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Amidst the fog of (Pete Hegseth’s Department of Defense) War, the Washington Post of all official scribes of the Pentagon broke with the official narrative and boldly declared, “More U.S. troops have died amid Iran war than Pentagon has disclosed publicly:”
More American service members have died in the Middle East during the ongoing Iran war than the Pentagon has disclosed publicly, according to six U.S. officials familiar with the Defense Department’s internal casualty accounting data.
Five of the officials said there have been at least 22 military fatalities — four more than what appears in the Pentagon’s public database, known as the Defense Casualty Analysis System, or DCAS.
A sixth official, who like the others spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the figures, said 23 service members have died since Feb. 28, when the Trump administration, in concert with Israel, initiated the Iran war. Not all of the undisclosed deaths are directly tied to the conflict but have involved U.S. personnel who were in the Middle East amid ongoing hostilities, this person said.
They needed six anonymous sources for this?
It’s been obvious for months that Hegseth and company were lying every time they opened their mouths, but I guess better late than never.
Greasy Pete was fast on his reply:
This is DISGUSTING and FAKE. A complete LIE.
Shame on the Washington Post — they’re worse than Iranian state media. https://t.co/vU9OkSOnLB
— Pete Hegseth (@PeteHegseth) September 18, 2026
Somehow Pete’s reassurances didn’t put out a prairie brushfire rebellion brewing on the campaign trail.
GOP Senators Break With Trump on Iran War
In a swerve no one could have seen coming, four GOP Senators and nominees for same have suddenly started opposing the Iran War in stronger terms than anyone on the Dem side of the aisle. Politico had the deets:
Sen. Jon Husted became the latest battleground Republican this week to call for a quick end to the Iran war, as panic grows over how high gas prices and President Donald Trump’s agenda could imperil the party’s chances in November.
“The war needs to come to an end as quickly as possible so that we can lower gas prices,” the Ohio senator told POLITICO, in his furthest comments yet on the matter.
Coming after Iowa Senate nominee Ashley Hinson, who broke from Trump over the war on Monday, and Michigan Senate nominee Mike Rogers, who followed suit hours later, Husted’s comments are another example of the pressure he and other Republicans are under to address prices at the pump. Several candidates are creating some distance from Trump, as voters continue to blame the president for the current economy and the Iran conflict for high costs of living.
Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers came out with this “blistering” ad:
The war in Iran needs to end to bring costs down — but Michigan families can’t afford to wait.
Here’s what we can do now: place a temporary embargo on Diesel exports. American energy should provide relief to American families first. pic.twitter.com/15IS1tjnJS
— Mike Rogers (@MikeRogersForMI) September 21, 2026
“The war in Iran needs to end to bring costs down — but Michigan families can’t afford to wait. Here’s what we can do now: place a temporary embargo on Diesel exports.”
Note to those not in the US, somehow billions gets spent on this crap and fewer and fewer people watch any of the ads, but it keeps our system of legalized bribery humming along, so I guess it’s worth it in the end.
Iowa GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, and Senate nominee is credited with “breaking the dam” with this tweet, note the droll community note attached.
Iowans are being squeezed and shouldn’t have to foot the bill at the pump or the checkout line for the war in Iran. We need to use every option at our disposal to provide some relief from high prices.
That includes suspending the gas tax, pausing diesel exports, unleashing E-15…
— Ashley Hinson (@hinsonashley) September 21, 2026
The herd animals are slow to change course but sometimes a flash of light or one in an endless series of polls can catch their attention and cause a stampede, per NBC:
According to the new national NBC News poll, 55% of registered voters said they believe Trump’s policies have hurt the economy, and 62% said the military action in Iran has not been worth it.
Moreover, 57% of voters said supporting the Iran war would make them less likely to vote for a candidate, compared with 24% who said it would make them more likely.
This CNN poll showing that GOP support for the war is down to 60% (down from 73% in March) might have contributed to the FUD as well. Or maybe it was this Reuters/Ipsos poll showing Trump’s approval #’s at a record low of 32%.
Daniel Webster would be proud.
Speaking of meaningless gestures, I missed seeing that the US House of Representatives voted for the third time to end the Iran war 220-204 with 7 Republicans defecting: Nunn, Miller-Meeks, Mace, Barrett, Davidson, Fitzpatrick, Massie on the 15th, before fleeing in the face of Thomas Massie’s impeachment articles against Hegseth.
But wait, we almost forgot POTUS Donald spoke at the UN.
