Donald Trump Checkmates Iran On Day 14

Don’t misunderstand what I’m about to say. The war in Iran will continue for at least another week, according to President Donald Trump, and probably much longer. There are still hundreds, maybe thousands of targets, human and places, to destroy, thousands of sorties to be flown by U.S. and Israeli forces, and American naval assets will soon be joined by up to 5,000 Marines. There undoubtedly will still be casualties to come, joining the 13 we’ve already lost in the last fortnight. But not only are we winning this war against Iran, the killer move that all but assures the final outcome in our favor was played on Friday afternoon by Donald Trump.

The events began early in the morning, Washington, D.C. time, when War Secretary Pete Hegseth and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan “Raisin'” Caine held a press briefing. Both men at several points in their remarks stated with conviction that Friday would become the most intense and largest bombing day to date. And from what we’ve seen thus far, that is saying something. No one knew what that would look like, but the fireworks to come were promised to be spectacular and game-changing. As it turns out, they were not kidding. 

On Brian Kilmeade’s Fox Radio Network show, the President joined him on the phone for a bit to update on Iran. Kilmeade asked Trump if a strike on Kharg Island was on the table. To be honest, it’s a fair question for pundits and hosts to ask of experts in the Middle East, because that little strip of land off Iran’s southern shore accounts for nine of 10 barrels of oil Iran exports. In short, it’s the Persian Gulf’s largest Buc-ee’s. Trump’s reaction, in hindsight, was extremely telling. 

Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade: “Are you thinking about taking Khartg Island where 90% of the Iranian oil goes through?”

President Trump: “Yeah, but, Brian, I can’t answer a question like that. And you shouldn’t ask it. You shouldn’t even be asking it. It’s one of so many different… pic.twitter.com/TD22OuDYLb

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) March 13, 2026

Brian is a wonderful newsman and anchor, and has a long history of doing radio well before his tenure at Fox. I’m not surprised he asked that question. And I’m also not surprised at all that the President answered by saying there’s no way he can answer that. But taking it to the degree of admonishing Kilmeade for the question, giving him a Trump tattoo in the process, tells me Trump was angling for the element of surprise. He reacted in a way to at least make people think it was a stupid question; it wasn’t on the table, at least not imminently, and don’t bother him with such piffle. 

A couple of hours later, under the cover of darkness, the bat signal went out to several of our B-2 stealth bombers, and they took flight, one right after another. They were coming out to play in whatever this event was the Pentagon had previewed earlier in the day. 

🚨 BREAKING: CENTCOM just posted footage of US B-2 STEALTH BOMBERS taking off to decimate Iran as part of Operation Epic Fury

Bad*ss 🔥

“B-2 stealth bombers takeoff to conduct a mission during Operation Epic Fury, delivering long-range fire to not only eliminate the threat from… pic.twitter.com/TiaTmbeSOG

— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 13, 2026

Of course, the videos of them taking off were not released until they were already back home from delivering the mail to wherever they were headed. And as it turns out, where they were headed didn’t have a lot of street cameras or other video capabilities to make into neat, little reel videos. 

A few hours later, Donald Trump unveiled what happened. Kharg Island was targeted. Instantly, the online community predisposed to hate the President and everything about this war, precisely because Trump is leading it, leaped to the conclusion that Trump had now escalated things to an irreparable level. Of course, they missed what was struck, how it was struck, and to whom his messaging was addressed. Here is Trump’s announcement on Truth Social and X.

pic.twitter.com/XQnxIEJkgu

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 13, 2026

Everything on the island – people, guns, drones, boats, anyone or anything military-related to defend Kharg Island was destroyed while leaving the gas pumps and pipeline to it from the mainland intact. Trump took their pants off and left the island stark naked. Oh, did I forget to tell you there are around 5,000 Marines on their way to the region? I wonder for what mission they might suddenly come in handy. Protect and hold an island, perhaps? How about taking a leisurely stroll along a specific part of Iran’s southern coastline that has a unique hairpin curve in it, coinciding with the Strait of Hormuz? 

After two weeks of constant aerial barrage on any offensive or defensive weapon Iran’s weakening regime has, there is no one to come help reclaim the island for the Iranians. Not the IRGC, not their navy, not their air force, nox proxies, not drones. We have unmanned Reapers that will provide cover against anything flying towards the island, and if things get dicey, A10 Warthogs can rain down death on any physical assault that gets too close. 

Notice what the President said in his message. 

