Iran on Monday struck back at the U.S., carrying out attacks on American military assets at bases in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Jordan after U.S. forces fired at two Iranian rocket launchers over the weekend. Iran's Islamic…
Page A8From§Eachthe coffee break edition — 31 August 2026
US strikes Iran first, Iran strikes back, Trump demands Iran's leaders face war crimes trial
As it ran on the front
This office has reviewed the record and finds it entirely justifies calling for the trial of Iran's leadership on charges related to war crimes against humanity, full stop, because when a nation retaliates against strikes it did not — did not initiate, well, it did retaliate against strikes, the strikes came first, our strikes, but that's a sequencing detail, not a legal one.
Let's be clear about the timeline, because the timeline is exactly the point in our favor. The United States struck Iran. This was, per the President's own words, hitting them hard, a phrase that connotes strength, resolve, decisive American — and then Iran struck back, at Jordan, at the UAE, which this office would like to note is exactly the kind of escalatory behavior that justifies calling for war crimes trials against the leadership of a — did the United States strike first? The record indicates the United States struck first. That does not change the analysis. The analysis is that Iran is a failed nation and its leaders should be tried, a conclusion this office reached independently of who fired the opening shot, which, again, was us.…
…(cont) None of this should be confused with hypocrisy, a word this office rejects on the grounds that hypocrisy requires inconsistency, and there is nothing inconsistent about striking a country, absorbing its retaliation, and then demanding its leadership face a war crimes tribunal for the retaliation. That is simply — that is simply how the sequence — that is the sequence. In order. Us, then them, then the tribunal request aimed at them.
This office stands by the President's statement in full, including the parts that were said before the parts that came after, and including the fact that 'hit them hard' preceded 'Kharg Island' preceded the retaliation preceded the war crimes language, an order this office is now realizing it just read out loud, in order, and it does not reflect well on the order. This office will have a follow-up statement. It will also be in order.
“They hit Iran first, ate the retaliation, and now they want Iran's leaders in the dock for hitting back — that's a bar fight where the guy who threw the first punch calls the cops on the guy who swung back. Kharg Island is an oil terminal, so watch the gas pump, not the flag.”
“The strikes were measured, targeted, and entirely defensive, and if Iran's response looks like retaliation that's because — well, it is retaliation, but ours doesn't count the same way, because ours was first. I mean ours was necessary.”
The receipts
President Trump publicly called Monday for Iran's leaders to be prosecuted for "war crimes against humanity" after trashing the Islamic Republic as a "failed nation."
The U.S. and Iran traded strikes for the first time in weeks. American attacks targeted apparent Iranian rocket launchers on Larak Island. CBS News' Olivia Rinaldi reports.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.