Trump has a choice: him or the world; wants way out of war; Security Council blames Iran; Iranian ‘sleeper cells;’ the Pope’s deep sorrow; U.S. bases damaged as reckoning begins; and ‘Nothing Will Remain of Tehran.’
Smoke rises above Tehran in the war against the U.S. and Israel. (Avash/Wikimedia Commons)
WEDNESDAY
By Joe Lauria
Special to Consortium News
Trump’s Choice
Ari Ben-Menashe, a former Israeli military intelligence officer, told CN Live! that he believes Benjamin Netanyahu hinted to Donald Trump that certain Epstein files nailing Trump as a pedofile could wind up on the front page of The New York Times if he didn’t launch and continue the war against Iran. But now, after seeing how badly the war is going, Trump wants out — even possibly at his own potential expense since he realizes what a disaster he has unleashed. The moral choice is up to Trump: imperil the world or go down personally.
The ex-officer thinks Iran and the U.S. could make a deal at Israel’s expense, though he didn’t put it past Netanyahu to use a nuclear weapon against Iran rather than lose the war and wind up in jail. Ben-Menashe says nuclear-armed Pakistan could be brought into play, warning Israel not to nuke Iran. India, whose prime minister visited Netanyahu two days before the war on Iran began could have been enlisted by nuclear-armed India to counter threaten Pakistan to lay off Israel. [WATCH: CN Live! — ‘The Toll on Israel’]
Looking for a Way Out – Trump Says Nothing Left to Bomb
Trump is clearly looking for a way out of the historic meses he has created. He told Axios “in a brief phone interview Wednesday that the war with Iran will end ‘soon’ because there is ‘practically nothing left to target,’” Axios reported. “‘Little this and that… Any time I want it to end, it will end,’ Trump said during the five-minute call.”
Meanwhile, the masters of the war say the war must go on. “Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said Wednesday the war will continue ‘without any time limit, for as long as necessary, until we achieve all the objectives and decisively win the campaign,’” Axios said.
This conforms with what Ben-Menashe said, namely, that Netanyahu needs the war to go on. With Israeli and American frustration growing that their war aims of regime change is not happening, the aggressors have unleashed their fury on civilians in Tehran and other Iranian cities.
As early as Monday The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump advisors were looking for a way out. The paper said that” some of his advisers privately urged him to look for an exit plan amid spiking oil prices and concerns that a lengthy conflict could spark political backlash.” But “some Trump administration officials said as long as Tehran continued to attack regional countries and Israel still wanted to strike Iranian targets, it was unlikely the U.S. could easily withdraw from the war.”
Israel decides.
Unless Trump is willing to have his Epstein-related crimes revealed.
Meanwhile, Iran Threatens to Hit Western Banks in Gulf
Citi Bank and HSBC bank have temporarily shut their offices in the Gulf after Iran threatened to strike Israeli and Western banks in the region after an Israeli or U.S. missile struck a Tehran building housing offices of Bank Sepah, Iran’s first modern bank founded in 1922. Wall Street and the City of London probably weren’t banking on this.
UN Security Council
Russia and China did not veto a scurrilous resolution in the U.N. Security Council that blame Iran as the “unprovoked” aggressor in the war. The most startling word in the resolution is “unprovoked,” which any clear-eyed observer would see as an out-and-out lie. It was sheer audacity to include that word when the whole world can see that the United States and Israel carried out an unprovoked attack and that Iran is defending itself according to the U.N. Charter. This resolution brings further shame on the Security Council after its endorsement last November of the genocidal Trump/Kushner takeover of Gaza.
[See CN’s full report: WATCH: UN Security Council Blames Iran]
Trump Says ‘Full Steam Ahead’ and Tankers Get Bombed
Trump on Wednesday urged nervous captains to go “full steam ahead” through the Strait of Hormuz. “I think they should use the strait. We took out just about all of their mine ships in one night. Just about all of their navy is at the bottom of the sea,” said Trump despite an Iranian threat to blow them out of the water. So a Thai ship tried to pass later Wednesday and they were blown out of the water.
Trump Speaks About Iranian ‘Sleeper Cells’
Trump talked to reporters about “Iranian sleeper cells” inside the U.S., saying authorities are “watching every single one of them.” He said: “We’ve been very much on top of it. We’ve got very, very good intelligence into that.” Trump even claimed: “We know where Iranian sleeper cells are… We have eyes on all of them, I think.” He thinks?
Meanwhile, “The FBI warned police departments in California in recent days that Iran could retaliate for American attacks by launching drones at the West Coast, according to an alert reviewed by ABC News.”
How would the U.S. react if there were to be such an attack on U.S. soil?
