CNN
3h ·
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says officials held talks with the United States, with the island facing an economic crisis and intense pressure from Donald Trump. https://cnn.it/3PfTlUD
MASTERBAKER All things Politics thread
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Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel says officials held talks with the United States, with the island facing an economic crisis and intense pressure from Donald Trump. https://cnn.it/3PfTlUD
Steven M Jackson
Take notice of his shirt
!!! He’s not dressed up in fatigues ? This will be easy resolution at the negotiating table. It’s a wrap
Take notice of his shirt
BREAKING: How Commando Raid Could SEIZE Iran's Prized Nuclear Stockpile | TBN Israel
MeidasTouch
10m ·TRUMP HINTS AT U.S. SURRENDER?! Trump just posted what reads less like a victory lap—and more like a quiet admission of retreat.
In a lengthy statement, Trump claims the U.S. is “very close to meeting our objectives” in Iran and begins outlining a wind-down of military operations. But read between the lines: after days of escalating conflict, global instability, and conflicting messaging from his own administration, this sounds a lot like an attempt to declare victory and exit.
He lays out sweeping goals—destroying Iran’s military capabilities, eliminating its forces, and preventing nuclear development—while simultaneously signaling that other nations will now take over securing the Strait of Hormuz. In other words, the U.S. steps back.
After launching strikes, denying involvement, and facing backlash at home and abroad, Trump now appears to be searching for an off-ramp.
Calling it “mission accomplished” doesn’t change the reality on the ground.
Shawn Ryan Show ·
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March 21 at 2:01 PM ·“They sent him a zoomed-in, scaled map of a facility that was in the middle of the desert. What the U.S. said was that there was some type of air purification system on the roof, a truck with a missile on it, and a sentry outside the building. What his team came up with was that the air purification system was an air conditioning unit, the truck was a water truck refueling the system, and the sentry was just a guy taking a piss on the side of the building. They got this information back, they totally discarded it, and presented the previous version. The point being, we went to war for weapons of mass destruction that were never there.”
MeidasTouch
1h ·
BREAKING: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is now threatening to target 18 major U.S. companies in the region—including Apple, Microsoft, Google, Tesla, Nvidia, and Boeing—if the U.S. continues what it calls “targeted assassinations” of Iranian leaders, with the warning set to take effect April 1.
The list spans some of the most critical pillars of the U.S. economy: Big Tech, defense contractors, and even financial institutions like J.P. Morgan. This marks another major escalation, shifting from direct military confrontation to potential economic and cyber warfare targeting American corporations and infrastructure.
This is a signal that the conflict is expanding beyond the battlefield and into global markets, supply chains, and everyday technology Americans rely on.
The full list of 18 US technology companies that Iran is threatening to target is below:
1. Cisco
2. HP
3. Intel
4. Oracle
5. Microsoft
6. Apple
7. Google
8. Meta
9. IBM
10. Dell
11. Palantir
12. Nvidia
13. J.P. Morgan
14. Tesla
15. General Electric
16. Spire Solutions
17. G42
18. Boeing
Rockaway Primetime Reporting
This is horrible. Are we going to nuke them? BREAKING: Trump says 'we're blowing up the whole country' if no Iran deal in 48 hours
President Donald Trump said Sunday that if no peace deal is reached with Iran in the next 48 hours, "we're blowing up the entire country."
The president made the threat Sunday to ABC News' senior political correspondent Rachel Scott in response to a question regarding whether his previously stated timeline of two to three weeks for a deal was still accurate.
Concerns have been raised about targeting civilian infrastructure in Iran and the consequences that could bring.
"It should be days, not weeks," Trump said, adding that Iran "has been decimated, decimated. And every day is going to get worse."
"Every day they're gonna have to build more bridges, and they're gonna have to build more power plants and more everything else," the president said. "There's been no country that's ever taken a pounding like that."
Trump said Iran had 48 hours to agree to a deal to open the Strait of Hormuz or make peace.
"If it happens, it happens. And if it doesn't, we're blowing up the whole country. We're blowing up, as I said, it's going to be bridge day and it's going to be power plant day in the country of Iran."
