It’s no secret that Washington is looking for an off-ramp amid what has been a steady pattern of escalation with Iran over the past month since Operation Epic Fury began. The White House’s anticipated timeline and even list of objectives has seriously shifted since the war’s start, as has the scope, given Tehran’s ‘unexpected’ big retaliatory strikes on the Gulf and Israel – including on energy and infrastructure targets.

It seems Trump was thinking Iran could be parallel to the Venezuela situation – where a ‘decapitation’ operation swiftly removed Maduro and the US basically acknowledged a pliant puppet in his place (Delcy Rodríguez). That’s why White House officials at the very start were talking about an operation that would lust just ‘days’ or maybe a couple weeks. Now, one month in, and we have fresh headlines like this: “Iran war enters its fourth week with no clear end in sight.”

The US administration is meanwhile trying to refocus its definable objectives, however overall vision and strategy for a ‘mission accomplished’ end-goal has been anything but clear. For example, the start of the war saw the White House officially list as an objective the end of Iran’s nuclear program and removal of enriched uranium – but that is no longer listed.

Instead, the State Dept. – citing Marco Rubio – has issued the following military objectives in Iran:

1. The destruction of Iran’s air force

2. The destruction of their navy

3. The severe diminishing of their missile launching capability

4. The destruction of their factories

These are much more ‘achievable aims’ allowing the Trump administration to save face by declaring they’ve all been met, whenever it wants to proclaim a mission complete situation, and pull Pentagon assets from the theatre.

But the fact that Iran still has de facto hold over the Strait of Hormuz remains a big problem, as does its ongoing nuclear capabilities, despite that nuclear sites have been degraded or possibly destroyed.

One big and somewhat surprising sign that the US-Israeli coalition could be about to wind down the war is that Times of Israel on Monday ran the following headline:

“A month into the war with Iran, the Israeli military has almost completed bombing all of the targets it defined for itself at the start of the conflict, and has now been ordered by Israel’s political leadership to shift to hitting ‘economic’ targets of the Iranian regime,” the publication wrote.

It goes on: “The Israeli Air Force has conducted hundreds of waves of strikes in Iran, dropping over 13,000 bombs on Iranian regime and military sites, including air defense systems, ballistic missile launchers, weapon production sites, some nuclear facilities, and various headquarters.”

The same report also details how dozens of top civilian and military leaders have been killed in the campaign, and most importantly longtime Ayatollah Ali Khamnieni. However, the report also mentions one Israeli objecting of “setting the conditions” for some kind of popular uprising which could topple the government, and that has not happened. Still, the language in the report strongly suggests an offramp could be in the works, perhaps under pressure by the United States:

On Saturday, IDF Spokesman Brig. Gen. Effie Defrin said that “within a few days” the military would complete targeting all of the “critical” assets of Iran’s military production industries, sites used to develop weapons that threaten Israel. The military has also said it has taken out most of Iran’s ballistic missile launchers and air defense systems.

And here’s a key line from Times of Israel:

Israel’s defense establishment is now in what it described as the “completion phase” of the goals it set out at the start of the war, meaning it believes it has largely achieved its objectives of degrading Iran’s military capabilities and “creating the conditions” for the Iranian regime to fall, The Times of Israel has learned.

Yet there are still other signs which suggest the war could go on for quite a bit longer, and even turn into a deeper quagmire, given the White House has yet to rule out ground forces.

I told @NewYorker: “What is the point of the entire U.S. military role in the Middle East? If it has any point, it should be to prevent something like the closure of the Strait of Hormuz. Yet U.S. military action has only brought about the very problem it’s supposed to prevent.”

— Stephen Wertheim (@stephenwertheim) March 30, 2026

Is Trump heading toward trying to ‘force’ a ‘mission accomplished’ moment? It would be interesting if this happened before the Strait of Hormuz was actually opened up. Such an outcome would probably be used by Iranian officials to instead declare ‘victory’ for the Islamic Republic.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning and delivered a scathing rebuke of his own party, saying it has “failed this moment.” 

Booker was on the show to promote his new book, and host Kristen Welker read a passage from it in which he argues that political coalitions can’t succeed if they exclude people based on “purity tests” or demand total agreement on every issue. 