NYT Show Damage to US Bases
The so-called Paper of Record was late to put it on the record. But on Wednesday the Times analyzed satellite photos that showed the extent of the damage done to U.S. bases in the Gulf by Iran’s retaliation for being attacked without provocation. “At Least 17 U.S. Sites Damaged in War With Iran, Analysis Shows,” was the headline. Except the Times was two later than independent journalist Richard Medhurst who brilliantly exposes the U.S. losses in the region.
Israelis no longer receiving proper warnings of Iranian strikes.
Iran has wiped out the entire US THAAD and Patriot radar system in the Gulf using $50k drones. It will cost billions and take a decade to replace.
I pieced together all the satellite photos of the strikes & bases. pic.twitter.com/uOBES78JdJ
— Richard Medhurst (@richimedhurst) March 10, 2026
TUESDAY
US Admission of Mistakes Begins
The NYT headline begins the reckoning of this war: “How Trump and His Advisers Miscalculated Iran’s Response to War.”
The Times says the U.S. dismissing the possibility of a long oil shock is
“emblematic of how much Mr. Trump and his advisers misjudged how Iran would respond to a conflict that the government in Tehran sees as an existential threat. Iran has responded far more aggressively than it did during last June’s 12-day war, firing barrages of missiles and drones at U.S. military bases, cities in Arab nations across the Middle East, and on Israeli population centers. […]
Inside the administration, some officials are growing pessimistic about the lack of a clear strategy to finish the war. But they have been careful not to express that directly to the president, who has repeatedly declared that the military operation is a complete success. [..] [Defense Secretary Pete] Hegseth acknowledged on Tuesday that Iran’s ferocious response against its neighbors caught the Pentagon somewhat off guard. […]
Some military advisers did warn before the war that Iran could launch an aggressive campaign in response, and would view the U.S.-Israeli attack as a threat to its existence. But other advisers remained confident that killing Iran’s senior leadership would lead to more pragmatic leaders taking over who might bring an end to the war.”
Pentagon Admits 140 Wounded
After Reuters reported 150 U.S. military personnel had been wounded so far the Pentagon owned up and said 14o were injured with eight seriously wounded. The Defense Department had previously only admitted to the eight. It is still sticking to only seven killed though independent analysts say that number must be much higher given the damage done to U.S. military installations in the Gulf region.
‘Nothing Will Remain of Tehran’
The New York Times has a report remarkably from the point of view of any ordinary Iranian living under the hell being rained down on Tehran by the Israelis and Americans. The Times reported:
“’It seems they are striking everywhere: homes, schools, mosques, hospitals,’ said Javad, who like most people who spoke from inside Iran, asked that his full name be withheld for fear of retaliation. From 10 p.m. to past midnight, people in Tehran, the Iranian capital, could hear the sound of bombing ‘north, south, east and west,’ he said.
‘The air is not breathable,’ said Javad. ‘Last night they hit the high-voltage electricity lines. They will also strike gas and water. Acid rain fell and the air is polluted. They will hit all the infrastructure, and they have no hesitation about killing.’
‘If they keep hitting Tehran like this for another 10 days,’ he added, nothing will remain of Tehran.’”
In the frustration of not being able to overthrow the government or end the ballistic missile and drone barrages it appears the U.S. and Israel are turning to a scorched earth policy, to turn Iranian cities into Gaza.
Iranian FM Blasts Israeli Censorship
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi blast Israel for censoring the results of Iran’s attacks on the Zionist state. “Netanyahu doesn’t want you to see how Iran’s powerful Armed Forces are punishing Israel for its aggression,” he said on X. “Here’s what our men & women on the ground report: utter destruction caused by our missiles, panicked leader and their air defenses in disarray,” he wrote, adding “we’re just getting started.”
NATO Poking Its Nose Into the Fight
Nato ambassadors are to meet Gulf representatives next week to talk about the war, according to a Reuters report, citing three European diplomats told Reuters.
Pope Feels ‘Profound Sorrow’ For Victims in Middle East
The American Pope has expressed “profound sorrow for all the victims of the bombings” in the region, according to Vatican News. Pope Leo spoke of “many innocents, including many children”, and “those who were helping them, such as Father Pierre El-Rahi”, a Maronite priest killed by Israel Qlayaa, Lebanon. El-Rahi had told the town to defy the Israeli order to evacuate. When an Israeli bomb struck the home of an elderly resident the priest rushed to assist and was killed by the second Israeli airstrike. The pope “prays that every hostility may cease as soon as possible.”
Iraqi Militia Say 31 Attacks Have Killed ‘Several’ US Troops
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq claims 31 attacks against U.S. military in Iraq in the past day. The Shia militia allied to Iran says it has killed an injured several U.S. troops in 291 attacks over 12 days. The Pentagon is admitting to only seven G.I.s killed so far.
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