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President Donald Trump publicly thanked what he called Pakistan’s "great prime minister and field marshal, two fantastic people!!!" in a Truth Social post Friday praising Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Pakistan’s military chief, Asim Munir.

Sharif quickly responded on X, "On behalf of the people of Pakistan, Field Marshal Syed Asim Munir, and on my behalf, I express my deep and profound appreciation for your kind and gracious words."

The public exchange capped a remarkable rise for Munir, who has become one of the few foreign officials trusted both by Trump and by Iran’s security establishment.

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Munir recently became the first foreign military leader to visit Iran since the latest escalation between the United States and Iran, according to Pakistani and Iranian reports. Arriving in full military uniform, he was warmly greeted by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and held meetings with senior Iranian military officials.

Retired Pakistani Gen. Ahmed Saeed told Fox News Digital that Munir has for months served as an informal back channel between Washington and Tehran, Iran, as the Trump administration tries to negotiate an end to the conflict, Iran’s nuclear program and the naval blockade in the Persian Gulf.

Few foreign figures appear to have closer ties both to Trump and to Iran’s military hierarchy.

That has raised a striking question: How did the same man become close both to Trump and to some of Iran’s most powerful commanders?

Saeed, who said he has known Munir personally for years, told Fox News Digital that Munir began building ties with Iran while serving as Pakistan’s director general of military intelligence in 2016 and 2017.

"He has been interacting with the leadership. He has been interacting with the intelligence community. He has been interacting with the IRGC," or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Saeed said.

According to Saeed, Munir built ties not only with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps but also with Iran’s regular army and intelligence apparatus. Saeed said Munir had longstanding contact with former Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force commander Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in a U.S. strike in 2020, commander Hossein Salami, who was killed in an Israeli strike in June 2025, and other Iranian military figures.

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"He continues to be a figure internationally who has personal interactions, a personal equation in the intelligence community in Iran, in the military hierarchy in Iran, in the diplomatic corps of Iran and also on the side of the political leadership," Saeed said.

That longstanding relationship appears to explain why Iran welcomed him so warmly, even as he remains in direct contact with Trump and his team.

Foundation for Defense of Democracies' Bill Roggio told Fox News Digital that, "Trump should not trust the Pakistanis. Pakistan was a perfidious ‘ally’ in Afghanistan, backing the Taliban while pretending to be our friends. Munir’s ties to the IRGC should be a massive red flag for the Trump admin."

Munir’s relationship with Trump dates back to the India–Pakistan crisis of May 2025. Munir played a key role in helping de-escalate the confrontation, and afterward Pakistan formally nominated Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, a move widely viewed by Pakistani analysts as encouraged by Munir.

Since then, Trump repeatedly has praised him. Trump has called Munir an "exceptional man," a "great fighter" and "my favorite field marshal." 

Pakistani officials and media reports say the two men now speak directly.

Pakistani analyst Raza Rumi told Fox News Digital that Munir’s appeal to Trump is not surprising.

"Trump has long shown a preference for strong, decisive leaders," Rumi said. "Munir fits that mold as a centralized authority figure who can deliver outcomes."

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Rumi described Munir as "a disciplined, institution-first leader with a strong emphasis on order, hierarchy and strategic clarity."

"Unlike more publicly charismatic military figures, his style is relatively understated, shaped by intelligence work and operational experience rather than overt political signaling," Rumi said.

Munir’s background helps explain both his style and his influence.

Munir studied at the Fuji School in Japan, the Command and Staff College in Quetta, the Malaysian Armed Forces College in Kuala Lumpur, and Pakistan’s National Defence University, where he earned an master of philosophy degree n public policy and strategic security management, according to Pakistan’s Geo News. Munir was the first army chief in Pakistan to receive the Sword of Honour, the military’s highest distinction for a cadet. The outlet also described him as an avid reader, traveler and sportsman.

Munir is also a Hafiz-e-Quran, meaning he has memorized the entire Quran by heart.

A former head of both Pakistan’s Military Intelligence and Inter-Services Intelligence agencies, Munir spent years overseeing Pakistan’s most sensitive regional relationships, including with Iran, Afghanistan and India.

TRUMP AGREES TO 2-WEEK CEASEFIRE IF IRAN OPENS STRAIT OF HORMUZ

In 2025, after the India-Pakistan crisis, he was elevated to field marshal, the first Pakistani officer to hold the rank since former military ruler Ayub Khan.

Pakistani officials say that later that year, he also was given the newly created title of chief of defense forces, further cementing his authority above the country’s military branches.

Munir rarely gives interviews, but his speeches offer clues to his worldview.

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At the Margalla Dialogue in Islamabad in November 2024, he warned that "absence of proper regulations for freedom of expression is leading to the deterioration of moral values in societies worldwide."

The remark reflected a broader emphasis on order, discipline and centralized authority.

Rumi said Munir operates from "a transactional, state-centric worldview rather than an ideological one."

Yet critics argue that his rise has come at a cost to Pakistan’s democracy.

After becoming army chief in 2022, Munir focused heavily on domestic politics, including what critics described as a crackdown on political opposition and an unprecedented concentration of military power, according to The Guardian, which reported that key negotiations with the United States and Iran have been coordinated not from Islamabad, Pakistan’s civilian capital, but from Rawalpindi, the headquarters of the military.

Critics say that reflects a broader reality: Pakistan’s foreign policy is increasingly being run by the army rather than the elected government.

Rumi said Munir’s rise reflects "the military increasingly eclipsing civilian leadership in Pakistan."

As the current negotiations continue, much appears to rest on Munir. Saeed said that is because Munir has spent years building trust on both sides and is unlikely to stop now.

"Knowing our field marshal, and from my own personal knowledge of him, he is relentless. He would not give up," Saeed said.

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A former lead hostage negotiator under the first Trump and Biden administrations warned that the Iranians are tougher negotiators than the Russians, Chinese and even the Taliban, noting that several Americans are still wrongfully detained in Iran and should be included in any peace talks. 

Roger Carstens, the U.S. former Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs, said in an interview with Fox News that six American citizens are being held captive in Iranian prisons — each of them previously held in Evin prison in Tehran, known for its harsh conditions. He said the Iranians will likely use the American hostages as a "sweetener" to ensure negotiations go in "the direction of Iran" as the United States seeks a nuclear deal and permanent ceasefire. 

"Strangely, the Russians, the Chinese, the Taliban, the Venezuelans, when you start getting into hostage discussions, they tell the truth and they stick to what they promise. You can do a handshake deal with the Taliban, and they're going to follow through," Carstens said. "The Iranians. Absolutely not."

While Carstens remains confident that U.S. negotiators can secure the return of the six Americans, he stated that Iran is unlike any other foreign government he's worked with and can't be trusted.

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He said the Iranians are the sort of negotiators likely to pull a "fast one" right up until the last moment.  

"You cannot trust the Iranians up until the last second," Carstens said. "If you were landing a plane in either Geneva or even Tehran, to get your Americans, you better be out there with a clipboard making sure that the people coming on the plane are the people that you bargained for."

Only two of the American hostages have been publicly identified: Kamran Hekmati, 61, and Reza Valizadeh, 49.

Hekmati is a Jewish American who also holds Iranian citizenship. He was imprisoned 11 months ago after being charged and convicted of visiting Israel in the past 10 years.

Like Hekmati, Valizadeh holds dual Iranian and American citizenship. He previously worked for the U.S.-funded Radio Farda, covering corruption and election manipulation in Iran. Valizadeh was arrested in September 2024 during a visit to see family and was sentenced after being convicted of working with a hostile government.

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Carstens suggested it was unlikely there was any time for the Americans and Iranians to discuss the release of the six Americans during the 21-hour marathon peace talks in Pakistan earlier this month. 

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"I think the Iranians are going to be smart enough to keep these people healthy and ready to throw on to a negotiating table," Carstens said. "The question in my mind during these negotiations is not whether they'll be at risk or pulled off, but rather, what's it going to take, and how will we, the United States, value them [the hostages]?"

President Donald Trump does not mention the release of American hostages in his four objectives for ending the Iran war. Carstens is calling for the return of the hostages to be a fifth objective.

"Let's make this an official ask, and when we go in, not only ask for it officially, but hold ourselves accountable to getting the job done," Carstens said. "The good news is Trump has a great record in bringing Americans home."

A senior White House official told Fox News Digital that future peace talks with Iran are under discussion, but nothing has yet been scheduled.

"President Trump is always concerned about Americans detained abroad, which is why he has brought over 100 individuals — a record number — home from around the world," White House spokesperson Anna Kelly said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

Fox News Digital reached out to the State Department for additional comment.

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Americans will hear a lot of speeches this year marking the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, but it’s hard to imagine anyone topping the one Justice Clarence Thomas delivered at the University of Texas at Austin. If one is inclined to believe that the majesty of our founding documents, and the ideals enshrined therein, still resonate in the hearts of Americans, then Justice Thomas’s speech was a clarion call to conscience, a summons to the courage and clarity that animated the American Revolution.

Thomas praised Dean Justin Dyer and UT’s new School of Civic Leadership, saying it was his sincere hope that their work "to revitalize the teaching and research of Western civilization and the American constitutional tradition will lead the way in the reform of our nation’s colleges and universities" — a generous note of gratitude for those who labor, often anonymously, in the vineyards of civic virtue.

Thomas’s reverence for the Declaration of Independence was palpable, as he recounted the audacity of Jefferson’s assertion that "all men are created equal." He reminded his audience that the Declaration is not a relic — an obscure, esoteric, academic plaything to be admired from afar — but a living testament to the capacity of men and women to transcend the ordinary. Its words, Thomas insisted, are an invitation to courage, echoing across centuries to challenge each new generation to defy tyranny and embrace liberty.

FOR 2026, YOU SHOULD MAKE A RESOLUTION TO KNOW THE REVOLUTION

Justice Thomas drew upon a pantheon of heroes: the Founders, whose signatures risked lives and fortunes; the soldiers at Valley Forge, whose endurance was measured not only in frozen nights but in the persistence of hope; and leaders of subsequent epochs who refused to yield constitutional principles to expediency. These vignettes, rendered with characteristic sonorous solemnity, served as reminders that the American story is stitched together by acts of bravery seldom celebrated, and courage seldom acknowledged.

Notably, Thomas confronted the failures of the Supreme Court, most pointedly in his critique of Plessy v. Ferguson, the 1896 decision "that endorsed government-enforced racial segregation and validated the Jim Crow South that I grew up in." He lamented the absence of moral fortitude in those who, rather than uphold the promise of equality, succumbed to the temptations of expedience.

"It could not possibly have taken my Court 60 years," Thomas intoned, "to know that Plessy was a hideous wrong." The specter of Plessy hovered as a caution against the abdication of duty—a lesson as relevant today as in 1896.

In a manner reminiscent of William F. Buckley’s skepticism toward progressive utopianism, Thomas issued a warning against Wilsonian progressivism. He traced its lineage to a philosophy that prefers the plasticity of government by experts over the stubbornness of constitutional constraints. "Progressivism," Thomas observed, "seeks to replace the basic premises of the Declaration of Independence, and hence our form of government. It holds that our rights and our dignities come not from God, but from government." This, he suggested, is the perennial threat to republican liberty: the seductive notion that a well-meaning bureaucracy can supplant the wisdom of the Declaration. To Thomas, progressivism is "retrogressive."

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Yet the speech was not a lament, but a prescription. Thomas called for daily courage — a recommitment not merely on ceremonial anniversaries, but in the mundane acts of citizenship and stewardship. It depends upon the willingness of each citizen to defend its ideals, to speak truth, to withstand the easy comforts of silence. There is, Thomas urged, a duty to reject complacency and to embrace the challenge of self-government anew.

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As Thomas’s words settled upon the assembled crowd, one sensed the enduring relevance of his message. The principles of the Declaration remain, in his estimation, both fragile and resilient — fragile if neglected, resilient if cherished. His praise for Dean Dyer and the School for Civic Leadership was not mere ceremony; it was a recognition that the cultivation of civic courage is indispensable to the preservation of liberty.

Justice Thomas’s address reminded me of Thomas Jefferson’s assertion that "a well-informed citizenry is the best defense against tyranny." The speech in Austin was a summons: to honor the boldness of the Founders, to reject the false comforts of progressivism, and to recommit ourselves daily to the ideals that gave birth to the nation.

It was, in sum, a reminder, timely and urgent, that the Declaration of Independence is not merely a historical document, but a living promise — a challenge to each of us to rise to the heights of courage and principle.

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President Donald Trump's push to extend the government's controversial warrantless surveillance powers suffered a minor setback early Friday morning after a group of conservative lawmakers rejected a compromise deal that would have extended the program for five years while incorporating some minor reforms intended to appease GOP privacy hawks.

Shortly before 2 a.m. Friday, the House of Representatives approved a two-week extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), giving lawmakers until April 30 to reach a deal.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voiced confidence that his conference can come to an agreement by the end of the month.

"We were very close tonight. There's some nuances with the language and some questions that need to be answered and we'll get it done. The extension allows us the time to do that," he said.

