The partly rhetorical battle over the Strait of Hormuz is still going on, but the United States and the Trump administration are claiming one new victory. On Tuesday, President Trump took to his Truth Social account to announce that the mine-clearing operations by the United States Navy in that troubled waterway are complete, and that all mines have either been removed or detonated.
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) August 25, 2026
The president writes:
I have just been informed by the United States Navy that all mines have been removed and/or detonated from within the International Waters of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran has been notified that any ship or boat placing new mines will be immediately and systematically destroyed. Through Space Force, we are watching every square inch of the Strait, as we are, also, with Pickaxe Mountain and the already destroyed three other Nuclear sites. There is a Zero Tolerance policy on mine placement in full force and effect. Thank you for your attention to this matter! President DONALD J. TRUMP
Also on Tuesday, RedState's own Teri Christophe reported that Iran's financial woes are at panic-inducing levels. Teri writes:
President Trump is turning up the heat on Iran again Tuesday morning, and this time his message isn't about missiles, nukes, or sanctions. Instead, it's about a radical regime that, according to the president, has become so dysfunctional that it can't even manage pay much its own military – while, at the same time, somehow finds the time and resources necessary to imprison and execute Iranians who dare challenge it.
In a Tuesday morning post on Truth Social, Trump called the situation on the ground in Tehran "a humanitarian crisis of epic proportions." And the president's warning about what comes next was unmistakable: This "must be stopped, NOW," he wrote.
Could the curtain be starting to come down?
Note that the president specifically mentions Iran's Pickaxe Mountain facility. At this remote location in the Zagros Mountains, Iran has been apparently rebuilding what the United States believes to be another nuclear research and development facility; Trump's mention of it is a strong implication that the United States is at least planning a strike to shut that facility down. Assuming there are in fact no remaining mines, it seems likely that any Iranian ship or boat that is seen to be laying more mines will be sent to join the rest of the Iranian navy at the bottom of the ocean.
Add to that the Secretary of the Treasury's ongoing economic campaign against the Islamic Republic, and things in Tehran may be getting very tense indeed.
Here's the thing: Iran's civil government may be reduced to what President Trump calls the "third level," but in the case of what's left of Iran's military, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) still appear to be in charge, and these are the people who may well decide that they would rather go down swinging than make any deal - and any deal that anyone in Iran makes will only be kept until they can rearm.
It's beginning to look a lot like the only way out of this thing will be through.
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats desperately try to stop it.
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