Friday, March 13, 2026

Trump, Bibi Risking Massive Loss in War vs. Iran; Oil, Gas Up, Stocks Looking for Friday the 13th Good Luck to Save the Week

How's the war going, Mr. Trump?

Or, should we call it an excursion, as you did?

Is it over, or just the beginning, as your Secretary of WAR, Pete Hegseth, claims?

From just about any perspective, the war is not going well for the United States, and it's even worse for their partner, Israel, where daily missile and drone strickes are turning Tel Aviv, Haifa, and other parts of the country into something resembling what Israel has done to Gaza. Hezbollah, operating in Lebanon, has begun to fight back at invading Israeli forces, coordinating with Iran.

A week ago, Hegseth was making claims about how the number of missile and drone strikes were steadily decreasing, that the U.S. had "degraded" Iran's ability to strike Israel and U.S. bases in the region, and that most of Iran's launchers had been destroyed. He's no longer making those claims.

Israel's president, Benjamin "Bibi" Netanyahu, has been out of the country since the day the war began. For two weeks the leader of the agressor against Iran has been afraid to set foot in his own country. Not a good look and probably qite demoralizing to the IDF and Israeli residents.

According to a recent post by Simplicious, Ali Larijani, head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, stated, on March 9:

“Tonight, we received messages from U.S. President Donald Trump through the Omani mediator, asking us to negotiate a ceasefire.

Our response is that we will not accept any negotiations as long as an entity called Israel exists.”

Here is the post in English:

Meanwhile, an enraged Donald Trump continues to lash out:

What an unseemly manner for an American President. It's shameful. Most of the U.S. bases in the region (21 by most assessments) have been badly damaged or rendered inoperable. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed, open only to "friendly vessels, according to Iran. The U.S. Navy refuses to escort tankers through the area, as it is too risky. There are no U.S. naval ships anywhere within 750 kilometers of the war zone. Any ships venutring within 350 miles of Iran's coastline can be targeted by Iranian missiles.

On Thursday, it was reported that a KC-135 refueling tanker crashed in Western Iraq. Another tanker landed safely, though it was damaged. The U.S. claims it was a mid-air accident. The story is still developing.

The average price of a gallon of gas in the U.S. is now $3.64, up 67 cents from this past Sunday. There are no states reporting gas prices below $3.00 per gallon. Two weeks ago there were 40.

President Trump has been caught in a trap of his own making due to poor planning and faulty intelligence. Either he stops the U.S. aggression against Iran or the nation known as Israel is likely to beome a memory. Even if Trump calls off the military, there's no guarantee that Iran will stop bombing and decimating Israel.

That's the situation facing the United States and Israel, not the bombast and fake, censored news that the MSM continues to peddal.

The BEA announced this morning that the Fed's favorite inflation indicator, Core PCE, rose 0.4% in January amd is up 3.1% on a yearly basis, the highest in two years.

WTI crude oil was above $96 earlier this morning, settling back to $92.50.

Wiht U.S. markets due to open in less than a half hour, stock futures are trending higher. Dow futures, +200; NASDAQ futures, +110; S&P futures, +30.

Through Thursday's close, stocks are generally lower. The Dow is down 833; NASDAQ, -75; and the S&P is down 67 points.

It's Friday the 13th. Do you feel lucky?

At the Close, Thursday, February 12, 2026:
Dow: 46,677.85, -739.42 (-1.56%)
NASDAQ: 22,311.98, -404.15 (-1.78%)
S&P 500: 6,672.62, -103.18 (-1.52%)
NYSE Composite: 22,118.70, -368.92 (-1.64%)



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Posted by Rick at 9:44 AM

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