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Several explosions have been reported at the American base in Kuwait

SITREP: IRAN CONFLICT We are now on the 24th day of active U.S. and Israeli strike operations against Iran. What began on February 28 as a coordinated campaign targeting Iran's nuclear infrastructure, missile program, and military command structure has expanded significantly in scope and is now touching nine countries across the region. CENTCOM has confirmed strikes on more than 7,000 targets inside Iran since February 28. The U.S. military has confirmed 13 American fatalities from Iranian counter-strikes across the region, with an additional six service members killed when a refueling aircraft went down in western Iraq. Iran has responded by launching strikes across nine countries: Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Israel. Iranian missiles have repeatedly targeted the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet headquarters in Bahrain. Iran's military has declared it is prepared to close the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely and attack regional infrastructure if President Trump follows through on his threat to strike Iranian power plants. Nearly 50 percent of global urea and sulfur exports and 20 percent of global LNG transit the Strait of Hormuz. President Trump announced a five-day pause on strikes against Iran's power grid, citing what he described as productive conversations and a positive tone from Iranian interlocutors. Iran's Foreign Ministry immediately denied that any dialogue had taken place, calling President Trump's characterization an attempt to lower energy prices and buy time. The five-day pause buys time but does nothing to resolve the structural issue. Bahrain has intercepted and destroyed 143 missiles and 242 drones since February 28. Saudi forces shot down 47 drones in a single day, including 38 within a three-hour window. Kuwait's Mina al-Ahmadi refinery, one of the largest in the Middle East, was struck by Iranian drones, sparking a fire. The Pentagon has requested an additional $200 billion for war operations. The cost to the U.S. as of March 19 was estimated at $18 billion. The conflict has been described as the world's largest supply disruption since the 1970s energy crisis. The five-day pause is not a ceasefire. It is a pressure valve. The Strait of Hormuz remains the decisive terrain, economically, strategically, and diplomatically. Iran understands this and is leveraging it. The administration is managing competing pressures: oil prices, allied cohesion, questions of congressional authorization, and an Iranian regime that has replaced Khamenei but has not collapsed. The hard questions remain unanswered. What is the defined end state? What does a post-conflict Iran look like under whatever governing structure emerges? Who holds the ground, secures the nuclear material, and prevents the power vacuum from being filled by forces hostile to U.S. interests? What, if any information can be provided to the U.S. public about activation of Iranian sleeper cells inside the United States?

I have a different idea about why Trump reversed course (again) and unilaterally called a cease-fire, before his apocalyptic 48-hour deadline expired. Most ascribe this change to market manipulation, and that's probably part of his reasoning, but I think there is something much larger at play. Susie Wiles, an ardent Christian Zionist, is still serving as Trump's gatekeeper. Joe Kent was excluded from the decision-making process that led to our joint Israeli-American sneak attack assassination bombing raids on 28 Feb. He would have counseled Trump not to make this catastrophic move. I'm pretty sure Tulsi Gabbard has also been locked out by Wiles. Meanwhile, neocon war hawks like Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, and, of course, Bibi Netanyahu, have unlimited access to POTUS Trump. Ted Cruz said he spent all day of 27 Feb with Trump, advising him to go to war against Iran, using the negotiations as a ploy. Trump has even laughingly referred to Pearl Harbor, bragging about the surprise attack. But even Susie Wiles can't keep the V.P. and the Secretary of State from seeing Trump in person. I believe his insane 48-hour deadline, to essentially see the entire Middle East gas, oil, petrochemical, electrical generation and water desalinization infrastructure destroyed in the war escalation, has caused Vance and/or Rubio to step in forcefully. Vance, as a former Marine, must be horrified by Graham's excited call for another Iwo Jima, (26,000 casualties, 7,000 KIA). Rubio must be taking angry calls from world leaders, warning against the catastrophe which will unfold if the Middle East is wrecked. Infrastructure that took 50 years and a trillion dollars to build cannot be rebuilt before the global economy is destroyed and mass starvation ensues. If this infrastructure is wrecked, millions will die of immediate dehydration. And it won't matter if the Strait of Hormuz is reopened, as there will be nothing to ship out. And America will be blamed, with Israel, for starting the war that triggered this unprecedented human calamity. I believe that Vance or Rubio, or both, have pushed past Susie Wiles to tell Trump to call off his insane 48-hour countdown to Armageddon, or they will resign, and tell the world why. A resignation by Vance or Rubio would make the Joe Kent resignation seem like a tiny hiccup. That's why I believe Trump invented his bogus "Iranian negotiations" story, to call off his 48-hour countdown.

Iran's speaker and foreign minister both now deny contact. They claim the US attempted to make contact via intermediaries, but that contact was denied. This would match the reporting from Axios that leaked from US sources about middlemen. Trump wanted an offramp for market open. So he made one up.

IRAN TV REPORTED THAT THE UNITED STATES ATTEMPTED TO START NEGOTIATIONS WITH IRAN THROUGH INTERMEDIARIES.

TRUMP ON IRAN: THEY CALLED, I DIDN'T CALL

Q: Who is Steve Witkoff speaking with in Iran? TRUMP: A top person Q: Who is it? TRUMP: I can't. I don't want them to be killed

BREAKING: Trump: I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS.