President Donald Trump said on Friday that he won&#8217;t require Iran&#8217;s next leader to be committed to democratic rule, adding that he&#8217;s more concerned about the future ruler committing to peace and stability in the region.
Trump, who said on Thursday that he wants to be involved in the process of choosing Iran&#8217;s next leader, <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2026/03/06/politics/trump-interview-iran-cuba-dana-bash">told</a> CNN host Dana Bash that he&#8217;s optimistic about the country&#8217;s future leadership. The president said he believes the leader should be &#8220;fair and just,&#8221; adding that he&#8217;s open to the Middle East country putting a &#8220;religious&#8221; leader in power.
&#8220;I mean, it depends on who the person is. I don’t mind religious leaders. I deal with a lot of religious leaders and they are fantastic,” Trump told Bash.
He then laid out what he would expect of Iran&#8217;s next leader.
&#8220;I’m saying there has to be a leader that’s going to be fair and just, do a great job, treat the United States and Israel well, and treat the other countries in the Middle East — they’re all our partners,&#8221; he added.
Trump touted his relationship with countries in the Middle East, saying that his relationship with most of them has flourished.
&#8220;And I became very friendly with all those countries. That’s why they’re all fighting for us,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Before I got involved, we didn’t even speak to UAE and Saudi Arabia. You know, (President Joe) Biden shut [them] out. Biden and (President Barack) Obama shut Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, he shut them all out. They were all going to go to China, and I got involved in a very short period of time that became my friends.&#8221;
The joint U.S.-Israeli military operation launched last weekend has taken out most of Iran&#8217;s top leadership, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. U.S. forces have also decimated the regime&#8217;s navy, military assets, and nuclear infrastructure. The Trump administration has been careful about how much information it releases on its plans for &#8220;Operation Epic Fury&#8221; and whether U.S. forces would be used to push for regime change.
Trump&#8217;s comments on Thursday were the clearest hint yet that the United States could have a major role in setting up Iran&#8217;s next government. After the remaining Iranian leaders reportedly selected Khamenei&#8217;s son, Mojtaba, to take over, Trump <a href="https://www.axios.com/2026/03/05/iran-leader-trump-khamenei">told</a> Axios that the appointment was &#8220;unacceptable.&#8221;
&#8220;We want someone that will bring harmony and peace to Iran,” Trump said. &#8220;They are wasting their time. Khamenei’s son is a lightweight.&#8221;
Trump added that any Iranian leader who would just continue the policies of the now crumbling regime would force the United States back into a war in &#8220;five years.&#8221; Radical Muslim leaders, including Iran&#8217;s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reportedly lobbied for Mojtaba to get the appointment.
Trump has expressed support for the Iranians who took to the streets in recent months to protest the regime. After announcing &#8220;Operation Epic Fury&#8221; last Saturday, Trump urged Iranians to take control of their authoritarian government once the dust settles after America&#8217;s major military operation.
&#8220;To the great proud people of Iran, I say tonight that the hour of your freedom is at hand,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Stay sheltered. Don&#8217;t leave your home. It&#8217;s very dangerous outside. Bombs will be dropping everywhere. When we are finished, take over your government. It will be yours to take. This will be probably your only chance for generations.&#8221;

Donald Trump

Trump Lays Out Conditions For Next Iranian Leader

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei

Iran

Israel

Middle East

Qatar, which supported the terrorist group Hamas and was closely allied with Iran, is trying to stop the U.S.-Israel attack on the tyrannical Iranian regime by warning of global economic consequences if the war continues.
Traditionally a close ally of Iran and a long-time financial and political patron of Hamas, Qatar is now leveraging its position as the world’s second-largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) producer to force a ceasefire that would effectively bail out the embattled regime in Tehran.
Following an Iranian drone strike on its Ras Laffan plant — an act many view as a coordinated effort to &#8220;raise the stakes&#8221; for the West — Qatar declared force majeure, halting its massive gas exports. Qatar’s energy minister, Saad al-Kaabi, <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/be122b17-e667-478d-be19-89d605e978ea" target="_blank" rel="noopener">warned</a> that if the war continues, oil will skyrocket to $150 a barrel within weeks, and every energy exporter in the Gulf will be forced to shut down production.
By framing the energy crisis as an inevitability of the US-Israeli offensive, Qatar is attempting to pivot the blame for global inflation and potential GDP contraction away from Iranian aggression and onto the Western military response.
Despite hosting a major US military base, Qatar’s loyalties remain deeply intertwined with the &#8220;Axis of Resistance.&#8221; Having <a href="https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/article-866913">sheltered Hamas leadership for years</a> and maintained deep economic ties with Tehran — Qatar’s ambassador to Tehran <a href="https://irannewsdaily.com/2025/12/qatar-envoy-hails-distinguished-ties-with-iran/">said</a> in December 2025, ““Qatar has important and distinguished relations with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and these relations are based on the principle of neighborliness, mutual respect and cooperation in all common fields” — Doha is now using the threat of &#8220;weeks to months&#8221; of energy delivery delays to pressure Washington. Al-Kaabi dismissed U.S. President Donald Trump’s offers of naval escorts through the Strait of Hormuz, labeling the waterway &#8220;too dangerous&#8221; and effectively siding with the Iranian position that the Strait cannot function while Iran is under attack.
“This will bring down the economies of the world,” Kaabi said. “If this war continues for a few weeks, GDP growth around the world will be impacted. Everybody’s energy price is going to go higher. There will be shortages of some products and there will be a chain reaction of factories that cannot supply.”
Al-Kaabi’s rhetoric suggests that Qatar is not merely a victim of the crossfire but an active participant in a diplomatic squeeze. By predicting that Asian buyers will outbid Europeans for dwindling supplies and that global supply chains will suffer a &#8220;chain reaction&#8221; of failures, Doha is sending a clear message to Western capitals: the survival of the Iranian regime is now directly linked to the stability of the global economy.
As Qatar halts its $30 billion North Field expansion and warns of long-term &#8220;liability&#8221; for other Gulf nations that continue to pump oil, it is clear that Doha is utilizing its energy dominance as a shield for its allies in Tehran.

Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Minister of State for Energy Affairs

Qatar Moves To Shield Iran, Warns Of Energy Shock If War Continues

Qatar

American adversary Russia is reportedly providing intelligence to Iran on the location of U.S. forces, including warships and aircraft.
The Washington Post <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/03/06/russia-iran-intelligence-us-targets/">cited</a> three officials Friday morning who spoke on the condition of anonymity and said that Moscow has indirectly joined the conflict between the United States and Iran. One of the Post&#8217;s sources said that Russia&#8217;s involvement &#8220;does seem like it’s a pretty comprehensive effort.&#8221;
The Trump administration has not yet confirmed publicly whether Russia has stepped into the conflict to help Iran. The War Department declined to comment on the issue when asked by The Daily Wire. White House spokeswoman Anna Kelly did not address the Washington Post report but said, &#8220;The Iranian regime is being absolutely crushed.&#8221;
&#8220;Their ballistic missile retaliation is decreasing every day, their navy is being wiped out, their production capacity is being demolished, and proxies are hardly putting up a fight. Operation Epic Fury is meeting or surpassing all of its goals, and the United States will continue to dominate,&#8221; Kelly added.
After President Donald Trump launched &#8220;Operation Epic Fury&#8221; last weekend, Russia condemned the joint U.S.-Israeli military action targeting Iranian leadership, military assets, and nuclear infrastructure. Russia and Iran have long partnered on military efforts. Their ties were further strengthened last year when they signed a 20-year political and economic treaty partially focused on helping each nation fend off outside threats.
Russian dictator Vladimir Putin condemned the United States and Israel after they took out Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei. Putin <a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/putin-says-killing-khamenei-is-cynical-murder-2026-03-01/">called</a> the strike that killed Khamenei and members of his family and inner circle a &#8220;cynical violation of all norms of human morality and international law.&#8221; The Russian dictator, however, stopped short of committing to defend his ally as the United States continues to pummel Iranian forces and defense systems.
Even if Putin committed to back Iran against the United States and Israel, Russia&#8217;s ability to come to Iran&#8217;s aid would be severely limited as Moscow remains in the middle of a war with Ukraine that has entered its fifth year, with no sign of the conflict ending anytime soon. Iran also has close ties with China, but it appears that the communist regime in Beijing has yet to intervene.
War Secretary Pete Hegseth was recently asked about any potential role Russia and China could play in the conflict, and he replied by saying the countries are &#8220;not really a factor here.&#8221;
Iran has launched precision strikes this week that have hit their targets, including U.S. military bases and embassies. Six American troops were killed in one Iranian strike in Kuwait.
The United States, meanwhile, has decimated Iran&#8217;s navy and continues to hunt down the regime&#8217;s ballistic missile launchers. In an update at Central Command headquarters in Florida on Thursday, Admiral Brad Cooper said that U.S. forces have sunk more than 30 Iranian ships and recently struck an Iranian drone carrier roughly the size of a World War II aircraft carrier. The Israeli Air Force also hit a military bunker on Thursday night that has been used by senior Iranian political and military leaders.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/live-updates-iranian-protests-intensify-as-citizens-demand-end-to-ayatollah-rule?author=Daily+Wire&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=8&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=LIVE+UPDATES%3A+Overnight+Win+Blows+Apart+Iran+Regime%E2%80%99s+Secret+War+Bunker">LIVE UPDATES: Overnight Win Blows Apart Iran Regime’s Secret War Bunker</a>

Russia/Iran

A U.S. Adversary Quietly Helping Iran In War With America? Here’s What We Know

China

Russia

Trump Administration

U.S.

Vladimir Putin

New York mayor Zohran Mamdani’s wife, Syrian-American artist Rama Duwaji, used her personal Instagram account to &#8220;like&#8221; multiple posts that actively cheered on the barbaric Hamas terrorist attacks of October 7, 2023.
The revelation from <a href="https://jewishinsider.com/2026/03/zohran-mamdani-wife-rama-duwaji-social-media-oct-7/">Jewish Insider</a> pulls back the curtain on the &#8220;moderate&#8221; facade Mamdani has carefully constructed. While the Mayor now claims to unequivocally condemn Hamas, his wife was busy clicking &#8220;heart&#8221; buttons on images of the very bulldozers used to breach the Israeli border and terrorists parading in captured IDF vehicles. One post liked by Duwaji, shared by an organization called &#8220;The Slow Factory,&#8221; framed the slaughter of 1,200 people as merely &#8220;breaking the walls of apartheid.&#8221;
The timing is particularly damning. While Mamdani — then a state assemblyman — was publicly criticizing a pro-Hamas rally in Times Square for &#8220;making light&#8221; of the massacre, his then-girlfriend was apparently at home digital-cheering for the organizers. Duwaji reportedly liked posts from the &#8220;People’s Forum&#8221;—part of a network linked to Maoist mogul Neville &#8220;Roy&#8221; Singham — which featured the genocidal chant &#8220;from the river to the sea&#8221; and declared that the Oct. 7 atrocities were a &#8220;human right.&#8221;
When pressed for comment, Duwaji went silent. The Mayor’s office, meanwhile, retreated into a practiced defensive shell, issuing a canned statement reiterating Mamdani’s &#8220;consistent&#8221; condemnation of Hamas. They notably refused to address whether the Mayor shares a dinner table with someone who views the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust as a moment of &#8220;collective liberation.&#8221;
Immediately following the October 7 Hamas massacre of 1200 Israelis, Mamdani (then a state assemblyman) issued a <a href="https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1711093032907321525">statement</a> that essentially targeted Israel: “I mourn the hundreds of people killed across Israel and Palestine in the last 36 hours. Netanyahu&#8217;s declaration of war, the Israeli government&#8217;s decision to cut electricity to Gaza, and Knesset members calling for another Nakba will undoubtedly lead to more violence and suffering in the days and weeks to come. The path toward a just and lasting peace can only begin by ending the occupation and dismantling apartheid.”
On the second anniversary of the October 7 massacre, Mamdani posted a <a href="https://x.com/ZohranKMamdani/status/1975550702056538512?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1975550702056538512%7Ctwgr%5Edbbd33728c1d8ba6d046fbf0f9d856ec85c0efff%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailywire.com%2Fnews%2Fmamdani-blasted-for-october-7-post-he-stands-with-jews-only-when-they-are-dead">statement</a> to his X account. He condemned Israel for perpetrating “genocide” in Gaza, citing fatality numbers from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, writing, “In the aftermath of that day, Prime Minister Netanyahu and the Israeli government launched a genocidal war.” He called Israel’s action “war crimes” and attacked the Trump administration, continuing, “Our government has been complicit through it all. This must end. The occupation and apartheid must end. Peace must be pursued through diplomacy, not war crimes, and our government must act to end these atrocities and hold those responsible to account.”

