Cabot Phillips

targeted the Ayatollah and other members of the country's leadership, they would view that as an existential threat and respond with force the likes of which we've not seen in a generation.

That was their red line of sorts.

So it's already clear that this is a very different situation than what we saw back in June when Trump first hit Iran.

Now, remember, following those strikes, the Iranians offered a more restrained, mostly symbolic strike of their own.

They targeted a US base in Qatar.

But the Iranians said that if they were hit again, they would respond with the full force of their arsenal, and they're trying.

During Operation Midnight Hammer, the US successfully targeted Iranian missile stockpiles, and that significantly hindered their ability to launch retaliatory strikes down the road.

It looks like in this instance, Iran is trying to fire off as many of those missiles as possible to use them before they lose them.

And we've already seen an unprecedented flurry of explosions again, as we mentioned, across the Middle East.

As you can imagine, responses to the war, both for and against, are flooding in by the minute.

One of the more critical statements, though, came from Oman's foreign minister.

He had been serving as middleman this week in negotiations between the U.S.

and Iran.

He was very upset by these latest developments.

He issued a statement saying, quote, I'm dismayed.

Active and serious negotiations have yet again been undermined.

Neither the interests of the U.S.

nor the cause of global peace are well served by this.

And I pray for the innocents who will suffer.

I urge the U.S.