The president was apparently referring to an ultimatum he posted Sunday on his social media platform for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz.
Having already extended his deadline to open the strait twice, Trump warned the Iranian government that if it doesn't fully open the critical maritime passageway for oil and trade by Tuesday, "you'll be living in Hell."
"Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!!" Trump wrote in the profanity-laced post. He warned Tehran that if it fails to open the strait, "you’ll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH!"
On March 26, Trump extended an ultimatum a second time in the same week for Iran to completely open the Strait of Hormuz to international shipping traffic, saying peace talks "are going very well." In the post, Trump said that upon a request from the Iranian government, he was "pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 days."
Trump extended the deadline for Iran to comply to Tuesday at 8 p.m. ET.
Fox News reported Sunday that Trump said in a telephone interview that he thinks a deal with Iran will come by Monday, and that if Iran fails to make a deal, he is "considering blowing everything up and taking over the oil."
But in his phone interview later Sunday with ABC News' Rachel Scott, Trump pushed back on that characterization, saying "there could be a deal, and there could also not be a deal. I don't know. I have no idea what these people, they're getting the s--- beat out of them, and that's, that's all I can tell you. There's been no country that's ever taken a pounding like that."
The president also said "very little" will be off limits if no deal is made.
Mohammad-Bagher Ghalibaf, the speaker of the Iranian parliament, responded to Trump’s threats in a post on X.
“Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands,” Ghalibaf wrote.
“Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes. The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game," the post further said.
The U.S. has sent Iran a 15-point proposal for ending the conflict. The negotiations are being mediated by the Pakistani government.
On March 25, Iran's English-language state media, Press TV, quoted an Iranian official saying Iran has rejected the proposal after regime officials denied negotiations were happening. In a separate interview on the same day, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on state TV that "Iran's power is the Hormuz Strait."
"I also want to say here that, from our point of view, the Hormuz Strait is not completely closed; it is closed only to our natural enemies," Araghchi said after Iran's Ministry of Foreign Affairs claimed in a March 22 letter to the U.N.'s International Maritime Organization that the Strait of Hormuz is open to "non-hostile" vessels.
In the letter, the Iranians define "non-hostile" ships as those from countries that "neither participate nor support acts of aggression against Iran" posed by the United States and Israel.
"We are in a wartime situation; the region is a war zone," Araghchi said. "There is no reason to allow the ships of our enemies and their allies to pass, but it is free for the rest."
In a social media post on Saturday, Araghchi said, "We are deeply grateful to Pakistan for its efforts and have never refused to go to Islamabad. What we care about are the terms of a conclusive and lasting END to the illegal war that is imposed on us."
UN says 20,000 seafarers stranded due to Strait of Hormuz closure, despite Iran claiming it's open
During a March 26 cabinet meeting, Trump claimed that Iran is "begging to make a deal" to end the conflict.
Trump said at the cabinet meeting that Iran had made good on a promise to allow 10 oil tankers operating under the flag of Pakistan to pass through the strait as a "present." He said the gesture communicated to him "that we're dealing with the right people" in the peace negotiations.
While Iran has allowed other ships from countries it says are friendly to Iran to pass through the strait, it has attacked ships from countries it considers hostile.
Why are your gas prices rising if the US barely imports any oil from the Strait of Hormuz?
The Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Iran's military wing, said on Saturday that it hit an Israeli-linked container ship, the MSC Ishyka, with a drone near the Strait of Hormuz. Neither Israel nor the U.S. has yet publicly confirmed the attack.
In an address to the nation on Wednesday night, Trump declared that Iran is no longer a threat to the U.S. and the war in Iran is "nearing completion." In the speech, the president promised to hit Iran "extremely hard" over the next two to three weeks.
"We're going to bring them back to the stone ages where they belong," Trump said.
In response, Araghchi issued a social media post on Thursday, saying, "There's one striking difference between the present and the Stone Age: there was no oil or gas being pumped in the Middle East back then."
Araghchi added, "Are POTUS and Americans who put him in office sure that they want to turn back the clock?"
Politics
Ryan King
Published April 12, 2026, 2:40 p.m. ET
388 Comments
WASHINGTON — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel revealed that his island nation is bracing for an attack from the US and declared that he is willing to die resisting President Trump.
