Levin wasn’t the only warmonger pining for death yesterday afternoon. Stephen Miller, the president’s deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, told Trump the US military should “do to Iran what ICE is doing to illegal aliens,” and Chief of Staff of the Air Force Gen. Kenneth S. Wilsbach recommended “nuking” Iran to ensure a total and complete victory.
As we now know, clearer minds prevailed, though it remains to be seen whether Iran upholds its side of the bargain.