Trump at the UN, Talkin’ Loud, Sayin’ Stuff
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/trump-administration/trump-address-united-nations-general-assembly-iran-war-rcna599085“>Per UN.org:
Two and a half centuries after the cause of liberty found its home on this continent, I can report to you with pride that America is back, and our country is stronger today than ever before.
As President of the most extraordinary nation in history, I have no interest in leaving dangers to grow for another day. I do not believe in letting problems fester; they only become harder to solve. So, while others have talked, I have acted. While others have spoken of peace, I have made peace. While others have ignored threats, I have confronted them. While others have talked of courage, America has shown it. While others have promised strength, I have used it to make America the most powerful country in the world. Working with many nations in this room, we are solving decades of intractable challenges — and we are settling years of unfinished business.
There is no better example of a danger that was allowed to gather strength at the world’s peril than the number one sponsor of terror, the Islamic Republic of Iran… From the first day I entered the political arena, I have been unwavering — I will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
In America, we just marked the 25th anniversary of the worst terror attack in history, September 11th, which killed 3,000 people just a few miles from here. In two weeks, we will mark the third anniversary of the October 7th attack in Israel, where terrorists funded by Iran tortured, mutilated, and killed 1,200 very innocent civilians, including dozens of Americans… Iran’s Supreme Leader celebrated that massacre and called it a ‘service to humanity.’ The same regime slaughtered over 72,000 of its citizens this year; recently, 10,000 were killed for protesting. Just imagine if such a vile regime were ever empowered to carry out large-scale terror attacks from behind a nuclear shield. This was the reality we had to confront — a reality that far too many preferred to ignore.
The United States will no longer permit threats to America to gain a foothold anywhere in the Western Hemisphere — and if necessary, we will use our unmatched military might to secure the vital national interests of the United States… We are reasserting American power, including American military power where necessary, in our region and around the world to create a safer future for all of us.
The Cuban regime has also spent decades coordinating with the left-wing radicals and communist networks here in the United States. As our State Department has detailed, they’ve cultivated ties to subversive and radical groups such as the Communist Party USA, Antifa, and the Dumocrat Socialists of America. Communism will never be coming to America — but freedom will be coming to Cuba and safety and security will be coming to Mexico.
Upon taking office, I designated the drug cartels as Foreign Terrorist Organizations and unleashed the United States Armed Forces to eliminate them. The cartels are the ISIS of the Western Hemisphere — not good people. They are enemies at war with civilization, using murder, rape, torture, and extortion as instruments of terror. Like ISIS, they should be killed, exiled, or detained as enemy combatants without the possibility of release, which is what we’re doing. To that end, the United States has carried out dozens of strikes on cartel drug boats, destroying 97% of the drugs coming in to the ocean and sea… and three months ago, we terminated the leader of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
There is no global government — and while I am President, there will be no global taxes.
It is equally unacceptable that, with all the genuine atrocities in the world, the U.N.’s top Human Rights officials spend their time criticizing the United States for protecting our children from transgender mutilization and transgender insanity and enforcing our immigration laws… The craven hypocrites of the Human Rights Council have little to say about the persecution of Christians… or the crimes of the world’s most repressive regimes, yet they want America to open our borders to gangs and criminals from the world’s most dangerous places… It is deeply ironic that the United Nations has an entire institution, the UNESCO group of people and countries, devoted to protecting cultural heritage — yet, with their ceaseless promotion of mass migration, these globalists are actively destroying the greatest cultures and most extraordinary heritage in history. There is no human right to illegal immigration, but there is a right to remain a sovereign nation.
The United States totally rejects any attempt to construct a globalist scheme of control for the Artificial Intelligence being spoken of so much now — hereinafter officially called ‘Super Intelligence.’
America has never been a nation that retreats from a frontier or shrinks from a challenge, no matter how great or how daunting that challenge may be. Freedom was not a gift that Americans won easily. After 250 years, it is not one that we will ever, ever, ever surrender.
Wow. A lot to unpack there, but I’m just gonna leave it there in a great big undigested chunk of derangement. I’m like a diamond cutter who can’t bring himself to change a single thing about the raw stone brought up from the mines.
Daniel Davis for his part was just disgusted and provides a solid rebuttal in his video “Threats Can’t Hide Trump’s Iran War Failure” (YouTube).
Meanwhile, Trump’s powers of delusion are still contagious to eager oil markets, who thirst for lies, with prices dropping for the fifth straight day per CNBC:
Crude oil prices fell for a fifth consecutive session Tuesday after President Donald Trump said the U.S. held hourslong talks with Iran.