Since last December, the US has imposed a blockade around Venezuela as part of its Operation Southern Spear effort, and used that to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, which has since plunged further into an energy crisis.
“I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the US to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of a president,” Díaz-Canel told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, per a translation.
President Trump has mounted an aggressive pressure campaign against Cuba.AFP via Getty Images
“If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘dying for the homeland is to live.’”
The Trump administration has privately signaled to Cuba’s communist government that Díaz-Canel must go, the New York Times reported.
“I have no fear. I am willing to give my life for the revolution,” he claimed. “I wouldn’t like that to be the attitude of the US government.”
Cuba has endured an increase in blackouts in recent weeks as concerns flare that its food supplies are running dangerously low. Experts have noted that many of those issues predated the blockade, but have acknowledged that it has gotten worse since the US cut off crude exports to Cuba.
“We have the accumulated effects of the blockades, plus the effect of the tightening of the blockade, and now the effects are caused by this energy blockade. And I can say this responsibly to you, this is not the fault of the Cuban government,” Díaz-Canel said.
Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel declared that he’s willing to die fighting for his country if the US attacks Cuba.AFP via Getty Images
“We conduct very self-critical analysis and assessments of our reality, and we’re trying to constantly transform and change what we do in order to improve what we do.”
Díaz-Canel called the prospect of cutting a deal with the US “very difficult” and pointed to the strikes against Iran during negotiations over its nuclear program as evidence that America can’t be trusted.
The US has demanded that Cuba release its political prisoners, allow multi-party elections and permit a free press.
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The Cuban leader denied receiving those demands and emphasized that fundamental reforms to his country’s government “are not under negotiations.”
Cuba has faced widespread protests and riots due to the growing energy and food crisis, prompting a brutal crackdown from its repressive government.
Cuba president talks tough about Trump as nation braces for US attack: ‘If we need to die, we’ll die’
ByRyan King
Published April 12, 2026, 2:40 p.m. ET
388 Comments
WASHINGTON — Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel revealed that his island nation is bracing for an attack from the US and declared that he is willing to die resisting President Trump.
Since last December, the US has imposed a blockade around Venezuela as part of its Operation Southern Spear effort, and used that to cut off oil supplies to Cuba, which has since plunged further into an energy crisis.
“I don’t think there would be any justification for the United States to launch a military aggression against Cuba, or for the US to undertake a surgical operation or the kidnapping of a president,” Díaz-Canel told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday, per a translation.
“If that happens, there will be fighting, and there will be a struggle, and we will defend ourselves, and if we need to die, we’ll die, because as our national anthem says, ‘dying for the homeland is to live.’”
The Trump administration has privately signaled to Cuba’s communist government that Díaz-Canel must go, the New York Times reported.
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Díaz-Canel, the first pol outside the Castro family to lead the island nation since the Cuban Revolution, has refused to step aside.“I have no fear. I am willing to give my life for the revolution,” he claimed. “I wouldn’t like that to be the attitude of the US government.”
Cuba has endured an increase in blackouts in recent weeks as concerns flare that its food supplies are running dangerously low. Experts have noted that many of those issues predated the blockade, but have acknowledged that it has gotten worse since the US cut off crude exports to Cuba.
“We have the accumulated effects of the blockades, plus the effect of the tightening of the blockade, and now the effects are caused by this energy blockade. And I can say this responsibly to you, this is not the fault of the Cuban government,” Díaz-Canel said.
“We conduct very self-critical analysis and assessments of our reality, and we’re trying to constantly transform and change what we do in order to improve what we do.”
Díaz-Canel called the prospect of cutting a deal with the US “very difficult” and pointed to the strikes against Iran during negotiations over its nuclear program as evidence that America can’t be trusted.
The US has demanded that Cuba release its political prisoners, allow multi-party elections and permit a free press.
388
What do you think? Post a comment.
The Cuban leader denied receiving those demands and emphasized that fundamental reforms to his country’s government “are not under negotiations.”
Cuba has faced widespread protests and riots due to the growing energy and food crisis, prompting a brutal crackdown from its repressive government.
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