NYC Mayor Mamdani Holds News Conference

Mamdani Claims To Condemn Hamas — His Wife’s Instagram ‘Likes’ Say Otherwise

Mamdani’s Wife ‘Liked’ Posts Cheering Oct. 7 Hamas Massacre

Hamas

Massacre

October 7

Zohran Mamdani

There&#8217;s a coalition of people who are uniting to take down the United States.
These people are cowards, plus liars, plus people who despise America.
It&#8217;s a coalition of scavengers.
There are the cowards who mouth platitudes about how much they really didn&#8217;t like the Ayatollah, but then they spend their days talking about how the United States couldn&#8217;t and shouldn&#8217;t ever do anything about that.
There are the liars who literally craft stories out of nothing in order to undermine America.
And finally, there are the actual American haters who are often both cowards and liars, and really, really just despise America and her pursuit of our national interests in the world.
That coalition is now coming together, but it&#8217;s not going to win because President Trump is going to win this war.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-2380-the-ben-shapiro-show?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="size-large wp-image-974957" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp" alt="DailyWire+" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1024x171.webp 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-300x50.webp 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-768x128.webp 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-1536x256.webp 1536w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/09/511983dad25841c8b1ec058d75769bbe-2048x341.webp 2048w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
Let&#8217;s start with the cowards. These are the people who pretend they didn&#8217;t like the Ayatollah very much, but they&#8217;re really, really upset when anyone takes action. So, for example, they&#8217;re really, really mad that international law — the precious gewgaw of the pseudo-intellectuals — has somehow been violated.
Yes. If we don&#8217;t have Myanmar&#8217;s approval of a military strike on the ayatollahs or China&#8217;s approval — and if there is one country we need approval from, it is China, currently oppressing a billion people — or Russia —which is currently engaged in an aggressive war of conquest in Ukraine while throwing dissenters out of random third-story balconies at hotels — we need Russia&#8217;s approval?
That&#8217;s international law. And if we don&#8217;t have their approval, the mullahs must remain immune.
Here is the pathetic Mark Carney <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NBFuFwPrdpY">of Canada:</a>
<blockquote>The current conflict is another example of the failure of the international order. Despite decades of UN Security Council resolutions, the tireless work of the International Atomic Energy Agency, and the succession of sanctions and diplomatic frameworks. Iran&#8217;s nuclear threat remains. And now the United States and Israel have acted without engaging the United Nations or consulting allies, including Canada.</blockquote>
Who gives a sh*t? Really? You guys can’t even win a hockey match.
My favorite part of that is when Carney suggests the IAEA has been thwarted for decades, and U.N. resolutions have been ignored for decades, and now the United States and Israel won&#8217;t even go to the U.N.
He just said why those organizations are trash and do nothing. But oh, my gosh, we didn’t turn to Canada with its vast military prowess. Do we need to drop maple syrup on the Iranians?
New York City’s mayor, Zohran Mamdani, who has been happy to express support for terror supporters throughout his entire career, is now hiding behind international law as cover for his consistent opposition to Western strength.
Asked if Iran was “better off without the Ayatollah,” he <a href="https://x.com/Acyn/status/2028907502436532281?s=20">answered</a>:
<blockquote>I&#8217;ve said before that the Iranian government has engaged in systematic repression of its own people, even killing thousands of Iranians who were seeking to express the most basic forms of dissent earlier this year. It is a brutal government. And I&#8217;ve also said that while I may be a young mayor, I am old enough to remember the devastating consequences of our country pursuing a war with the intent of regime change in that very same region, not that many years ago.</blockquote>
The answer should be, &#8220;Yes.&#8221; 
Even if you have questions about what comes next, the answer should be yes. Yes, Iran is better off without Ayatollah Khamenei. But according to Mamdani, the important thing is saying that the ayatollah is really bad — but the minute anybody does anything, that is so much worse. We have to make sure that Khamenei stays in place because, after all, “the Iraq war.”
This Iraq War syndrome nonsense that has been promoted by the Left and then the horseshoe Right together, that every war is Iraq, every single intervention is Iraq, is ahistorical and absurd and tripe.
In 2015-2016, candidate Donald Trump ran on the platform that the Iraq war was bad — which was a controversial opinion inside the Republican Party at the time. The idea that he is now going to engage in a new, long-lasting occupation — not the first three weeks of the Iraq War, where the United States kicked the living hell out of Saddam Hussein and ended his regime, but what came after that, is ludicrous.
By the way, the first three weeks of the Iraq War were, by every available metric, a win for the United States. It was what came after that became problematic.
The argument of the cowards and liars is that Trump is going to engage in Bush-style nation-building in Iran.
Then there are the cowards who slander Israel to somehow imply that Israel is the bad guy in the conflict between Israel and Iran.
Take Gavin Newsom, who is absolutely slimy. As I said before, the man takes more positions on politics than the Kama Sutra. This is the same guy who, in an interview with me, freely admitted that Israel had not committed genocide in Gaza. Last night, however, he went on with the “Pod Save America” bros, knowing he had to please their Israel-hating asses.
Thus, he immediately started <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/gavin-newsom-israel-apartheid-state-1236521231/">talking about</a> how Israel is an apartheid state.
False.
20% of the Israeli population is Arab Muslim. They&#8217;re on the Supreme Court. They are in the medical system. A huge percentage of Israeli doctors are Arab Muslims. They&#8217;re in every area of Israeli society.
How can it be apartheid for Israel to have delegated certain parts of land to, for example, the Palestinian Authority, a terror-supporting group?
But Gavin Newsom knows he has to mouth these platitudes to his far-Left friends if he wants the nomination, because the Democratic Party — as Senator John Fetterman said yesterday on my show — is moving dramatically away from Israel.
Here&#8217;s Gavin Newsom <a href="https://x.com/clashreport/status/2029085070321938865?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2029085070321938865%7Ctwgr%5E4fb64ae5ce1adc6ac7ef128a0ea3c54c4dfb046a%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&amp;ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.hollywoodreporter.com%2Fnews%2Fpolitics-news%2Fgavin-newsom-israel-apartheid-state-1236521231%2F">telling lies</a> and being a coward, speaking of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.
