John Bickley

allies to get involved in the war in Iran.

What are we seeing?

Yeah, that's right.

Trump has pushed allies in Europe and Asia to help secure the Strait of Hormuz.

As you said, that initial resistance seemed to crack a little bit yesterday.

NATO Chief Mark Rutte is one of the most significant voices here, and here he was recognizing the world's interest in securing the Strait.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takeuchi met with President Trump at the White House yesterday, and she had a similar message.

Now, of course, words are a long way from action, but it does look like Trump's pressure is having an impact.

And a big reason for that could be that Europe wants to avoid charges of hypocrisy over its request for USAID to Ukraine.

Former Trump National Security Advisor John Bolton, who is not a friend of the president now, made that point yesterday.

And we'll have to see if any of this actually translates to concrete support for the U.S.

in Hormuz.

Now, what's the latest on the war itself?

The administration recently asked Congress for an additional $200 billion in funding for the military.

How is it justifying that request?

Yeah, as Hegseth said yesterday morning, it takes money to kill bad guys.

And he says the military has been doing a lot of that and intends to do a lot more.

Trump also noted later at the White House that the military needs the funds for other operations as well.

On the status of the actual war, Trump and Hegseth said yesterday that Iran's leadership has been decimated.

And then the Treasury Secretary Scott Besson said yesterday that there are now defections at all levels of the Iranian regime and that it will likely collapse soon.