Brent crude futures, the international benchmark, fell 1% to close at $99.25 a barrel. West Texas Intermediate shed 1.2% to settle at $94.59. Prices are down more than 4% this week but are still up more than 9% on the month.
Trump said the U.S. met with Iran’s delegation for three hours on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly in New York City. “It was a very good meeting,” Trump told reporters during a bilateral meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy at the U.N.
Perhaps it was because Tuesday’s claim wasn’t as risible as Trump’s last eleventy-dozen claims to be negotiating with Iran, given that the Iranian delegation was at the UN.
Speaking of incredible sources, here’s Special Envoy Steve Witkoff backing up Trump’s claims:
Today, on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly, we engaged in lengthy talks with the Iranian delegation through the mediators, who shuttled between the two sides throughout the day. They successfully completed a round of discussions that we hope will prove…
— Special Envoy Steve Witkoff (@SEPeaceMissions) September 22, 2026
I was suspicious on a close reading of Witkoff’s tweet since he only mentions mediators shuffling back and forth, but, looks like I was wrong about that, per Nima Alkhorshid at Dialogue Works:
Donald Trump moments ago said that Steve Witkoff had a three-hour meeting with the Iranians, which was later on confirmed by Iran state media.
[Iran] confirmed that that meeting had happened between Iranian foreign minister Araghchi and Steve Witkoff and the conditions that Iran says Iran conveyed—its position during the meeting. It says Iran’s condition according to IRIB, which is Iranian state media, it says:
immediate lifting of the maritime blockade;
immediate payment of all frozen Iranian assets;
an end to the war on all fronts of resistance—including Gaza and Lebanon.
These are among Iran’s conditions for reopening of this trade of Hormuz.
And in case you were wondering how Trump was talking without Bibi Netanyahu’s arm shoved up his family blogging:
BREAKING: Israel is preparing for escalation with Iran, with Netanyahu urgently convening a security assessment tonight and his departure for the UN now unclear, per Channel 13.
A senior Israeli officer says the military is preparing for multiple scenarios, including a…
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) September 22, 2026
Meanwhile actual negotiations between significant players were taking place.
A Little Reality to Top Things Off
Quiet, Witkoff, real negotiations are taking place.
Per Al Jazeera:
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian has held talks with Pakistani Interior Minister Mohsin Naqvi in Tehran, as Pakistan and Qatar seek to revive diplomacy amid fears that regional tensions could intensify.
Naqvi’s visit to the Iranian capital on Monday was his sixth since the United States and Israel’s war on Iran began in February. It came a day after Tehran said it had received intelligence that the US was planning new attacks on the country.
The piece also reveals that the Qataris are apparently the middlemen for the US and Iran at the UN.
Meanwhile in Pakistan on Monday, per Drop Site News:
Police in Lahore detained former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan’s three sisters, Aleema Khan, Noureen Niazi, and Dr. Uzma Khan, along with their children, on Sunday, as Khan’s party, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), prepares to march on Islamabad on September 27 to demand his release.
Imran Khan’s health has deteriorated significantly over the past few months after more than three years in prison. His primary healthcare provider, Dr. Faisal Sultan, has not been allowed to visit him for several weeks. In their last meeting, Imran Khan told his sister Uzma Khan that he is subjected to “absolute inhumane treatment.” The Telegraph reported her saying, “He told me to tell people outside that they are being unjust to me, they don’t listen to me, these are not humans.”
In all, eight members of his family were detained within 24 hours. The children were released after a few hours of detention, Aleema Khan’s son Shershah Khan told Drop Site, but Khan’s sisters remain in custody.
Simultaneously, several elected leaders of PTI were also arrested, and party offices were raided in a nationwide crackdown ahead of the September 27 march.
At the same time, Islamabad’s hospitals were placed on emergency footing. Documents obtained by Drop Site show that federal health authorities issued instructions before the planned protest, directing hospitals to prepare for a potential “humanitarian crisis” and “mass casualty incident” in Islamabad.
Something tells me Pakistan is not going to be in a position to rescue Muhammad bin Salman from Ansar Allah any time soon.
But never fear, Little Andy Burnham from up Manchester way is stepping up, the darling boy is such a cutie bug, per Al Jazeera:
The United Kingdom has agreed to provide limited military support to Saudi Arabia to help it repel attacks by Yemen’s Houthis, according to British Prime Minister Andy Burnham.
Speaking to reporters as he flew to the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Monday, Burnham said he had agreed that the Royal Air Force would provide air-to-air refuelling of Saudi planes.