<blockquote>He&#8217;s got his own domestic issues. He&#8217;s trying to stay out of jail. He&#8217;s got an election coming up. He&#8217;s potentially on the ropes. He&#8217;s got folks, the hard line, that want to annex the West or the West Bank. I mean, (Thomas) Friedman and others are talking about it, appropriate, sort of an apartheid state. They couldn&#8217;t even, I mean, we&#8217;re talking about regime change. For two years, they haven&#8217;t even been able to solve the Hamas question.</blockquote>
Asked about rethinking our military support for Israel. He replied, “It breaks my heart, because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don&#8217;t think you have a choice. But that consideration, I mean to say this is in America&#8217;s interest at a time when affordability crisis levels, where you had an administration literally got elected, saying this is exactly the opposite of what they would ever consider doing. The fact that we are in this now regional war, all these proxies.”
He is a coward and a liar.
The fact of the matter is that blaming the attack on Iran on Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, is a lie. There&#8217;s complete solidarity in Israel from Left to Right on what Israel is doing right now. From Yair Lapid, who is on the Left, to Naftali Bennett, the chief rival to Netanyahu, to Yair Golan on the far, far, far Left, everyone agrees on this.
But when you are a coward, and you&#8217;re afraid of your own party, you have to start lying.
And then there are the actual liars, the people making actual stories up out of nothing. Stories they know aren&#8217;t true, but they push them anyway. The catastrophists aren&#8217;t actually worried about World War III or a long-standing boots on the ground occupation, but try to lie to Americans that they are.
Thus, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), who has had his own shady history with the truth when it comes to his purported military service, said <a href="https://x.com/yashar/status/2028975539214782618">he&#8217;s worried</a> that we&#8217;re going to put boots on the ground.
Does he mean that there might be special operators on the ground? Because if we&#8217;re talking about special operators on the ground, welcome to the real world, where the United States has special operators on the ground all over the world, everywhere from Asia to Africa and the Middle East.
But that&#8217;s not what he was implying. He was implying a gigantic airlift of hundreds of thousands of troops, a gigantic boots on the ground footprint. It&#8217;s a lie. It is untrue.
It&#8217;s astonishing to watch this while he is wearing the American flag/Ukraine flag pin on his lapel.
“I am more fearful than ever after this briefing that we may be putting boots on the ground, and that the troops from the United States may be necessary to accomplish the objectives that the administration seems to have, but I also am no more clear on what the priorities are going to be given this regime going forward,” he <a href="https://x.com/yashar/status/2028975539214782618">hyperventilated</a>.
These are lies. It&#8217;s not true.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), directly from the Native American reservation, from her teepee, says that <a href="https://youtu.be/DxrTqQEZ69s">there is no plan</a>.
And she would know because, after all, she is a military leader and expert.
“I just left a classified briefing on Iran,” she huffed. “And here&#8217;s what I can say: It is so much worse than you thought. The Trump administration has no plan in Iran. This illegal war is based on lies and it was launched without any imminent threat to our nation. Donald Trump still hasn&#8217;t given us a single clear reason for this war, and he seems to have no plan for how to end it either. Like a lot of you, I am really angry. I am angry at what Donald Trump is doing, and I feel grief for those already killed in this unnecessary conflict. And I will keep doing everything I can to fight to end this war.” 
What a liar she is. What an absolute liar. President Trump hasn&#8217;t explained it? What&#8217;s been happening for the past 50 years?
This notion that no one knows why, that what has happened is some mystery out of the blue?
No one believes that.
The idea that there&#8217;s no plan here is horsesh*t. There is a plan here, and the military is laying it out, but the liars are going to lie.
Finally, there are the American haters. There are a lot of people who live in America who truly hate America.
There&#8217;s an easy way to tell who hates America.
If you call America a terrorist organization for killing one of the world&#8217;s most evil dictators, for example, I know you hate America.
If you say that the United States is the worst terror organization in the world, you don&#8217;t like America, period, because that is such an overt lie.
That is such a moral calumny that there can only be one explanation, and it is your deep and abiding hatred for America&#8217;s role in the world.
To make that argument, you have to deliberately obscure the difference between actual terrorists who deliberately seek to kill innocent people and nation states seeking to avoid civilian casualties, often while fighting those actual terrorists.
That is the point for people who hate America: To reduce America to the level of its enemies in order to uphold those enemies. 
You also hate America if you claim that the president of the United States is merely a tool of foreign interests without any evidence whatsoever. You are promoting lies directly mirroring those of the Iranian terrorist government, in direct contravention of truth and of the Trump administration&#8217;s own words.
President Trump was asked directly whether it was Israel that was leading him around. He <a href="https://x.com/realDailyWire/status/2028877941808005217">fired back</a>, “I might have forced their hand. You see, we were having negotiations with these lunatics, and it was my opinion that they were going to attack first. They were going to attack if we didn&#8217;t do it, they were going to attack first. I felt strongly about that. And we had great negotiators, great people, people that do this very successfully and have done it all their lives, very successful. And, based on the way the negotiation was going, I think they were going to attack first.”
Another game that the Coalition of Scavengers is playing here with regard to President Trump is that what he&#8217;s doing right now is wildly unpopular with the American people.
According to CBS News, 85% of Republicans support the president&#8217;s strikes on Iran. 
According to Fox News, 84% of Republicans support the strikes on Iran. 
According to The Washington Post, 81% of Republicans support the strike on Iran. 
According to Reuters/Ipsos, 82% of Republicans support the strikes on Iran.
So, it doesn&#8217;t sound like much of a split inside the Republican Party.
Military households approve of the current action against Iran by a 20-point margin, 60-40. One of the great ironies of all the people on the Left and the horseshoe Right who claim to speak in the name of the military is that they very rarely actually talk to people who are in the military. The military is quite conservative and hawkish when it comes to actual effectuating of American foreign policy.
The lesson of all this?
Be a lion, not a scavenger.

