The Strait of Hormuz remains the primary flashpoint in the conflict.
Page A6From§Eachthe sunrise edition — 1 September 2026
Trump vows to hit Iran hard, then signs new oil deal with Venezuela.
As it ran on the front
Let's be clear: the President's message to Tehran was unambiguous, forceful, exactly the kind of resolve our allies have been begging for since — well, since whenever they last asked for resolve, which I don't have the memo on but I'm sure it exists somewhere. 'We're going to hit them hard' is not a threat, it's a promise of American strength, and promises are different from threats because they're American, I suppose, that's the distinction, I'm sticking with it.
Meanwhile, the administration inked a fresh oil deal with Venezuela, which, sure, is a regime we've spent two decades treating as a pariah state, but that's not hypocrisy, that's strategic flexibility. Wait — did I just call Venezuela a pariah state? That's not administration language, that's actually just true, forget I said the pariah part, strike it from the record, we never had this conversation.…
…(cont) The point is you can threaten to hit a country hard and quietly do business with its ideological cousin in the same week, because foreign policy isn't about consistency, it's about leverage. Ask anyone who's ever run an oil company, or a country, or in this case both at once. The Venezuela deal is about energy security, full stop, it has nothing to do with the fact that Venezuela sits on some of the largest reserves on the planet and we happen to need it right now more than we need to look consistent. Actually — hold on, that IS the reason. Scratch that. It's about energy security AND toughness, they're the same thing now, I checked, there's a memo, I definitely have it.
Look, the administration's Iran posture is rock solid, and the timing of the Venezuela deal is a complete coincidence, unrelated, nothing to see, next question please. Is it strange that 'hit them hard' rhetoric and 'let's make a deal' diplomacy landed in the same seven days? Sure, strange things happen in foreign policy, that's called nuance, and nuance is exactly what critics of this administration have never once accused it of having, which frankly should tell you everything. So no, there is no contradiction here, there is only strength, flexibly deployed, mostly toward whichever government currently controls the barrel closest to empty.
“Tough talk on Iran plays great on the evening news, but the money still finds its way to Caracas because crude doesn't care about a press conference. This is the same move every time: threaten loud, deal quiet, hope nobody reads past the headline. Your wallet finds out anyway, usually at the pump.”
“The President's Iran posture is rock solid, full stop, and the Venezuela arrangement is strictly about energy security — wait, did I just call it an arrangement with Venezuela? That's, uh, actually accurate, let's keep moving. There is no contradiction here, only strength, flexibly priced per barrel.”
The receipts
President Trump is downplaying concerns about a new oil reserve agreement with Venezuela that experts say could take years to get up and running. CBS News' Lilia Luciano has more.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.