“We have received a request from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for military support, and on the advice of the defence secretary and the foreign secretary, last night I agreed to that request for defensive air-to-air refuelling,” he said.
The agreement is “time-limited” and will be kept under review, he added.
The Brits spent about a century in futile efforts to dominate Yemen, I guess the corpse of the Vicky’s Empire can still twitch in familiar directions.
Meanwhile:
🇾🇪 Ansarallah advances toward key Taiz–Aden road!!
Ansarallah forces have reportedly captured Jabal Rasin, a strategic mountain position roughly 15 km west of Al-Turbah, amid intensifying fighting in Taiz province.
Al-Turbah sits on a crucial route connecting Taiz with Aden.… pic.twitter.com/bICcRkxeTI
— DD Geopolitics (@DD_Geopolitics) September 21, 2026
Let’s wrap with some crude talk. Oil, that is.
Two Tankers Hit, But Is the Spice Flowing?
Per France 24:
A maritime security agency said Monday that two tankers were hit either by an “unknown projectile” or debris from one in the Strait of Hormuz, where vessels have come under repeated fire since the Middle East war broke out.
…
In the first incident to be reported on Monday, “a tanker conducting an inbound transit was struck by an unknown projectile” in the Hormuz, said the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) operations centre.
“Two crew have sustained minor injuries and the vessel is reported to be continuing to its next port of call under its own power,” it added.
British security firm Vanguard Tech said UK-flagged tanker La Stephanie was hit by a drone while sailing towards the Gulf, also reporting minor injuries to two crew members.
Later in the day, UKMTO said an “LPG tanker has been hit by debris from unknown projectiles”.
No casualties were reported in the second incident and the tanker would also continue to its next port of call, it said.
Meanwhile, Aramco claims they’re back in business, per Maritime Executive:
Saudi Aramco has achieved the technical means for a partial restart on its strategic East-West Pipeline, which was significantly damaged in a drone attack on September 11, according to multiple outlets. The pipeline is now operating at reduced capacity or will be soon, industry sources confirmed to Reuters, Bloomberg and the FT.
The interim objective is to achieve a pipeline transfer rate of about four million barrels per day – enough to supply Saudi Arabia’s own refineries along the Red Sea, plus a small amount more. One crude export loading has already been scheduled at the key export hub at Yanbu, Reuters reports.
Brandon Weichert comments: “AT A VERY LOW RATE.
The Saudis learned from Trump and the Israelis that one can simply make things up about really important things and the Western media will simply take it at face value.”
Speaking of spurious claims:
BREAKING: Iran directly rejects new claims this morning that Iran is ready to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US eases military pressure and lifts the blockade on Iranian ports, with Iranian sources calling them “false, unreliable and lacking in accuracy,”…
— The Hormuz Letter (@HormuzLetter) September 22, 2026
Iran directly rejects new claims this morning that Iran is ready to reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days if the US eases military pressure and lifts the blockade on Iranian ports, with Iranian sources calling them “false, unreliable and lacking in accuracy,” per Fars.
The reports, by Reuters and Kyodo citing Iranian sources, said the plan had even been approved by Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei and the Supreme National Security Council, causing Brent crude oil to fall almost 5%, from $102 to $97.
Iran says the recurring pattern, where positive news about negotiations coincides with diplomatic activity and leads to a drop in oil prices, has become a repetitive scenario by the Trump administration to influence the price of oil.
Iran says all conditions must be met first for a Hormuz reopening, which remain unchanged: $300 billion in US compensation, complete lifting of all US sanctions, release of $100 billion in frozen Iranian assets, end of the US naval blockade, US troop withdrawal from the entire region, and a comprehensive regional ceasefire including in Lebanon and Gaza.
Tanker Trackers promises to end their week-long holiday tomorrow so we’ll see what they have to say.
And some kino from Ansar Allah:
Another Ansarallah orbital strike from Operation Allah is Stronger in Might and More Severe in Punishment. pic.twitter.com/h6dQ3LEJAs
— barry with the NED (@bonzerbarry) September 22, 2026
Oh I almost forgot.
Some YouTube Videos to Chew On
If you’ve got time and inclination, I found all of these worthwhile:
A concise and amusing news roundup.
Ehsan Safarnejad provides an interesting Iranian perspective that isn’t Professor Marandi (not that there’s anything wrong with Prof. Marandi).
In which Charlie and his dad enact an ideal father-son, teacher-student relationship my college age son found hilarious (“credulous” and “obsequious” were his exact words, lol) when I showed him a few minutes of them and asked why he didn’t respect my opinions like Charlie respects his dad’s.
Stay safe, y’all.
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