In his book, he wrote, “We cannot cancel everyone who fails a purity test. We cannot exile those who don’t align with our every belief, however passionately we hold it. Coalitions that are only composed of the already converted cannot change the country. If everyone in your coalition agrees with you on everything, your coalition is too small, too small to make big change and too small for what our democracy demands.”

Welker then pressed him on whether Democrats are shrinking their coalition by doing exactly that. “Do you believe Democrats are making the mistake of shrinking their coalition with what you describe as purity tests, senator?”

“Look, I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment,” he replied. “It’s why I’ve called for new leadership in America. I’ve called for a generational renewal, because this left-right divide is killing our country, and our adversaries know it. They come onto our social media and try to whip up hate in America. That is one of our biggest crises. It is time for a new vision of our country that’s far more uniting, that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides. I really believe this is a time where we need new leadership, new moral imagination to pull our country together, because the challenges on the horizon aren’t just this current crisis that Trump has caused.”

Booker even appeared to criticize the Democrats’ Trump obsession, telling Welker that Trump “shouldn’t be the main character of our narrative right now.”

“We have real challenges from new technologies like AI and robotics, new challenges, that we need more unity in our country, and a reminder that we are not each other’s enemies. In fact, our ability to find common ground has always been our greatest hope.”

Booker continued, “Americans want a new generation of leaders that show that they can lift the whole country up,” he said. And then, in case anyone missed it: “It is time for a new vision of our country that is far more uniting that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides.”

While hawking his new book on Meet the Press, Cory Booker calls for new leaders in the Democrat Party and says that Democrats have “failed this moment.”

“I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment.”

Then… pic.twitter.com/3Js1l3Pjk1

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 29, 2026

Booker’s comment reeks of irony. According to reports, Senate Democrats are quietly – and not so quietly – tearing each other apart over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) recently met with progressive activists in Georgetown, where the discussion turned to whether Chuck Schumer could be pushed out of leadership. Murphy indicated that some lawmakers had been informally counting votes to gauge support for removing Schumer. Murphy is reportedly part of a group of senators quietly canvassing colleagues about dissatisfaction with Schumer. That group, dubbed “Fight Club,” is reportedly coordinating through a Signal chat to oppose Schumer’s preferred candidates in key 2026 races. The group believes Schumer has been putting his thumb on the scale for centrist candidates while an insurgent wave of progressive energy goes untapped. 

That sounds like a party that is still demanding ideological purity, not diversity. It would be foolish to think that Cory Booker is calling for the next generation of Democratic leaders to take over because they’ll bring ideological diversity to the party. Much of the anger against Chuck Schumer stems from his vote to fund the federal government in March of 2025 to avoid a shutdown. His approval ratings tanked because he was seen as capitulating to President Donald Trump, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been floated as a possible primary challenger, and polling even showed her with a double-digit lead over Schumer.

 Who does Booker think he’s fooling?

Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press Sunday morning and delivered a scathing rebuke of his own party, saying it has “failed this moment.” 

Booker was on the show to promote his new book, and host Kristen Welker read a passage from it in which he argues that political coalitions can’t succeed if they exclude people based on “purity tests” or demand total agreement on every issue. 

In his book, he wrote, “We cannot cancel everyone who fails a purity test. We cannot exile those who don’t align with our every belief, however passionately we hold it. Coalitions that are only composed of the already converted cannot change the country. If everyone in your coalition agrees with you on everything, your coalition is too small, too small to make big change and too small for what our democracy demands.”

Welker then pressed him on whether Democrats are shrinking their coalition by doing exactly that. “Do you believe Democrats are making the mistake of shrinking their coalition with what you describe as purity tests, senator?”

“Look, I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment,” he replied. “It’s why I’ve called for new leadership in America. I’ve called for a generational renewal, because this left-right divide is killing our country, and our adversaries know it. They come onto our social media and try to whip up hate in America. That is one of our biggest crises. It is time for a new vision of our country that’s far more uniting, that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides. I really believe this is a time where we need new leadership, new moral imagination to pull our country together, because the challenges on the horizon aren’t just this current crisis that Trump has caused.”

Booker even appeared to criticize the Democrats’ Trump obsession, telling Welker that Trump “shouldn’t be the main character of our narrative right now.”

