Ryan Smith

Trump at a friends of Ireland luncheon: "I just want to say that the war is proceeding very very strongly. We're doing very very well. Iran -- knocking the hell out of them, and you have to do that. We can't let them have a nuclear weapon. They were two weeks away."

A Kuwaiti analyst openly criticized Gulf policy toward Washington after the latest strikes, saying the region paid billions for influence and received nothing in return. He pointed directly to Jared Kushner, noting that Gulf money flowed heavily into his orbit, yet the same states that financed those channels still ended up facing strikes and pressure. His conclusion was appeasing Zionist interests and trying to buy leverage in Washington has produced humiliation, not protection. Gulf governments, he argued, must rethink the entire strategy of trying to influence the United States through money while being expected to serve Israel’s regional agenda.