Robert S. Mueller III, a Vietnam war hero who served as FBI director from 2001-2013 and best known for investigating Russian ties to the 2016 Trump campaign, died Friday. He was 81. Scroll down for more.
WEDNESDAY 3/25/26
Talks, No Talks Part II – Iran on Wednesday dismissed President Trump’s proposed deal for a ceasefire, The New York Times reports, with a military spokesman and state media stating the conflict will end only on Tehran’s terms. But there were private signals late Tuesday that Tehran is open to considering meeting next week with US negotiators, which likely means White House envoy Steve Witkoff and White House son-in-law Jared Kushner, in Pakistan to discuss a possible deal to end the war, but not Trump’s ceasefire proposals.
Meanwhile … Israel is hitting as many targets in Iran as it can before such negotiations might be brought to a stop, two Israeli officials told the NYT, serving more proof that the differences in Tel Aviv’s objectives and that of Washington continue to widen.
Why not try showering Trump with gifts? … On Tuesday, Trump told reporters covering the swearing in of Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as the Homeland Security secretary that Iran “gave us a present, and the present arrived today. It was a very big present worth a tremendous amount of money. I’m not gonna tell you what that present is, but it was a very significant prize.” (Per the Daily Beast.)
Is it another jet airliner? Is it a present from Iran to the US, or to President Trump? Nobody but Trump and Iran’s leaders knows, though according to The Economic Times it’s oil related.
So … one more guess: Rare dinosaur bones?
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AAA National Average Unleaded Regular, Wednesday: $3.983 per gallon, 0.9 cents lower than Tuesday’s price and up 99.1-cents over February 27. Diesel: $5.285 per gallon, up 8.1 cents over Tuesday and $2.109 higher than on February 27. –TL
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TUESDAY 3/24/26
Talks, No Talks – Iran denies it’s in talks with the Trump administration to end the war, though a back-door effort appears to be underway. President Trump had threatened to start bombing Iranian oil facilities and infrastructure by Monday evening, then put that on delay until the end of the week to “see what happens … otherwise we just keep bombing our little hearts out.”
An Israeli official has told NPR that talks were to be held between the US and Iran in Pakistan in the coming days, Morning Editionreports, with Pakistan, Egypt and Turkey behind the back-door negotiations.
Reports indicate that the Trump administration wants Iran to fully abandon its nuclear arms program and cut back on drones and ballistic missiles, while Iran’s foreign ministry indicates it wants full security from further attacks by the US and Israel.
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Mullin is DHS Secretary – The Senate confirmed Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) as the next Homeland Security secretary Monday by 54-45 vote, Politico reports. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the only Republican to vote with the Democrats against Mullin, while Sens. John Fetterman (D-PA) and Martin Heinrich (D-NM) voted with Republican senators.
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AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.992 per gallon. Diesel: $5.345 per gallon. Up $1 and $2.088 respectively, since February 27. Average prices were up slightly Monday despite a 10% drop in the price of a barrel of Brent crude. --TL
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MONDAY 3/23/26
Five-Day Delay – President Trump Full-Cap Truth Socialed that the US military will hold off from further strikes on Iran power plants and energy infrastructure for five days after VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE talks between Washington and Tehran, The Wall Street Journal reports.
The social media post delays a deadline Trump had set for Monday evening for US strikes on Iran’s power plants and infrastructure, NPR notes. Iran has indicated it has not had such communication with the administration. But Wall Street is buying it, with a rally Monday in part reversing a 9% drop in stock values last week.
Iran had earlier threatened wider attacks on infrastructure, fuel, technology and desalination facilities used by the US in the Middle East if its own energy sites were hit. Tehran also warned it would lay mines across the entire Persian Gulf if its coasts and islands – see Karg Island – were attacked.
However … Iranian expert Karim Sadjadpour, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace told NPR’s Michel Martin on Morning Edition Monday a deal between Iran and the US “looks very unlikely” in the short term. Iranian leaders consider “success” in the context of the war “survival” Sadjadpour said, while President Trump considers success the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
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Costs of War – The energy crisis caused by the US-Israeli war in Iran could be seriously compounded by interruptions to the “vital arteries of the global economy,” including petrochemicals, fertilizers, sulfur and helium, International Energy Agency Executive Director Fatih Birol told the National Press Club of Australia in Canberra, Monday.
The Guardian reports that Birol said the depth of problems in energy markets by the Israeli bombings of Iran and Iran’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz is not properly understood by global leaders.
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AAA National Average Unleaded Regular: $3.956 per gallon. Diesel: $5.285 per gallon. Up 97.4 cents and $2.028 respectively, since February 27.
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Robert S. Mueller III, 1944-2026 – The Mueller Report by the eponymous special prosecutor released in March 2019 concluded that Vladimir Putin’s Russian government systematically tried to help Donald J. Trump win the 2016 presidential election. The report detailed 10 cases in which President Trump and his aides had tried to impede the FBI’s investigation into the allegations and concluded (per The New York Times) while “this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.”
Trump reacted thusly on social media to Mueller’s passing last Friday at age 81; “Good. I’m glad he’s dead.”
The Atlantic Daily called this out as “The absurdity of a man who avoided Vietnam due to ‘bone spurs’ dancing on the grave of a decorated combat veteran.” Mueller was a Bronze Star Marine veteran who became, from 2001 to 2013 the second-longest serving FBI director after J. Edgar Hoover. ---Compiled and edited by Todd Lassa