“We have real challenges from new technologies like AI and robotics, new challenges, that we need more unity in our country, and a reminder that we are not each other’s enemies. In fact, our ability to find common ground has always been our greatest hope.”

Booker continued, “Americans want a new generation of leaders that show that they can lift the whole country up,” he said. And then, in case anyone missed it: “It is time for a new vision of our country that is far more uniting that brings people together, doesn’t deepen divides.”

While hawking his new book on Meet the Press, Cory Booker calls for new leaders in the Democrat Party and says that Democrats have “failed this moment.”

“I’m proud of so many things that my Democratic colleagues are doing, but as a whole, our party has failed this moment.”

Then… pic.twitter.com/3Js1l3Pjk1

— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) March 29, 2026

Booker’s comment reeks of irony. According to reports, Senate Democrats are quietly – and not so quietly – tearing each other apart over Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. 

Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) recently met with progressive activists in Georgetown, where the discussion turned to whether Chuck Schumer could be pushed out of leadership. Murphy indicated that some lawmakers had been informally counting votes to gauge support for removing Schumer. Murphy is reportedly part of a group of senators quietly canvassing colleagues about dissatisfaction with Schumer. That group, dubbed “Fight Club,” is reportedly coordinating through a Signal chat to oppose Schumer’s preferred candidates in key 2026 races. The group believes Schumer has been putting his thumb on the scale for centrist candidates while an insurgent wave of progressive energy goes untapped. 

That sounds like a party that is still demanding ideological purity, not diversity. It would be foolish to think that Cory Booker is calling for the next generation of Democratic leaders to take over because they’ll bring ideological diversity to the party. Much of the anger against Chuck Schumer stems from his vote to fund the federal government in March of 2025 to avoid a shutdown. His approval ratings tanked because he was seen as capitulating to President Donald Trump, and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has been floated as a possible primary challenger, and polling even showed her with a double-digit lead over Schumer.

 Who does Booker think he’s fooling?

Another near-miss has unfolded over NATO skies, with Turkey on Monday announcing that air defenses intercepted a ballistic missile fired from Iran. It’s another dangerous indication that the Iran war could easily expand into a broader conflict at any moment. 

The intercept was carried out by air and missile defense assets positioned in the Eastern Mediterranean, according to the Turkish defense ministry, which offered no further initial details concerning trajectory, type, or what the intended target ultimately was.

US Navy image, illustrative

This marks the fourth fourth such interception since March of the war and Operation Epic Fury, which has surpassed the one-month mark.

The timing is notable given Ankara is simultaneously trying to play middleman between Washington and Tehran, alongside Pakistan where regional diplomats have been trying to jump-start direct Tehran-Washington talks, which has proven elusive.

Turkish and NATO officials have struck a familiar tone, describing that “all necessary measures” are being taken to counter threats to Turkish territory and airspace, and further saying that ongoing developments will be “closely monitored”.

There’s been speculation that these ballistic missiles from Iran could be intended for US-British military assets in Cyprus. Earlier in the conflict drones were sent – likely from Iranian allies in Lebanon – onto a British airbase in EU-member Cypriot territory.

NATO command has previously stated that “Our deterrence and defense posture remains strong across all domains, including when it comes to air and missile defense.”

This developing pattern of large Iranian missiles flying over Turkey has raised the potential for invoking NATO Article 5, despite US officials having downplayed this option. 

During the first incident, Pentagon chief Pete Hegseth had described, “On the matter with Turkey, I’ll have to get back to you on exactly what the intercept looked like.”

He laid out at the time that “We’re aware of that particular engagement, although no sense that it would trigger anything like Article 5.”  

Authored by Jacki Thrapp via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Restaurants in Colorado’s capital are only allowed to serve water to guests if they ask, according to new restrictions by the Denver Board of Water Commissioners.

A scenic view of the Denver skyline at sunset, with the Rocky Mountains in the background and a forest in the foreground. Bill Ross/Getty Images

“Restaurants and catering businesses shall serve water only upon request,” the mandatory irrigation restrictions read.

The rules were issued in the Mile High City after the commissioners declared a Stage 1 Drought and made plans to seek a 20 percent reduction in water use. City officials expect drought conditions to last until April 30, 2027.

The update will affect many businesses, including the hospitality industry.

