Trump Says Iran War Will Be Over “When I Feel It”

Two weeks after he directed American forces to bomb Iran, Donald Trump has revealed he has no notion of when the war will end.

The White House has thus far refused to provide the slightest semblance of a timeline for the latest unfounded Middle East war. But in an interview with Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade Friday, Trump admitted that he also has no clear goal for the war, clouding the possibility for a finite end to the conflict.

Responding to a question about the skyrocketing price of oil and the resulting economic ripples, Trump claimed that the U.S. would “bounce right back so fast” when the war is over.

“When are you going to know when it’s over?” asked Kilmeade.

“When I feel it. When I feel it in my bones,” Trump responded.

There’s been absolutely no concrete evidence from the White House that the violence will end soon. In the same interview, Trump noted that U.S. forces could fight the war “forever.”

“We have unlimited ammunition,” Trump said. “We have, of the high level and medium level—the medium and medium-high level—we have virtually unlimited ammunition, and we’re using it. We’re using it, we could go forever.”

Yet U.S. military officials have stressed that fighting Iran has drastically depleted America’s missile defense systems. In a closed-door meeting with lawmakers on March 3—just days after the conflict began—Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Dan Caine reportedly said that Iran’s Shahed attack drones were proving to be a more difficult problem than U.S. intelligence initially predicted.

The Shahed drones are capable of flying low and slow, a facet of their design that has made them difficult targets for U.S. air defenses. The military has been mostly successful at intercepting them, using Patriot interceptor missiles—which are designed to destroy ballistic missiles or aircraft—in order to do so. But there’s a significant cost imbalance as a result of the glaring gap in America’s war plan.

Iran’s drones are small, simple to manufacture, and cost roughly $20,000 to produce. They can be launched from almost anywhere, and use GPS to find their target. They’re typically launched in swarms to overwhelm opposing defense systems.

Patriot missiles, meanwhile, cost between $3 million and $4 million per unit. An entire Patriot battery system can cost as much as $1.1 billion, including the launcher, radar, and missiles. As a result of the missiles’ enormous price tag, production of America’s highly sought-after Patriot system is relatively slow compared to its demand. In 2025, Lockheed Martin created 620 units of the Patriot missile. Iran, in comparison, is capable of producing about 10,000 drones per month, reported Reuters.

Brynn Tannehill, a former Iran analyst for the U.S. Naval Reserve, emphasized in The Atlantic that the U.S. and its Gulf allies were chewing through “scarce and costly munitions at an astounding rate.”

The depletion of resources is doubly concerning following The Washington Post’s
reporting last week that Russia was funneling military intelligence to Iran to assist in targeting U.S. forces. So far, Iran has systematically destroyed U.S. missile defense systems across the Middle East, such as radars and command infrastructure. In the early days of the war, an Iranian drone attack on a Kuwait operations center killed six U.S. soldiers and seriously wounded dozens more.

Earlier this week, it became clear that the White House had months earlier been offered the opportunity to buy tech that would have given U.S. forces a dramatic advantage against Iran. The offer was extended by Ukraine, and the the intel was battle-tested: Ukraine has more experience fighting Shaheds than practically any other country, downing the same design under Russia’s flag (Russia rebranded the military tech as “Geran drones”).

The decision to snub the offer has since been discussed as one of the biggest miscalculations thus far in the Iran war.

Donald Trump admitted Friday that Russia is likely helping Iran in its war with the U.S., but doesn’t think it’s a big deal.

Fox News’s Brian Kilmeade asked Trump in a radio interview if he thought Russian President Vladimir Putin is helping Iran in its war with the U.S.

Trump replied, “I think he might be helping them a little bit, yeah, I guess, and he probably thinks we’re helping Ukraine, right?”

Kilmeade then asked Trump if the U.S. is helping Ukraine, and Trump said, “Yeah, we’re helping them also, and so he says that, and China would say the same thing, you know. It’s like, hey, they do it and we do it, in all fairness.”

It’s a blatant admission from the president that he doesn’t care about Russia opposing the U.S. in a war, and a more implicit admission that he knows his decision Thursday to temporarily relax sanctions on Russia will help the country in its war against Ukraine, even if it does alleviate skyrocketing oil prices. The U.S. has backed Ukraine since Russia invaded the country in 2022.

The unprompted mention of China would seem to suggest Trump doesn’t care about its assistance of Iran either, or perhaps it’s a poorly worded reference to U.S. defense agreements with Taiwan. In any case, Trump’s comments fuel ongoing questions as to whether he really considers Russia an adversary—even if the country is providing Iran with help to attack U.S. troops and interests—and how much he actually prioritizes aiding Ukraine.

The Trump administration and its fellow Republicans are going nuts over a CNN report that the White House didn’t adequately plan for Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth called the report “fundamentally unserious,” openly welcoming the day the news outlet gets taken over by conservative billionaire David Ellison.

