President Trump launched new attacks against Iran Tuesday for allegedly trying to install sea mines in the Strait of Hormuz. Mr. Trump warned that the worse is still to come if Iran retaliates.
Page A4From§Eachthe milkman edition — 2 September 2026
Pentagon chief resigns amid Iran strikes; Trump promises 'the biggest attack of them all' is still coming.
As it ran on the front
Let's be clear about what happened this week, because the coverage has gotten away from the facts. The United States conducted precision strikes in response to Iranian provocations, full stop, and Secretary Driscoll's departure has nothing — nothing — to do with the direction of that operation. He resigned for personal reasons, the timing was a coincidence, and anyone suggesting otherwise is reading tea leaves off a press pool report. Did I say Secretary? He's not Secretary anymore. That's — that's actually the whole story here, isn't it. Fine. Former Secretary Driscoll's resignation lands the same week the president tells the country, on camera, that 'the biggest attack of them all' is 'waiting in the wings.' I want to be precise about that phrase — wings, waiting — that's not escalation language, that's just — actually, rereading the transcript, that is exactly escalation language. I withdraw the sentence.
Look, the administration's position is that strength deters conflict, and every strike is a deterrent, and every promise of a bigger strike is also a deterrent, and at some point deterrence and escalation start looking like the same word read off two different podiums, but that's a communications problem, not a policy problem. Lawmakers reacting to the resignation are, per the wire, doing exactly that — reacting, which is their job, and if some of them are reacting with alarm, well, alarm is a form of engagement, and engagement is bipartisan, and I should stop right there before I say something else true.…
…(cont) The through-line the administration wants you to see is stability: personnel changes happen, strikes stay targeted, the region gets calmer for it. The through-line actually sitting on the page is a defense chief out the door during an active exchange of fire, with the commander in chief promising, in public, that the current round of strikes is not the biggest one available. That's not a talking point I was handed. That's just what 'waiting in the wings' means, and I need to stop reading the wire copy out loud in these meetings.
Bottom line: nobody in this building is calling this a war. It has strikes, it has a resignation under fire, and it has an explicit promise of a bigger one coming, but nobody here is allowed to call it a war. So I won't either. I'm just going to keep saying 'tit-for-tat' until the words stop meaning anything, which, reading this back, might already have happened.
“They push a guy out the door in the middle of a live exchange of fire and call it personnel news, then the president gets on camera and tells you the real strike hasn't even happened yet. Every time they say 'waiting in the wings' remember that somebody's kid is the wing they're talking about.”
“The strikes are targeted, the resignation is unrelated to operations, and 'the biggest attack of them all' is just the president being candid about deterrence. Although — deterrence usually means promising you won't have to use the big one, not promising that you will. I'll have to get back to you on that.”
The receipts
U.S. forces struck Iran on Tuesday, the second series of attacks in three days. Meanwhile, lawmakers reacted to the resignation of U.S.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.