“Lodging establishments shall not change sheets more often than every four days for guests staying more than one night, except for health or safety reasons or upon express request of guests,” the Denver Board of Water Commissioners stated.

Drivers who attempt to wash their car are told to use a bucket or a hand-held hose equipped with an automatic shut-off nozzle if they don’t use a commercial car wash.

Residents can water their grass only two days per week, according to the schedule provided by city officials, but it is prohibited between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m., when the sun is up.

“Current conditions indicate that this is going to be an exceptionally challenging year for our water supply,” Nathan Elder, manager of water supply for Denver, said at a Denver Board of Water Commissioners meeting.

“Snow pack levels are at historic lows and are melting earlier and more rapidly than normal.”

This graphic shows how much water is stored in mountain snowpack in 2025–2026 compared to previous years. Denver Water

Denver collects water from a 4,000-square-mile area across the state to serve 1.5 million people, but the rivers that feed the water supply have experienced record-low snowpack.

“Our Colorado River snow pack in our collection system is currently at 53% of normal. This is the lowest on record for the date,” Elder said during the meeting.

City officials warned that the snowpack, which contributes to the city’s water supply, has significantly decreased after a recent heatwave that pushed temperatures into the 80s in mid-March.

This graphic shows the drought conditions in Colorado on March 28, 2026. National Weather Service

The drought is currently affecting 3.6 million residents in Colorado, according to the National Weather Service’s Drought Monitor.

As of March 28, the Drought Monitor listed the Denver-metro area as under severe drought, while counties in the Rocky Mountains are under extreme and exceptional drought.

​According to the data, more than 74 percent of the state is in a drought.

The Dutch Finance Ministry informed members of Parliament in a letter on Monday about “unauthorized access” to several of its banking systems, including the digital portal for treasury banking.

“Because of the ongoing forensic investigation and for security reasons, several systems have been temporarily taken offline, including the digital portal for treasury banking,” Finance Minister Eelco Heinen wrote in the letter.

Heinen warned that the cyberattack has resulted in “around 1,600 public institutions that hold their funds with the Ministry of Finance” being “currently unable to view the balance of their treasury accounts digitally.”

He continued, “Participants in treasury banking include, among others, ministries, agencies, legal entities with a statutory task, educational institutions, social funds, and decentralized governments.”

“It is also temporarily not possible for participants to apply for loans, deposits, or credit facilities through the portal, change the intraday limit, or generate reports,” Heinen warned.

Heinen admitted, “At this time, it is not yet known how long this situation will last.”

He said investigations are ongoing in unison with the National Cyber Security Centre and other forensic security experts.

Heinen did not comment on who the responsible actor or actors were, or whether any ransom was involved.

To sum up, with the digital portal for treasury banking down, day-to-day cash management for a large swath of the Dutch public sector appears inaccessible at the moment.

So what happens if the portal stays offline long enough that the Dutch government cannot pay its bills?

Via Middle East Eye

Tehran believes the United Arab Emirates is playing an active role in the US-Israeli war on Iran and any ground invasion could lead to widespread attacks on Emirati state assets, two senior Iranian sources told Middle East Eye. A month into the conflict, which has battered global markets, Donald Trump is weighing whether to use ground troops to seize strategic islands in the Strait of Hormuz in an attempt to stop Iran from disrupting energy supplies.

Attention has particularly focused on Kharg Island, the hub through which roughly 90 percent of Iran’s oil exports flow, and Qashm Island which overlooks the strait. Such an operation would probably be launched from US bases in Gulf Arab states, which have come under Iranian attack in retaliation for US-Israeli strikes on Iran, which have killed at least 1,900 people so far.

Explosion in the Fujairah industrial zone from Iranian attack on UAE on March 3, via AFP.

Anti-Iranian sentiment has grown in Arab Gulf states, where retaliatory strikes have hit various targets, including key energy infrastructure. Combative rhetoric has particularly come from the close Israeli ally the UAE, whose ambassador to the US wrote a column in the Wall Street Journal this week saying a ceasefire would not be “enough” and the belligerents should push for a “conclusive outcome” that “addresses Iran’s full range of threats”.