However, should Iran, or anyone else, do anything to interfere with the Free and Safe Passage of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz, I will immediately reconsider this decision [to not wipe out the oil infrastructure on the island].

To whom was this message meant to be received? Cardboard Mojtaba and the Military Junta? (An excellent name for a rock band, by the way). Yes…and no. 

Was it meant as a warning for the Houthis not to even think about getting involved? Yes…and no.

Was this a threat to Hezbollah that they were on the losing side of this war and of history? Yes…and no. 

I believe this was a message directly to Secretary-General Xi Jinping of the Chinese Communist Party. There is almost zero chance that four ships get blown up in the Gulf trying to get through the Strait, but Chinese-flagged ships laden with below-market sanctioned oil traverse the Strait with no problem. That tells me the problem was never a mine problem; it was a missile or drone problem. 

It would seem absolutely within Trump’s negotiating strategy to have back-channeled a conversation with the CCP, telling them that once the shooting started, stay out of it. Do not get involved. In return, we’ll let the oil exports continue, and we won’t take out Kharg. 

And for the first week-plus, it seemed like that quiet arrangement, if there was one, was working. Two days ago, in response to Iran spreading drone and missile damage all over the Middle East, hitting a dozen or so of their Arab neighbors, the Foreign Minister of the CCP, Guo Jiakun, said enough is enough, and condemned Iran and told them to knock it off. 

But after Iran hit not one, not two, but four cargo ships in the Strait, freaking out the markets and spiking oil to $100 dollars a barrel for two consecutive days, Donald Trump had seen enough and ordered the strike. 

All day Thursday and Friday, Never Trump, Inc., specifically CNN this time, but including many other outlets, began reporting as though it were the Gospel truth that the Pentagon had no vision or plan that the Strait might become contested waters, and that Iran would attempt to close it down. Secretary Hegseth disabused that fake news repeatedly, including to the CNN reporter at the Pentagon directly. 

If you want to know how I know there was a plan for this contingency, or what Donald Trump, as president, might be capable of ordering, all you have to do is go back in time. Eighteen years, in fact. And to whom might you want to listen, explain what the response should be, if such an event arose? Donald Trump. Here he is on a book tour interview for The Art Of The Deal. 

President Trump explained when and how he would hit Kharg Island in 1988.

In 2026, 47 hit Kharg. https://t.co/FzAaA51A2w pic.twitter.com/Q3HOf9NZmu

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 14, 2026

Now what’s different this time, of course, is that our military targeting weaponry and tech advances have given the President options that were not available in 1988. Trump ordered the island be stripped naked of its defenses, because we can. Now that he has Iran and, really, the CCP by the short hairs, let’s see how much of a hurry the regime is in to fire off weapons at boats crossing Hormuz. I will wager you Shohei Ohtani’s money, and trust me, he can afford it, that stuff will begin moving through the Strait faster than someone on colonoscopy prep. 

Now, as long as we’re in the speculative part of the analysis here, let me again state for the record, I have no insider information. I’m not in touch with the Pentagon. But if I were a novelist writing up this phase of the operation in a suspense thriller, now that we’ve blown the outer and inner rings of defenses to smithereens on Kharg Island, I would have Special Operators quietly landing on the island to give the place a good once-over to make sure everyone left that needs killing gets that extra personalized attention. That way, when the Marines come to town, all that’s left is basically setting up a conservatorship, if you will. 

The beauty of this operation, if it finishes panning out, is that the island is now the perfect hostage. Donald Trump can play Kevin in Home Alone and say, “Do you give up? Or are you thirsty for more?” China sincerely does not want to see Kharg go kablooey. Donald Trump has leverage. Xi no longer does. The United States can produce enough oil to cover its own needs, if necessary, and we still have avenues to increase production in the Gulf of America, off the California Coast, and we haven’t fully tapped shale capacity, yet, which becomes much more feasible when oil is this high in price. We have options. China does not. They still have to import virtually all of it, and will have to pay a lot more than they used to, and it will slow them down as far as any expansionist military plans they may entertain. They certainly do not have a supply chain of energy lined up right now, especially with Venezuela no longer an option, for any kinetic action of their own in the near future. Again, to use a movie reference, Donald Vader has spoken. “I have altered the deal. Pray I don’t alter it further.”  

