\n<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth salute as an Army carry team moves a transfer case containing the remains of Pvt. Isabella Gonzales of Carrollton, Texas, July 22, 2026.<\/span>Julia Demaree Nikhinson\/AP<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n The Trump administration<\/span> is back on the warpath. Over the weekend, the government resumed military attacks on Iran <\/strong>for the first time in a month, which in turn prompted retaliatory Iranian strikes against the United Arab Emirates<\/a> and American bases in Jordan<\/a>. On Monday, Fox News correspondent Trey Yingst said<\/a> the president told him that \u201cthere will be a US response\u201d to the Iranian attack on US forces in Jordan.<\/p>\n Which is all to say that Iran, thanks in part to economic support from China, isn\u2019t backing down.<\/p>\n The Trump administration also signaled that it may ramp up economic sanctions on Iran this week, seeking to make good on promises of an \u201ceconomic D-Day<\/a>\u201d against the country: \u201cThis is going to be financial violence if we have to,\u201d Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told the Associated Press<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n On Monday, Iranian leadership joined an economic summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, whose largest members are China and Russia, in a<\/a> meeting that many<\/a> American<\/a> outlets have characterized as adverse to US interests China has been Iran\u2019s economic bulwark during the current war, defying US sanctions by remaining the main importer of Iranian oil<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n While struggling to fight Iran on multiple fronts\u2014through Bessent\u2019s \u201cfinancial violence\u201d in the form of severe economic sanctions<\/a>\u2014and the conventional violence of deadly military action<\/a> against both the country\u2019s civilian infrastructure and combat forces, the US has achieved little in terms of forcing Iran\u2019s leadership to budge on negotiations.<\/p>\n We\u2019ve seen this play out again<\/a>, and again<\/a>, and again<\/a> <\/strong>in the months since Trump dragged the U.S. into war with Iran.<\/p>\n In response to an exclusive from the Washington Post<\/em><\/a> citing classified documents in which top US military officials state the current war in Iran is depleting their ability<\/a> to defend the country from other threats, Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesperson, claimed that<\/a> publishing the report was \u201ca crime\u201d\u2014it is not\u2014and evidence of \u201cTDS and PDS\u201d\u2014Trump and Pete Derangement Syndrome, respectively.<\/p>\n Even as it scrabbles for new tactics\u2014and publicly appears at a loss\u2014the Trump administration <\/strong>continues to deny that its war isn\u2019t working<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n