Lions

Cowards, Liars, And The Anti-American Alliance

Ben Shapiro

Conservatives

Democrats

Elizabeth Warren

Gavin Newsom

Leftists

podcasts

Richard Blumenthal

Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-GA) has remained skeptical of the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;Operation Epic Fury,&#8221; despite previously saying he could support the use of military force against Iran.
In a statement over the weekend, the Georgia Democrat said President Donald Trump “has presented no evidence that Iran or its nuclear program – which he falsely claimed to have &#8216;obliterated’ – pose an imminent threat to the United States, or that diplomacy was exhausted.”
“Iran&#8217;s support for terrorism and uranium enrichment have long destabilized the region. But sending American forces into harm&#8217;s way should only ever be a last resort,” he added, warning against what he described as a potential “regime change war-of-choice.”
Ossoff said he plans to back a War Powers Resolution in Congress, expressing frustration that the military operation occurred “without the consent of Congress.&#8221; The Senate is expected to vote on Wednesday on a resolution aimed at limiting further U.S. military action, according to <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/senate-vote-iran-war-powers-resolution-trump/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">CBS News</a>.
However, Ossoff struck a different tone during a 2017 congressional debate, when he said he would support military actions under certain circumstances.
“If Iran poses an imminent threat to Israel, to the United States, to any of our allies, then we should use force to prevent them from striking our allies,” Ossoff said at the time.
<iframe loading="lazy" title="Georgia 6th District Debate on WSB-TV: Jon Ossoff and Karen Handel" width="500" height="281" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5aMlKhn401U?start=3420&#038;feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
“And as we seek to ensure that Iran does not develop a nuclear weapons capability, if economic policy, diplomatic policy, are unsuccessful in dissuading them from developing a nuclear weapon, then we should be prepared to use force if necessary,” he said.
The Daily Wire reached out to Sen. Ossoff&#8217;s office and campaign to clarify what threshold he believes would justify military action and whether his position has changed.
Democrats have largely criticized the operation, though some have voiced support. Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) has defended the strikes.
“Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon. I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that,” Fetterman posted to X on Monday. “Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?”
The debate is likely to spill into the campaign season. Ossoff is up for re-election this November in a race the Cook Political Report ranks as a “toss-up.” He could face Reps. Mike Collins or Buddy Carter, or former football coach Derek Dooley, depending on who wins the Republican primary.
“Jewish Georgians deserve a Senator they can count on to fight the antisemitism rampant in the Democrat Party. But Jon Ossoff says one thing in Georgia and then does another in D.C. — caving to pro-Hamas radicals,” Nick Puglia, National Republican Senatorial Committee Regional Press Secretary, said in a statement.

Jon Ossoff

OSSOFF FLIP-FLOP: Georgia Dem Was For Hitting Iran — Until Trump Did It

Congress

Military

Politics

Senate

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth announced Wednesday that the U.S. Air Force, working in partnership with Israeli forces, would establish total dominance of Iranian airspace within days, allowing for the complete destruction of Iran’s military capabilities. 
“Starting last night, and to be completed in a few days, in under a week, the two most powerful air forces in the world will have complete control of Iranian skies, uncontested airspace,” Hegseth said during a briefing at the Pentagon. “It means we will fly all day, all night, day and night, finding, fixing, and finishing the missiles and defense industrial base of the Iranian military.”
Hegseth added that the Air Force had &#8220;delivered twice the air power” of the 2003 Iraq operation. 
“They are toast, and they know it,” Hegseth said. “And we have only just begun to hunt, dismantle, demoralize, destroy, and defeat their capabilities.”
Hegseth noted that once complete control of the skies was established, the U.S. Air Force would begin dropping 500, 1000, and 2000-pound GPS and laser-guided precision gravity bombs. He said the United States had a “nearly unlimited stockpile” of these bombs. 
“We used more exquisite standoff munitions at the start, but no longer need to. Our stockpiles of those, as well as Patriots, remains extremely strong,” he said. “We can sustain this fight easily for as long as we need to.”
Hegseth’s comments come after reports that some at the Pentagon are concerned about the possibility that the United States could run out of munitions in an extended conflict. 
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Dan Caine gave a more guarded answer on the munitions stockpile. 
“We have sufficient precision munitions for the task at hand, both on the offense and defense,” he said. “As a matter of practice, I don&#8217;t want to be talking about quantities, and I know there&#8217;s been a great debate about that, and I appreciate the interest, but just know that we consider that an operational security matter.”
Caine said the military had so far carried out 2,000 strikes targeting Iran and sunk 20 Iranian ships. He also said that ballistic missile shots fired by Iran have declined by 86% from the first day of fighting, and drone attacks have dropped 76%. Caine also noted that local air superiority had been established in some spots.

