Iranians Feel the War Is ‘Closing In,’ and Bondi Is Said to Move Because of Threats
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I'm Kevin Roos. I'm Casey Newton. And we're the hosts of Hard Fork, a show from the New York Times about technology and the future. About the future that's already here, Kevin. Every week on the show, we bring you news from the front lines of tech, interviews with key newsmakers, wacky experiments that we get up to, and we just generally have a lot of fun.
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From The New York Times, it's the headlines. I'm Tracy Mumford. Today's Wednesday, March 11th. Here's what we're covering. The Times has learned new details about how the Trump administration miscalculated how Iran would react to the war, both in the scale of its response and how it would shake the global economy. Before the attacks began, the energy secretary, Chris Wright, said publicly he was not concerned a war would disrupt oil sales, pointing to the 12-day conflict with Iran last June when there was little disruption. Some of Trump's other advisers shared similar views in private, dismissing warnings that Iran could choke off the Strait of Hormuz that carries roughly 20% of the world's oil supply.
But that is exactly what's happened. Now commercial shippings come to a standstill in the Gulf, oil prices have spiked, and the administration's been scrambling to find ways to tamp down the crisis. Yesterday, the stock market loved it when Wright posted on social media that the Navy had successfully escorted a tanker through the troubled strait. Oil markets were reassured. He then deleted the post after administration officials said no escorts had taken place, and markets once again went into turmoil.
So Brian, you did a phone interview with the president of the United States. What is his read on this? So I asked him, how do you get the prices down?
I know how much you care about oil and gas, and he says- President Trump himself has been frustrated by the situation. At one point earlier this week, he told Fox News that oil tanker crews should just go straight through.
Here's exactly what he said. These ships should go through the Strait of Hormuz and show some guts. There's nothing to be afraid of. They have no navy. We sunk all their ships.
In interviews with a dozen U.S. officials who asked for anonymity to discuss private conversations, The Times learned some military advisors did warn that Iran could launch an aggressive campaign in response to the U.S.-Israeli attack. But other advisors were confident that taking out Iran's senior leadership, like Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed in the first wave of strikes, would lead to more pragmatic leaders who wouldn't keep a conflict going.
Big mistake by the Iranian regime to start targeting its neighbors. Indiscriminate targeting, flailing recklessly. I can't say that we anticipated necessarily that's exactly how they would react, but we knew it was a possibility.
Yesterday, Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth acknowledged that the Pentagon had not expected Iran to carry out as many strikes as it has on other countries throughout the Middle East. But he insisted it would backfire on them. And, he said, Iran's attacks are now slowing.
The last 24 hours have seen Iran fire the lowest number of missiles they've been capable of firing yet.
In contrast, Hegseth said, the U.S. was launching more strikes than ever.
Meanwhile, every night in the middle of the night in Tehran, my WhatsApp starts buzzing with text messages from friends, from family who have access to Internet, sometimes even from sources saying that the airstrikes are really intense. Every night seems to be the most intense experience that they've had.
How did the Trump administration miscalculate Iran's response to war?
The bombs seem to sound closer. The explosions are louder. And the sense of panic that I'm getting from the messages and phone calls is that the war is really just closing in.
My colleague Farnaz Fasihi, who has covered Iran for more than two decades, says many people there feel helpless and trapped.
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