The WSJ even reported that some Gulf Arab states were considering joining the US-Israeli attacks on Iran. However, according to a senior Iranian security official, leaders in Tehran now believe the UAE has played an active role in the war from the very beginning.

According to the official, the Iranian leadership has “decided to end a weeks-long period of tolerance towards Abu Dhabi, after concluding that the Emirati role went beyond simply hosting US military facilities already hit in Iranian retaliatory attacks”.

The official said: “Iranian intelligence believes the UAE also made some of its own air facilities available for operations against Iran.”

Abu Dhabi has served as an advanced platform for Israeli interests in the region, the official said. He suggested this included “deception operations” – false-flag Israeli attacks on Oman and at least one other country intended to look like Iranian ones.

He said Tehran assesses that “part of that cooperation has also involved the use of advanced AI infrastructure inside the UAE to support data collection and analysis for US and Israeli targeting, including information on Iranian figures and sites”.

The official added that attacks on Iranian vessels, small boats and coastal areas launched from UAE territory would now be considered by Tehran as a major escalation requiring a “strong response”.

Imminent attack

A separate senior Iranian diplomatic official told MEE that Tehran believes a US ground offensive may now be imminent. He said intelligence assessments – supported by information from Iran’s allied states, including Russia – increasingly point to a scenario in which an assault could be launched from the UAE.

Last week, Trump threatened to destroy Iran’s power plants if it did not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, through which 30 percent of the world’s oil passed before the war. However, he has since twice delayed the promised attack, citing negotiations with Iran on a settlement that would end the bombing and allow oil to flow freely again.

The diplomat said Iran sees the current delay not as a genuine diplomatic pause, but as cover for the deployment of additional troops and preparations for a new phase of the war.

Reuters reported this week that the US is expected to send thousands more personnel to the Middle East, adding to the large American military presence already in the region. When the US and Israel on March 18 bombed South Pars gas field, one of the most important parts of Iranian infrastructure, Tehran responded by targeting energy facilities across the Gulf states.

Missiles and drones have also hit hotels, airports, data centers, ports and embassies in the region as the war has escalated. Yet the diplomat said Iran has so far deliberately avoided treating countries from which attacks were launched as fully enemy states.

“Iran carried out a deception in the skies over Dubai, costing the United Arab Emirates around $100 million.

Iran allegedly launched a missile equipped with flare decoys, prompting air defenses in Dubai to fire hundreds of interceptor missiles unnecessarily, reportedly depleting… pic.twitter.com/NHtdrdaz0t

— SilencedSirs◼️ (@SilentlySirs) March 29, 2026

For that reason, the diplomat said, Tehran confined itself to striking what it viewed as direct US military targets, or intelligence sites linked to the US and Israel, including some located inside civilian areas in countries such as the UAE and Bahrain.

That restraint, the diplomat warned, “would end immediately if any ground invasion takes place or if any part of Iranian territory or any of its islands becomes a target of a ground invasion”. Any country from which such an attack is launched would immediately be treated by Iran as an enemy, he said.

“Iranian strikes would no longer be limited to military or intelligence facilities but all state institutions and state-linked interests would become potential targets, including commercial and property assets in which the Emirati state holds investment stakes,” he said. “The previous rules will not hold if there is an invasion,” the diplomat added. “If any state participates in the occupation of even a single piece of Iranian land, that state will be dealt with as an aggressor.” This message, he said, has already been conveyed to the Emiratis.

*  *  * 

Authored by Jack Phillips via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

President Donald Trump again suggested that U.S. military action could be coming against Cuba as his administration has placed economic pressure on the communist-ruled island nation.

U.S. President Donald Trump waves as he boards Air Force One at Pope Army Airfield at Fort Bragg, N.C., on Feb. 13, 2026, on his way to Palm Beach, Fla., to spend the weekend. Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

“I built this great military. I said, ‘You’ll never have to use it.’ ​But sometimes you have to use it. And Cuba is ​next by the way,” Trump said at the Future Investment Initiative summit in Miami Beach, Florida, on March 27. He then added: “But pretend I didn’t ‌say ⁠that. Pretend I didn’t.”

After that, Trump said, “Cuba’s next.”