Secretary Hegseth And Chairman Caine Hold Pentagon Press Briefing On Iran Strikes

Hegseth’s ‘Hunt, Dismantle, Demoralize, Destroy’ Vow As U.S. Closes In On Iranian Air Space

Air Force

Dan Caine

Pete Hegseth

U.S. Military

In a vicious attack on President Donald Trump, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and the U.S.-Israel relationship, California Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom called for rethinking the American support for Israel, vilified Israel as an apartheid state, and ripped into Trump.
Speaking with former Obama spokesman Tommy Vietor during an event to promote his autobiography, “Young Man in a Hurry,” Newsom was asked whether Democrats should reconsider U.S. military aid to Israel in light of Netanyahu&#8217;s leadership.
“Well, he&#8217;s making that easy right now,” Newsom began, as he started maligning Netanyahu. “The issue of Bibi is interesting. Because he&#8217;s got his own domestic issues. He&#8217;s trying to stay out of jail. He&#8217;s got an election coming up. He&#8217;s potentially on the ropes. He&#8217;s got folks, the hard line, that want to annex the West Bank.”
Newsom then quoted the infamously anti-Netanyahu New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman to traduce Israel with the leftist false claim of Israel moving toward &#8220;an apartheid state,&#8221; adding, &#8220;For two years, they haven&#8217;t even been able to solve the Hamas question in Israel.”
He turned to implying that Trump attacked Iran because of Israel.
“In so many ways, that influence in the context of the conversation of where Trump ultimately landed on this is pretty damn self-evident,&#8221; said Newsom. &#8220;When you bring two aircraft carriers out there and you assemble the kind of military force that Trump did over the last few weeks, it didn&#8217;t surprise me ultimately that they moved that direction.”
The governor was asked, “Do you think, looking down the road, that the United States should consider, maybe, you know, rethinking our military support for Israel?”
Newsom then offered his crocodile tears: “It breaks my heart because the current leadership in Israel is walking us down that path where I don&#8217;t think you have a choice but that consideration.&#8221;
He also referenced what he characterized as &#8220;the grift and the corruption&#8221; connected to broader regional dynamics, naming members of the Trump family, including the president&#8217;s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
“The fact that we are in this now, a regional war. All these proxies and all the grift and the corruption that also marks a huge part of this,” he said. “And that&#8217;s a real conversation we need to have, this Board of Peace. In the piece that the Witkoff family is getting, in the piece that Kushner is getting, in the peace that Trump Jr. is getting.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
NEW 
Tonight, at a book event in Los Angeles, Governor Gavin Newsom said that the United States is being pushed by Israel into a position where it may have to reconsider military support.
Newsom said that those who say Israel is an apartheid state are doing so “appropriately.”… <a href="https://t.co/6UUBEH7hYD">pic.twitter.com/6UUBEH7hYD</a>
&mdash; Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) <a href="https://twitter.com/yashar/status/2029104738818789739?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Governor Newsom blasts Trump over strikes on Iran

‘APARTHEID STATE’: Newsom Trashes Israel, Vilifies Netanyahu, Claims Trump Strikes Driven By ‘Grift’

