Sure you were, Tehran. Sure you were.

Trump called Iran’s president “much less Radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors,” and the mullahs absolutely lost their minds over it. Whether Trump talked to Pezeshkian directly, sent a back-channel message, or just posted it to watch Iran spiral — it worked. Iran’s entire diplomatic apparatus spent the next 48 hours tripping over itself to deny everything. (Totally normal behavior from a country that definitely didn’t beg for mercy.)

Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi puffed out his chest and warned America against a ground invasion by saying “we are waiting for them.” Buddy, the United States has been running 12,000 combat flights over your country and turned 1,900 of your people into dust in roughly a month. Nobody’s scared of your tough-guy routine.

The IRGC jumped in to announce that the Strait of Hormuz remains “decisively and dominantly under the control of the IRGC Navy.” That’s adorable. You know what else is parked in the Strait right now? Three American aircraft carriers — the Gerald Ford, the Abraham Lincoln, AND the George H.W. Bush. That’s not a naval deployment. That’s a parking lot. Iran is staring down more firepower than most countries will ever see in their existence, and they’re STILL pretending they’re fine.

Meanwhile, two Pakistani security sources told Reuters that Pakistan — apparently playing matchmaker in this mess — proposed a temporary ceasefire but hasn’t heard back from either side. Vice President Vance has reportedly been talking to Pakistani intermediaries about a deal. So the Iranians are publicly screaming that nobody is negotiating while privately hoping somebody picks up the phone. The oldest trick in the dictator playbook.

Trump went on primetime television that same evening and told America flat-out: “We are on track to complete all of America’s military objectives shortly, very shortly.” Then he promised to hit Iran “extremely hard over the next two to three weeks” and send them “back to the Stone Ages where they belong.” That’s not diplomacy — that’s a promise. And Trump has a habit of keeping those, which is exactly why the mullahs can’t sleep at night.

Now here’s the part that should make your blood boil. Brent crude shot up 5% to $106 a barrel. Gas prices blew past $4 a gallon for the first time since 2022. The Strait of Hormuz — where one-fifth of the world’s oil flows through — remains effectively shut down. Every single American filling up their tank this week is paying for Iran’s stubbornness out of their own pocket.

YOUR grocery bill is climbing because these lunatics in Tehran won’t surrender like they should.

This is exactly why Trump wanted energy independence in the first place. We spent four years under this man building pipelines, drilling on federal land, and turning America into the world’s top energy producer. Then Democrats blew it all up the SECOND Biden shuffled into the Oval Office. Killed Keystone XL on day one. Banned new drilling leases. Declared war on natural gas. If we still had the energy infrastructure Trump built during his first term, Iran could blockade every waterway on the planet and we wouldn’t feel a thing. But no — Democrats had to save the polar bears or appease their green lobby donors, and now the rest of us are paying six bucks for a gallon of milk because of it. That’s the Democrat energy agenda in action, folks.

Iran’s five-point counterproposal demands they keep sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz. America’s 15-point plan demands they reopen it and dismantle their nuclear program. One of these is a serious proposal from a superpower. The other is a wishlist scribbled on a napkin by a regime whose supreme leader is hiding in a bunker because the last one got vaporized in an airstrike. Araghchi says there are no negotiations happening. That’s fine, Abbas. We have three carrier strike groups that negotiate beautifully.

Pezeshkian even published an open letter trolling Trump, asking whether “America First” is “truly among the priorities of the U.S. government today.” Rich stuff coming from a figurehead president whose actual boss is cowering underground somewhere. Pezeshkian doesn’t run anything in Iran — Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei does, assuming he’s still breathing. Iran’s “president” has about as much real authority as a Walmart greeter. At least the Walmart greeter gets to make his own bathroom breaks.

Thirteen American service members have died in this conflict. Thirteen families that will never be whole again, and every one of those deaths lands squarely on Iran’s head. Over 1,900 Iranians are dead. More than 1,300 Lebanese civilians killed and a million displaced — all because Iran won’t stop funding terrorist proxies across the Middle East. This is what happens when a terrorist regime plays chicken with the United States of America under a president who actually means what he says.

So no, Iran never asked for a ceasefire. According to Iran. And we should definitely trust the word of a government that’s been lying to the international community about its nuclear program for twenty straight years. Trump knows exactly what he’s doing — squeeze them publicly while the military squeezes them privately, and sooner or later, Tehran cracks.

My money’s on sooner. Even mullahs can read a map with three carrier strike groups on it.

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