JOHNSON FACES GOP REVOLT OVER WARRANTLESS SURVEILLANCE POWERS AHEAD OF KEY VOTE

The short-term FISA extension came together after House GOP leadership was forced to scrap an initial 18-month extension of the program due to opposition from conservatives, who want more privacy guardrails added to the program.

GOP privacy hawks also shot down a compromise agreement that would have extended the surveillance law until 2031 while adding more stringent criminal penalties for violations of FISA searches.

The Section 702 authority allows the government to spy on foreign nationals abroad even when those communications involve Americans. Both conservatives and progressives have pushed for a requirement that would force officials to obtain a warrant before reviewing Americans’ data.

House GOP leadership had been racing this week to renew the surveillance law before the April 20 deadline. When their desired approach ran into conservative opposition on the House floor, they settled for a two-week extension.

The Senate could pass the short-term extension by unanimous consent as early as Friday.

"What we're trying to do is thread the needle of ensuring that we have this essential tool to keep Americans safe but also safeguard constitutional rights and making sure that the abuses of FISA in the past are no longer possible," Johnson said early Friday morning.

The speaker could spare just two GOP defections during the test votes assuming all members are present and voting. Though many Democrats were supportive of a clean FISA reauthorization bill, Johnson could not count on their support during the procedural votes because they typically vote along party lines.

The Trump administration has argued the spying authority must be renewed to prevent potential terrorist attacks on the homeland and that it would be reckless to let the program lapse amid conflict with Iran.

"There’s a lot at stake," CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News during a visit to Capitol Hill in an effort to sell GOP holdouts on a clean extension.

Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine sent a letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, to Capitol Hill offices touting the surveillance tool’s importance for national security. Trump also publicly urged Republicans to "UNIFY" behind his desired approach of a clean extension on Truth Social.

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House GOP leadership’s and the Trump administration’s lobbying for a clean FISA extension absent reforms proved to be a tough sell among some conservatives. Despite the high-profile pressure campaign, GOP privacy hawks remained insistent on including a warrant requirement, which they argued would better protect Americans' data.

"We understand and agree with the president that we need 702 authority to go after bad guys abroad," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters. "We're fighting for greater protections, whether it's this administration or future administrations to ensure citizens have protections."

"The folks who are saying we want these reforms within FISA, we mean what we say, and that's not something that we're going to sidestep," Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said Thursday.

"We're always threatened … that something very bad is going to happen, people will die if we don’t reauthorize 702," Boebert continued. "But many men and women, thousands have died for the Fourth Amendment, and I'm going to continue to stand up and protect that Fourth Amendment right for all American citizens."

Democrats also slammed the compromise deal early Friday morning for being drafted at the eleventh hour and argued the warrant requirement included in the since-rejected FISA deal is effectively toothless.

"This simply says they may seek a warrant. They don't have to. They may seek a warrant," Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said, referring to the FBI. "In other words, this provision is meaningless. It just returns us to exactly where we were."

Despite a swath of GOP holdouts, fewer Republicans opposed a clean extension of the 702 program than during previous legislative fights over the spying law.

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a FISA skeptic, backed a straight reauthorization, citing more than five dozen reforms that Congress made to the program in 2024.

"2026 is not 2024 and a short-term clean extension of the 702 part of FISA law is an acceptable outcome for the situation that we find ourselves in," Jordan said Tuesday.

House GOP leadership argued that failure is not an option in preventing a reauthorization lapse for the FISA program.

"This is an essential tool for national security," Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday. "We cannot allow it to expire, and we won't."

Fox News' Kelly Phares contributed to this report.

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Bravo Sarah Isgur. And thank you.

The "bravo" is for Isgur’s new book: "Last Branch Standing: A Potentially Surprising, Occasionally Witty Journey Inside Today’s Supreme Court." Isgur is a superb communicator, a Harvard Law School-trained lawyer and a practiced observer of the Court as she and New York Times columnist David French demonstrate with every episode of their much listened-to podcast "Advisory Opinions." 

If Isgur has a discernible judicial philosophy/ideology, it’s probably best described as a merger of Chief Justice John Robert’s and Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s, with a dash of the other four "conservatives" on the Court thrown in. 

But as Isgur explains at length and in useful detail, every label used in every discussion of the Court is at least very oversimplified and usually misleading. She’s Sarah Isgur. She runs on common sense, good humor and an appreciation for the complexity of Supreme Court proceedings. If you want to know what she thinks, you’ll have to read her book. The same rule applies to the nine justices.