Apartheid

Benjamin Netanyahu

“We’ve known for a long time that Iran had intentions to kill President Trump.”
Those intentions have now been crushed.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth delivered that blunt confirmation when asked about Operation Epic Fury, the joint United States–Israel campaign that ultimately eliminated an Iranian operative tied to a plot to assassinate Donald Trump when he was a presidential candidate.
During a Pentagon briefing, Mary Margaret Olohan, White House correspondent for The Daily Wire, asked Hegseth whether the operation had taken out the individual connected to the assassination effort targeting Trump.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
🚨<a href="https://twitter.com/SecWar?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@SecWar</a> tells <a href="https://twitter.com/MaryMargOlohan?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MaryMargOlohan</a> that he and others made sure that the Iranians who attempted to assassinate President Trump eventually became part of the Operation Epic Fury target list:
&#8220;It wasn&#8217;t the beginning of the effort..but ultimately if we had the opportunity to get at… <a href="https://t.co/zfuOTctHhz">pic.twitter.com/zfuOTctHhz</a>
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) <a href="https://twitter.com/realDailyWire/status/2029191755434746229?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2026</a></blockquote>
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During a Pentagon press briefing early Wednesday morning, Hegseth explained the mission initially focused on Iranian missile systems and launch capabilities but said those responsible for threats against the United States were ultimately added to the target list.
“We&#8217;ve known for a long time that Iran had intentions to kill President Trump, while that wasn&#8217;t the focus of the effort by any stretch of the imagination, never was raised by the president or anybody else,” Hegseth said. “I ensured, and others ensured that they were eventually part of the target list.”
“It wasn&#8217;t the beginning of the effort — we were focused on missiles and launchers,” he continued. “Ultimately, if we had the opportunity to get at those who were trying to get at America, we would. We eventually had the opportunity to do that from the air.”
The Iranian operative believed to have been eliminated was Rahman Mokadam, identified as the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps’ Special Operations Division and the alleged architect behind a sophisticated Iranian plot to assassinate Trump ahead of the 2024 presidential election.
Mokadam’s division had long drawn international scrutiny for overseeing unconventional warfare operations and extraterritorial “murder-for-hire” schemes.
Details of the Trump plot surfaced in November 2024 when the United States Department of Justice unsealed criminal charges against Farhad Shakeri, an IRGC asset. According to federal investigators, Shakeri — an Afghan national deported from the United States in 2008 — was directed in September 2024 to surveil and ultimately assassinate then-candidate Trump.
Court documents allege that IRGC officials were willing to commit massive financial resources to the operation, with one official telling Shakeri that “money’s not an issue.” Prosecutors say the plotters initially sought a plan within seven days. When Shakeri indicated the timeline was unrealistic, investigators say the IRGC instructed him to delay the effort until after the election, believing Trump would lose and be more vulnerable as a private citizen.
“Shakeri has informed law enforcement that he was tasked on Oct. 7, 2024, with providing a plan to kill President-elect Donald J. Trump,” the DOJ said in court filings.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung said Trump had been made aware of the assassination plot, adding, “Nothing will deter President Trump from returning to the White House and restoring peace around the world.”
The assassination scheme was not limited to Trump. Shakeri and two associates, Carlisle Rivera and Jonathon Loadholt, arrested in New York, were also charged with targeting outspoken Iranian-American journalist Masih Alinejad in Brooklyn.
Alinejad wrote on X, “I am shocked. The person assigned to assassinate @realDonaldTrump was also assigned to kill me on U.S. soil. I came to America to practice my First Amendment right to freedom of speech — I don&#8217;t want to die. Thank you to law enforcement for protecting me.”

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Iran Regime Member Tied To Plot To Kill Trump Eliminated In ‘Operation Epic Fury’

assasination

The latest video from United States Central Command (CENTCOM) shows a montage of missile launches, displaying the &#8220;unrelenting overwhelming firepower&#8221; unleashed by American naval destroyers since the beginning of Operation Epic Fury over the weekend.
The United States — in conjunction with Israel — began a full-scale military operation against the Iranian regime on Saturday, and CENTCOM&#8217;s video gave a brief picture of the sheer force being exerted by American military assets abroad.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are delivering unrelenting, overwhelming firepower from regional waters. DAY and NIGHT. <a href="https://t.co/3YTiFkFc1V">pic.twitter.com/3YTiFkFc1V</a>
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/2028875984519205384?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;U.S. Navy guided-missile destroyers are delivering unrelenting, overwhelming firepower from regional waters. DAY and NIGHT,&#8221; the caption reads. The video clocks in at just 51 seconds long, and delivers nine consecutive missile launches from U.S. Navy destroyers.
Since Operation Epic Fury launched on Saturday, CENTCOM has been keeping the world apprised of its actions via a series of videos posted to X. Just an hour prior to the video showing the missile launches, CENTCOM shared another video showing American weapons taking out Iranian mobile missile launchers.
&#8220;U.S. forces are hunting these threats down and without apology or hesitation, we are taking them out,&#8221; the caption read, in part.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
The Iranian regime is using mobile launchers to indiscriminately fire missiles in an attempt to inflict maximum harm across the region. U.S. forces are hunting these threats down and without apology or hesitation, we are taking them out. <a href="https://t.co/gv1SfKCrk4">pic.twitter.com/gv1SfKCrk4</a>
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/2028825605114904776?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 3, 2026</a></blockquote>
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Another video <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/watch-u-s-blows-iranian-warship-out-of-the-water-erases-regime-fleet">shared on Monday</a> showed United States military assets taking out Iranian ships in the Gulf of Oman — where traditionally, Iranian naval vessels would harass any ships attempting to use the international shipping lanes — and declared a quick and decisive end to Iran&#8217;s days of controlling the Gulf.
&#8220;Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO. The Iranian regime has harassed and attacked international shipping in the Gulf of Oman for decades. Those days are over,&#8221; CENTCOM declared.
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Two days ago, the Iranian regime had 11 ships in the Gulf of Oman, today they have ZERO. The Iranian regime has harassed and attacked international shipping in the Gulf of Oman for decades. Those days are over. Freedom of maritime navigation has underpinned American and global… <a href="https://t.co/nzdkMVMqZC">pic.twitter.com/nzdkMVMqZC</a>
— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM) <a href="https://twitter.com/CENTCOM/status/2028553001644736808?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
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U.S. Navy missile launch