“More fake news from CNN: reports that the Trump administration underestimated the Iran war’s impact on the Strait of Hormuz. Patently ridiculous, of course. For decades, Iran has threatened shipping in the Strait of Hormuz. This is always what they do, hold the strait hostage. CNN doesn’t think we thought of that,” Hegseth said at a press conference Friday.

Press secretary Karoline Leavitt called the story “100% FAKE NEWS” in a long post on X, claiming that “a goal of the Operation itself, to annihilate the terrorist Iranian regime’s navy, missiles, drone production infrastructure, and other threat capabilities is quite literally intended to deprive them of their ability to close the Strait.” This belies the fact that Iran took control of the strait days ago and that no ships have been able to cross it without its approval.

Republican Senator Tom Cotton, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said on X that “whoever leaked this lied,” regarding the idea that Trump did not plan for Iran to close the strait.

“CNN should do some fact-checking,” Cotton said. “The U.S. has planned for Iran to try and close the strait for decades.” It’s puzzling, though, how the report could be both a leak and a lie at the same time.

White House communications director Steven Cheung shared Cotton’s post, adding that “when [CNN reporter Zachary Cohen] is on the byline, you know it’s FAKE NEWS. His unnamed sources are former Obama and Biden people, Iranian Regime sympathizers, low-level Democrat staffers on the Hill, and liberal donors/activists.”

GOP Senator Tim Sheehy said, “It is categorically false that they did not plan for Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz. Lawmakers and national security officials have known for years that this was Iran’s plan once their backs were against the wall,” again ignoring the fact that the U.S. was unable to prevent the strait’s closure.

A CNN spokesperson Friday said the network stands by its reporting. It seems that the Trump administration is aghast at the criticism it is facing but refuses to acknowledge that the strait is closed right now with all oil exports from the region halted except for Iran’s. Attacking the media won’t change the facts on the ground or in the water.

A prison guard on duty during Jeffrey Epstein’s death has been asked to testify to the House Oversight Committee.

Tova Noel is scheduled to appear for a transcribed interview on March 26, as part of the panel’s ongoing investigation into the alleged sex trafficker.

Noel and Michael Thomas were the two federal prison guards on duty at the Metropolitan Correctional Facility in New York when Epstein was found dead in August 2019. They were previously charged with falsifying reports to conceal their failure to perform adequate checks on the alleged sex trafficker. Those charges were dismissed in 2022.

Noel’s summons could fan the flames of conspiracy theories that Epstein did not kill himself in his jail cell.

The Oversight Committee has heard closed-door testimony on Epstein from prominent people, including Bill and Hillary Clinton. The committee has also subpoenaed Attorney General Pam Bondi for a deposition on her handling of the Epstein investigation. If her track record of discussing Epstein is any indication, it won’t go well.

The president is leveraging his position as commander in chief for another moneymaking scheme.

An eyebrow-raising fundraising email was circulated Thursday by a Trump-affiliated super PAC, promising supporters a “National Security Briefing Membership” in exchange for their cash.

It was sent by the fundraising subsidiary of Donald Trump’s primary leadership PAC, Never Surrender, which emerged from the ashes of his 2024 campaign committee. The note, nonetheless, is phrased as though it were written by Trump himself, and links out to Trump’s merchandising website.

The email offered access to “private national security briefings” and “unfiltered updates on the threats facing America.”

“These final spots are reserved for my strongest supporters (YOU’RE ONE OF THEM!). This is no ordinary membership,” the message reads. “As a National Security Briefing Member, you’ll receive my private national security briefings, unfiltered updates on the threats facing America. The straight truth on border invasions, foreign adversaries, deep state sabotage, and every danger the fake news hides.

“You’ll get the inside scoop DIRECT from me, President Trump, the leader who’s rebuilt the greatest military in history and put America First like no one else,” it continued.

The bizarre and unprecedented offer comes as formal components of the Trump administration tamper with press access to official briefings regarding the Iran war, choking the flow of information to the public.

Yet it’s far from the first time that Trump has attempted to use his power and political prestige to milk money from his base. Trump’s long list of election-year hustles included launching a remarkably ugly sneaker and a limited-edition, $60 God Bless the USA Bible co-promoted by “God Bless the USA” singer Lee Greenwood, which was ultimately forced on Oklahoma public schools by its MAGA superintendent.

Trump also took the parent company of his social media platform Truth Social public and stamped his name on a new cryptocurrency platform headed by his two sons, Eric and Don Jr., which even the president’s allies criticized as a “huge mistake.”

The grift has continued into his presidency. This week, Trump’s meme coin advertised an opportunity for investors to actually meet him in person—though the billed April 25 gathering at Mar-a-Lago is not actually on the president’s schedule, according to a White House official who spoke with Politico. Instead, Trump is slated to attend the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner for the first time.