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Isgur is also not just "occasionally witty." She is very funny, and that helps a non-lawyer or even lawyers who aren’t focused on the Court to get the key themes into their heads. "Winsome" always wins when pitted against "loud and certain," and far too much Supreme Court chatter falls into the latter category. Not Isgur’s. 

Constitutional law is complicated stuff.  That’s why all law students have to spend at least two semester-long classes to get the basics down and those two courses don’t usually include the Court’s criminal law jurisprudence. Isgur takes all that great tumbleweed of complexity and makes it manageable. 

When justices write books, I try to read them and am always eager to interview them within the rules set the Court has quietly established. An interviewer of a justice should not ask about matters before the Court or likely to get there, and should not expect one justice to dish on another. In interviews with Justices Barrett, Gorsuch and Thomas and with now retired Justice Breyer, I’ve found it is not difficult to respect those rules and still have interesting conversations. The books by justices should be mandatory for journalists covering the Court. They write to be understood.

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But they don’t shoot for laughs. Isgur does and there are plenty to be had. Enjoy. 

The "thank you" is because Isgur’s book prompted me to finally put down in a column the simple propositions that (1) it is unconstitutional to expand the Court above its present number and (2) Republicans should support keeping the Senate’s legislative filibuster rules in place so that we need never have to test proposition one. 

Amateurs will be quick to point to the historical fact that the size of the Court has varied between 6 and 10 members since it was first established by the Constitution, and that only the most recent change came via the Circuit Judges Act of 1869, which fixed the Court’s membership at 9 — with one of the seats designated as the chief justice. On nine occasions total, Congress has tweaked the number of justices, beginning in 1789,  but it has not done so since 1869, though there have been many opportunities for super-majorities of both parties to try and do so. Franklin Roosevelt famously tried and failed to "pack" the Court in 1937 after a landslide win in 1936, but his proposed Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937 failed even his own party’s smell test.

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Why? It is guesswork to attribute motives to one or more legislators for what they did or did not do, especially legislators from a century and a half ago. But the fact should matter greatly that the last change to the Court’s numerical composition came after the upheaval of the Civil War and Andrew Johnson’s near-impeachment and on the heels of the ratification of the 14th Amendment with its guarantee of the "due process of law" should matter to those who believe in the rule of law. The last change to the composition of the number of justices came immediately after great threats to the Constitution and its repair after secession and civil war via the guarantee of "due process of law" from every state as well as the federal government.  

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I am prepared for Senate Democrats to refuse to confirm even one federal district court judge from President Trump must less any Supreme Court nominees should the Democrats regain the Senate majority in 2027. That’s the political process playing out and turnabout is fair — and constitutional — play. 

But piling five more Justice Brown Jackson’s on to the Court via court-packing legislation would mark a fundamental break with our past legal history and evolution. That would not be consistent with the rule of law. That would in fact be its abrogation and the beginning of a cycle impossible to predict in its outcome.

Which is why it is important for the Senate GOP to defend its filibuster rules. The filibuster is the one hurdle that must be crossed before any bill to mangle the Constitution via disfiguring the Court makes it to a final vote. Serious senators will defend it for the simple reason is that it preserves the stability of every institution but especially the Court. 

If you care about the Constitution, read Sarah Isgur’s new book and realize the Court isn’t meant to move quickly or to be broken beyond repair in a fit of partisan excess. "We must never forget, that it is a constitution we are expounding," Chief Justice Marshall famously wrote in the 1819 decision McCulloch v. Maryland. Whether that restraint is still within the whole of the Republic depends not a little on serious people of the center-right to the center-left keep their eyes on the prize: The rule of law. 

Hugh Hewitt is a Fox News contributor and host of "The Hugh Hewitt Show" heard weekday afternoons from 3 PM to 6 PM ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh drives Americans home on the East Coast and to lunch on the West Coast on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable, hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6 p..m ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996, where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990. Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcasting. This column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.

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Two people were taken into custody on Wednesday after a shooting that killed a 15-year-old and wounded two others in what police described as a gang-related shooting at Eisenhower Park on Long Island in New York.

The shooting occurred around 8:20 p.m. near Hempstead Turnpike and Merrick Avenue, the Nassau County Police Department said.

Nassau County Police Commissioner Patrick Ryder told reporters that gang members saw an invitation on social media for a barbecue at the park, according to CBS New York.

