Iran war Trump promised would be quick remains in its sixth month, defended as protection.

…(cont) What the administration can point to is the ledger. The rial is worthless. Iranians are hoarding hard currency and whatever physical assets they can find because the blockade has cut off the alternatives, and that is, by design, the pressure this war was built to apply. Economic pressure, delivered as intended, six months on. That part of the strategy is working exactly as described.

Whether it is protecting American taxpayers is a different question, and it's one I don't have a figure for. I was told there would be a number for this briefing. There is not a number for this briefing.

There's also a gap in the record worth naming: six months of coverage on this war, and Iran's own minorities have barely appeared in it, apart from one early mention of arming Iranian Kurds. That's a finding from the Washington Examiner, not from us, and I'd rather flag it than pretend it isn't there.

So here is where the administration stands, plainly: a war sold as quick, six months old with no end declared, a currency in collapse, a population locked out of its own money, and a taxpayer-protection argument still waiting on a number to back it up. I still believe protection is the right word. I'm having a harder time every week saying what, exactly, it's protecting against that six months of bombing and bankrupting hasn't already caused.

That's the briefing. There will be a cleaner version of this tomorrow. There always is.