As for the remnants of the regime, the way I see it, they have three options. 1) They take whatever money they have left and board the Midnight one-way to Moscow, and it’s the dawning of a new era in Persia. 2) They throw whatever they have left – missiles, drones, whatever at Kharg Island and blow it up themselves, praying to a make-believe god to come out of the well he’s been hiding in for centuries and fix things already. And when he doesn’t show up, the masses of Iranians, realizing the theocracy is completely impotent, will gather strength and become the ground forces needed to finish off the regime once and for all. 

My buddy David Strom has a wonderful piece on how effective and methodically lethal Israel has been, especially in Tehran, going block by block with drones, acting on Iranian population intelligence, wiping out one Basij stronghold or blockade after another, with tremendous success. The path for the protesters to achieve the revolution they desire is getting easier by the day, and they know it. Their moment is coming, much sooner than the world realizes. With the regime literally out of money, no more revenue coming in, no ability to pay their goon squads, and those that remain getting killed by the dozens every day, they’re in a death spiral. 

The last option is for Tehran’s IRGC equivalent of Venezuelan Vice-President Delcy Rodriguez to mount a coup, go Brutus, kill the remaining nuts in the regime, and kick the power cord out of the ventillator Cardboard Mojtaba is hooked up to, and make a deal to reform with the U.S. and Israel. If you’re a regime loyalist, none of those hands are very attractive in an all-in round of poker. 

For now, the emerging plan, if Tehran abandons terrorizing the Strait, is for the Americans to control Kharg Island as a receivership, of sorts. Sure, it’s technically yours, we guess, and it’s a nice operation you’ve got there. Would be a shame if something happened to it. But take it a step further. If you’re Donald Trump, literally holding all the cards, you even have a step to play before you would have to make the calculation that Iran is irredeemable and blow it all up. What’s that step? 

Now that you control the gas dock, you own the skies, you’re reducing Iran’s capabilities and will to fight with each passing day; it’s not long before you’re controlling the oil fields that feed the pipeline to Kharg. China still needs the oil, right? Well, as is the case with any receivership, we’re happy to keep the old pumping schedule, Xi. Might cost you a bit more per barrel to cover the extra overhead, and then there’s this little accounting paperwork we have to work out. Instead of your accounts payable division writing checks to the mullahs in Tehran, we have a new payee and address for you – the United States Treasury. 

We could literally drink Iran’s milkshake, and there’s really nothing anyone can do about it. You still protect the infrastructure, show the citizenry that the power that oppressed them for half a century can no longer do so, and the country is yours to take. The Venezuela option becomes very much alive and well. 

The President, tired of the insanely biased anti-Trump filter, is talking to the American people directly via social media. Hours after informing the world what just happened on Kharg, he followed up with this message. 

pic.twitter.com/jPpzXaNJ4W

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 13, 2026

Again, a message with multiple intended recipients. Americans, especially those who either were severely injured at the hands of Iranian IEDs in service to this country, or those with family members who have been injured or paid the ultimate sacrifice at the hands of the Iranians, will read this one way – with great pride, a sense of justice, and gratitude. If you’re China, you’ve by now independently confirmed that Trump has checkmated the Iranians, and checked you in the process. You have a way out, if you’re Xi, but that way out is to cooperate with Trump and roll over on the mullahs and cut your losses. If you’re the Iranians desperately yearning for freedom, who have been waiting for months for Donald Trump’s promise of help to arrive, you’ve got to be excited at the chance now in front of you.  

One final message from Donald Trump from the overnight hours of Friday night/Saturday morning before we call it a column this weekend.  

pic.twitter.com/fjMXUTampV

— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) March 14, 2026

What’s interesting here is that the President is saying that Iran – they – want a deal, but not one he’ll accept, yet. One sure sign we’re winning, despite what CNN or Margaret Brennan at CBS wants you to believe, is that Donald Trump doesn’t have to accept a deal on Iran’s terms any longer. And honestly, he never really did in the first place. He was just the first president to act like he didn’t.

Notice that Trump is not saying Cardboard Mojtaba called him to ask for a deal. He said Iran – the regime, used in the same third person plural sense as “they”. He’s not saying who specifically is asking for a deal. When Ali Khamenei was alive and in charge, Trump talked about him directly by name regarding negotiations. What does that tell you about who’s running the country? It doesn’t signal to me that it’s Khamenei. He’s deader than Jim Acosta’s broadcast career.  

Day 14 was an absolute banger. I can’t wait to see what Day 15 brings. God bless our troops, their commanders, and our civilian leaders. And God bless the Israelis for their ferocity, fearlessness, friendship, and their fighters. 

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