Master strategist Malignant Fascist and his team of rivals clowns bungled into war with Iran with minimal consideration for one teensy-weensy complication:
The Pentagon and National Security Council significantly underestimated Iran’s willingness to close the Strait of Hormuz in response to US military strikes while planning the ongoing operation, according to multiple sources familiar with the matter.
Pause for a moment and let that sink in. Continuing:
President Donald Trump’s national security team failed to fully account for the potential consequences of what some officials have described as a worst-case scenario now facing the administration, the sources said.
While key officials from the Departments of Energy and Treasury were present for some of the official planning meetings about the operation before it started, sources said, the agency analysis and forecasts that would be integral elements of the decision-making process in past administrations were secondary considerations.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and Energy Secretary Chris Wright have been key players throughout the planning and execution stages of the conflict, the sources acknowledged. But Trump’s preference of leaning on a tight circle of close advisers in his national security decision making had the effect of sidelining interagency debate over the potential economic fallout if Iran were to respond to US-Israeli strikes by closing the strait.
And now it may be weeks before the administration’s efforts to alleviate the intensifying economic fallout take hold, officials said Thursday, including high-risk naval escorts of oil tankers through the strait that the Pentagon believes are currently too dangerous to conduct. The president, meanwhile, has continued to downplay the tumult in energy markets.
The reality in the strait has left diplomatic counterparts, former US economic and energy officials and industry executives who spoke with CNN in a state of confusion and disbelief...
Disbelief ... at the incompetence, you say? Haven't they been tracking the careers of the Malignant Fascist and "Whiskey Pete" Hegseth over there? Could there have been reason to doubt the chops of former hedge fund manager Bessent and fracking company CEO Wright in knowing fuck-all about the Middle East and the history of conflicts in the region on oil stability? Apparently not.
Luckily, the MF's mentor, war criminal Vladimir Putin, is here to help:
The United States on Thursday temporarily lifted sanctions on Russian oil that is currently at sea, allowing it to be shipped to buyers around the world as the Trump administration scrambles to contain energy prices that have been soaring because of the war in Iran.
The exemptions, which were issued by the Treasury Department, will be in place until April 11. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent estimated that freeing Russian oil could add hundreds of millions of barrels of crude to global markets, curbing prices that have been hovering near $100 per barrel as a result of the Iran conflict.
The decision was a significant turning point in America’s effort to punish Russia for its war in Ukraine.
Russia has faced punishing sanctions from the United States and the rest of the Group of 7 advanced economies since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Those sanctions have included a price cap on Russian oil and a crackdown on Russia’s “shadow fleet” of unmarked vessels that oil exporters have used to evade sanctions...
So the Operation Epic Epstein Fury shitshow widens its scope in a (completely unforseen!) way to further damage American interests and national security (and continue to fund Putin's assault on Ukraine). A perfect storm of stupid.
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