U.S. forces announced new strikes against targets linked to Iran's Revolutionary Guard, marking another round of attacks as the U.S. and Iran return to hostilities.
Page A12From§Eachthe milkman edition — 2 September 2026
U.S. strikes Iran first, then warns Tehran against escalating, as Jordan and Bahrain absorb retaliation.
As it ran on the front
Let's be clear about the sequence, because the sequence is actually very reassuring once you understand it correctly. The United States conducted a precision strike against Iranian nuclear infrastructure, a defensive action, fully within — did I say defensive? I mean it was a first strike, but a first strike in the sense that we struck first, which, look, every strike is technically first from someone's perspective. The point is Iran was going to do something eventually, probably, and we got there before they did the thing we hadn't seen them do yet.
President Trump then made clear that additional strikes remain on the table should Tehran retaliate for the strike that started this, and that's not an escalation posture, that's a deterrent posture, because deterrence works by convincing the other side that if they respond to what you did to them, you'll do it again. That's just — okay, hearing it back, that does sound like the definition of escalation. Strike me from the record on that one. What I mean is the posture is measured. It's a measured posture that happens to include the phrase "vows more."…
…(cont) Meanwhile Iran launched strikes on Jordan and Bahrain, which the administration was quick to call unprovoked, and it was unprovoked, in the narrow sense that Jordan and Bahrain themselves didn't provoke anything — they just happen to host American interests, which is a coincidence Iran is choosing to notice for reasons that have nothing to do with the thing we did days ago. The Pentagon has been fully transparent throughout this process, transparent meaning we confirmed the strike happened after it happened, which is when transparency is supposed to happen, historically, as far as I'm aware.
Look, nobody wants a wider war. The Navy sent the Abraham Lincoln to dock in Thailand specifically to signal that everything is calm and the crew deserves a break, which they do, they've earned it, and also the carrier can be back on station within — I shouldn't have the timeline memorized. Anyway. The region is stable. We are actively striking a country to keep it that way. Those are not contradictory statements if you say them fast enough.
“We hit them first, then warned them not to hit back — that's not deterrence, that's throwing the punch and yelling 'assault' when the guy hits back. Jordan and Bahrain just found out they're collateral for a fight they didn't start, and the carrier crew got a port call in Thailand while it happened.”
“This was a defensive strike to prevent Iranian aggression — a preemptive strike, I mean, which is defensive if you define defensive as 'we went first.' Did I say that out loud? Deterrence requires overwhelming force, and vowing more strikes after the first one is just additional deterrence. It's fine. It's contained.”
The receipts
Thousands of sailors and Marines serve on the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln, which came into the spotlight because of a tough deployment in the war in Iran.
The Strait of Hormuz remains the primary flashpoint in the conflict.
The U.S. military hit targets in Iran on Tuesday and Tehran fired missiles and drones at various sites across the region in response as hostilities flare once again in an intermittent war.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.