U.S. Military Drops New Iran Strike Video — And The BOOM Looks Bigger Than Ever

Iran Airstrike

World

As the conflict in the Middle East continues, social media platform X announced on Tuesday that it will suspend users from collecting ad revenue if they post &#8220;videos of armed conflict&#8221; generated by artificial intelligence without disclosing that the video is not authentic.
Nikita Bier, the head of product at the Elon Musk-owned social media platform, said X is changing its policies to crack down on users making money through X&#8217;s revenue sharing program by misleading the public during a time of war. Beginning on Tuesday, users who post AI-generated content depicting war without a disclosure will not be able to make money on their posts for 90 days, and a second violation would result in a permanent ban from the program.
&#8220;During times of war, it is critical that people have access to authentic information on the ground. With today’s AI technologies, it is trivial to create content that can mislead people,&#8221; Bier <a href="https://x.com/nikitabier/status/2028873177028555201">said</a>.
Bier said that X will rely on its public fact-checking system known as Community Notes and a post&#8217;s metadata to flag whether a video is AI-generated. X&#8217;s move does not prohibit users from posting AI-generated videos depicting war. Bier explained that if content creators want to post an AI-generated video, they should add a &#8220;Made with AI&#8221; label that X provides in its options before someone posts.
The social media company&#8217;s move was widely praised by X users who argue that the explosion of AI-generated content in recent months risks misinforming the public when major events, such as the conflict in the Middle East, take place.
Since the conflict began over the weekend, pro-Iran accounts have posted AI-generated content <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0626cqjLOSI">claiming</a> to show the USS Abraham Lincoln getting destroyed by Iranian missiles.
U.S. Central Command <a href="https://x.com/CENTCOM/status/2028124242273767557">responded</a> on Sunday to false claims that the USS Abraham Lincoln was hit by Iranian missiles.
&#8220;Iran’s IRGC claims to have struck USS Abraham Lincoln with ballistic missiles. LIE,&#8221; CENTCOM stated. &#8220;The Lincoln was not hit. The missiles launched didn’t even come close. The Lincoln continues to launch aircraft in support of CENTCOM’s relentless campaign to defend the American people by eliminating threats from the Iranian regime.&#8221;
Other pro-Iran accounts have also posted dated or manipulated footage that have exaggerated the damage caused by missiles the regime fired at Israel in recent days. At least one AI-generated <a href="https://x.com/ShaykhSulaiman/status/2028822299827151035">video</a> falsely claiming to show rockets raining down on Tel Aviv spread on X on Tuesday. As of publication, the video had not been labeled as AI by Community Notes, despite numerous users pointing out the clear signs that the video was fake, such as the identical designs of the roofs of all the buildings seen in the video.
X&#8217;s revenue sharing program allows users to collect some of the ad revenue generated from their posts if they get enough engagement. As AI tools improve, however, some users are making money off of AI-generated videos that appear to show breaking news events or global conflicts.
The U.S.-Iran conflict is not the first time AI-generated videos have duped social media users. Throughout the Ukraine-Russia war, fake videos have popped up on social media. Most recently, AI-generated videos depicted Ukrainian soldiers surrendering on the front lines.

X Will Suspend Users Who Post AI-Generated Videos Of War Without Disclosure

Artificial Intelligence

Big Tech

Social Media

The following is an edited transcript excerpt from <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1922-reasons-for-the-war-in-iran-explained-in-5-minutes">The Michael Knowles Show</a>.
* * *
Many people are debating the war with Iran from an ideological perspective.
You’re an interventionist. 
You’re an isolationist. 
You’re America First. 
You’re a war-monger. 
You’re a peacenik.
And right now, these ideological camps are screaming past each other. The isolationists say we should never get involved in foreign wars under any circumstances. The war hawks say America must confront evil regimes wherever they arise. But neither position settles the matter here.
That’s not what this is about.
The two questions, which most of us outside the government simply do not have answers to, are:
First: Was the threat posed by Iran really that great? 
Second: Can we effectively and efficiently install a friendly regime in Iran?
Those are the two questions. Everything else is noise.
If the threat from Iran was high and we believe we can easily install a pro-Western regime, then obviously, this was an awesome move and Donald Trump will go down as one of the greatest presidents in American history. Replacing this regime in Iran has been a high American priority since 1979.
If, on the other hand, the threat was exaggerated and America gets bogged down in an endless war, Trump will have destroyed his legacy and he will go down in much the same way as George W. Bush. That is a serious risk he is taking based on his confidence in the United States military and his confidence in his own statesmanship.
But even that isn’t enough.
The second question is just as important: Can we pull this off?
Can the United States remove the top of the Iranian regime and replace it with something stable, manageable, and at least not actively hostile? Can this be done efficiently, without becoming another Iraq? Without morphing into an endless occupation, a decades-long counterinsurgency, or a regional quagmire?
If the answer to both questions is yes — if the threat was high and the operation can be executed cleanly — then this could go down as one of the boldest and most successful foreign policy moves of our lifetimes. But if the threat was overstated, and if we get bogged down in an endless war, then President Trump will have risked everything. He will have tarnished the very legacy he built running against the Bush-era regime change disasters. That&#8217;s the gamble.
Notice what this debate is not about. It is not about whether America should ever intervene. It is not about spreading democracy to every corner of the globe. It is not about grand ideological crusades. It is about risk assessment.
And President Trump is a risk-taker.
When he says “no more stupid wars,” many people heard “no more wars.” But the emphasis was never on “wars.” It was on “stupid.” When he said “no more endless wars,” the emphasis was on “endless.”
<h3><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ep-1922-reasons-for-the-war-in-iran-explained-in-5-minutes">WATCH: The Michael Knowles Show on DailyWire+</a></h3>
This is not being pitched as Iraq 2.0. It is being pitched as a decisive, overwhelming, time-limited force.
The early days have been extremely successful. Military leadership decapitated. Key targets neutralized. A regime that has openly threatened American interests for decades suddenly thrown off balance.
But early success does not guarantee long-term success. A billion things could go wrong.
It can still spiral out of control. Internal Iranian power struggles could produce chaos rather than stability. Intelligence assessments could prove flawed. The costs could still grow and the timeline could stretch.
The president reportedly believes this will be a four- or five-week operation. Those are famous last words in American foreign policy. Every modern war has begun with confident timelines.
So, we are left with the two questions:
How real was the threat?
How feasible is the outcome?
If Iran’s regime truly posed a grave, escalating danger — and if the United States can remove and replace that regime without creating a vacuum — then this operation may reshape the Middle East in America’s favor. It could reset a declining geopolitical trajectory and reassert American strength.
If not, then this will look less like strategic genius and more like overreach.
The ideological shouting will continue. But the serious debate is narrower and more sober. It is not about whether one is a hawk or a dove. It is about whether this specific intervention meets the threshold of necessity and feasibility.
That is the test.

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