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Two people then became involved in an argument and shots were fired, Ryder said.

Three people, including the 15-year-old boy, were struck by gunfire. The three victims were transported to a local hospital, where the teenager was pronounced dead.

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The two other victims were listed in stable condition, and Ryder said they underwent surgery late Wednesday. Their ages were not immediately known.

Two people who were both carrying weapons were taken into custody. Police did not release the suspects' identities or specify what charges they may face.

The shooting remains under investigation.

After the shooting, responding officers flooded the area. Patrol cars were seen lining the roadways and a police helicopter was observed circling the park as officers investigated the incident.

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The critics erupted again the moment President Trump ordered a naval blockade, cutting off oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz that Iran has been controlling access to. Brinkmanship, they said. Dangerous escalation. These are the same critics who condemned the war from day one. But here is the truth they keep avoiding: the United States, Europe, the Gulf states and Israel have all been in a shadow war with Iran for decades. Every administration before this one too often chose to manage the threat rather than resolve it. Sanctions here, a diplomatic communiqué there, a weak JCPOA that kicked the can down the road. The regime did not moderate. It never was going to.

The Islamabad talks did not fail because of a trust deficit, a phrase analysts deploy to suggest the problem is one of communication rather than intention. Enemies do not trust each other. That is the definition of the situation, not an obstacle to overcome. The talks failed because Iran believes it is winning. Despite the extraordinary achievements of the United States and Israel, which significantly degraded Iran's nuclear program and dismantled key elements of its leadership and military infrastructure, the regime has not broken. You cannot fully defeat an enemy willing to burn the house down around itself.

Following those devastating strikes, one Iranian analyst, Nasser Torabi, declared on state television: "We have now entered a new stage in the history of Iran as an international superpower, and we will be recognized as a global superpower." Iran came to those talks not to make peace but to press its advantage. It seized the Strait of Hormuz as its most powerful weapon, betting that cheap drones, proxy networks and control of 20 percent of the world's oil supply gave it enough leverage to outlast a president it believes is watching the midterms. It rejected zero enrichment on Iranian soil and refused to relinquish control of the world's most critical waterway. The two sides were not close.

TRUMP DETAILS SWEEPING 'ALL OR NOTHING' BLOCKADE OF STRAIT OF HORMUZ AFTER FAILED IRAN TALKS

President Trump did not arrive here without exhausting every alternative. A personal letter to the supreme leader. Four rounds of Oman-mediated talks. Back channels through Pakistan and Egypt. Extended deadlines. Muscat, Rome, Geneva, Islamabad. Iran made clear at every stage that it would not concede diplomatically what it believed could not be taken from it militarily. Diplomacy without leverage is a wish. President Trump applied both.

The blockade is the logical next step between failed talks and resumed strikes. Some say it will be difficult to sustain. That is an argument for execution, not retreat, because the alternative is worse. Some say Iran has asymmetric tools and the risks are real. True. Does that mean the most powerful military force on the planet, fighting alongside a stalwart ally in Israel, should stand down? Are we so weakened in our thinking that we cower from every hard option because hard options carry risk?

Europe deserves particular mention. European governments have opposed escalation, declined to join the blockade and offered defensive escort missions instead. That protects individual ships. It leaves Iran in possession of the Hormuz card, free to play it again at will. Applying a bandage and squeezing saline at a wound that requires surgery does not make you a peacemaker. It makes you part of the problem.

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This is a game of chicken and a test of endurance. Iran is betting on President Trump's impatience. They do not know the man I know. I worked alongside him for 23 years. He does not walk away from a mission he believes in because a poll moves, a journalist writes a hostile column or a handful of supposed MAGA influencers cry foul. He moves forward. To do what is right. To do what is necessary. To protect what is worth protecting.

The two issues that broke the talks in Islamabad are binary. Either Iran enriches uranium on its soil or it does not. Either the Strait is open and uncontrolled or it is not. One side will have to win.

My assessment is that it will be President Trump's side. Not because the path is easy, and we should not pretend otherwise. But because the alternative is unacceptable. And because Donald Trump is one tenacious, iron-willed negotiator who does not know the meaning of the word quit.

Stop calling this brinkmanship. Call it what it is: the only play left. What plan achieves denuclearization without pressure? The pressure is the point. The discomfort is the point. None of this is easy. War never is. But the only thing harder than solving this problem now is explaining to the next generation why we chose to let it grow.

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