DJT: “Cuba’s next, by the way, but pretend I didn’t say that, please.” pic.twitter.com/qcle0y75c6

— Bruce Snyder (@realBruceSnyder) March 27, 2026

The Trump administration has opened up negotiations with elements of Cuba’s leadership ​in recent weeks, and the president has previously hinted that military action could be possible.

Cuban leader Miguel Díaz-Canel has acknowledged that the country is in talks with the U.S. military in a bid to avert potential military confrontation. Cuba’s economy has been battered ​by disruptions in ​oil imports, which ⁠it relies on to run power plants and transportation.

Díaz-Canel said in an address that the purpose of the talks was “to determine the willingness of both parties to take concrete actions for the benefit of the people of both countries,” coming after Cuba said it would release 51 people from prison.

Prior to the U.S. operation to capture then-Venezuelan regime leader Nicolás Maduro in January, Venezuela had ​provided much ⁠of Cuba’s oil needs, but Caracas’s new government has ended those shipments. Earlier in March, Trump had said Cuba ⁠may ​be subject to a “friendly takeover,” before ​saying, “It may not be a friendly takeover.”

“They have no money. They have no anything right now,” Trump also said outside the White House in February, referring to Cuba. “Maybe we’ll have a friendly takeover of Cuba.”

Trump has said that he would turn his attention to Cuba once the U.S. military operation in Iran is concluded.

“We could do them all at the same time,” Trump said in remarks on March 6. “But bad things happen. If you watch countries over the years, you do them all too fast, bad things happen.”

Cuba has been an adversary of the United States for decades, although there have been intermittent periods of engagement between the two countries. The United States has kept in place a trade embargo on the island for decades, prohibiting American businesses from engaging with Cuban interests, in part because the country held Soviet-made nuclear missiles during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.

Díaz-Canel, 65, took over as Cuba’s leader in 2021 after the resignation of 89-year-old Raul Castro, whose brother Fidel Castro had led the regime from 1959 until 2008. Fidel Castro died in 2016.

In January, Maduro was taken to the United States during the military operation, and he currently faces federal drug-related charges. During an initial court hearing in January, Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Since then, the U.S. government has moved to open up trade with Venezuela, including the easing of sanctions against the country’s state-run petroleum company earlier this month. The U.S. Treasury Department in February issued a license for the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas reserves in Venezuela.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Bloomberg cites Iran’s ISNA news agency, which says local authorities have arrested dozens of people for selling SpaceX Starlink terminals across 19 provinces. 

These satellite internet terminals have become popular among opposition and activist networks operating in the country amid an ongoing nationwide internet blackout during the U.S.-Iran conflict.

Sardar Ahmad-Reza Radan, commander-in-chief of the Iranian police, was quoted by the outlet as saying, “From the beginning of the Ramadan War, 48 key members of networks, cells, anti-revolutionary groups, and espionage rings were arrested, and 139 Starlink devices were also discovered.”

سردار رادان: از ابتدای جنگ رمضان ۴۸ نفر از عناصر اصلی شبکه‌ها، هسته‌ها، گروهک‌های ضد انقلاب و جاسوسی بازداشت شدند و ۱۳۹ دستگاه استارلینک نیز کشف شده استhttps://t.co/aXibi8kDKA pic.twitter.com/IVHueV69xu

— خبرگزاری ایسنا (@isna_farsi) March 30, 2026

With the U.S.-Iran conflict entering its second month, the internet-tracking firm NetBlocks reported earlier that Iran has been under an internet blackout for over 720 hours.

⚠️ Update: It has now been over 720 hours since #Iran fell off the global internet with the digital blackout entering its 31st day.

As the shutdown continues into its second month, misinformation and propaganda increasingly fill the void both domestically and internationally. pic.twitter.com/pz5SNzFYiD

— NetBlocks (@netblocks) March 30, 2026

Before the conflict broke out, there were reports that U.S.-aligned activist NGOs had smuggled in thousands of these satellite terminals to evade a ground-based internet blackout designed to stop the flow of information and prevent widespread uprisings. A Starlink terminal connects to a satellite in low Earth orbit that beams internet hundreds, if not thousands, of miles away from ground-based repeaters in surrounding countries.

We also tracked the black-market prices of Starlink terminals in Iran shortly before the conflict erupted, citing a report that said these terminals, which normally cost several hundred dollars in the West, were going for as much as $4,000.

The internet blackout across Iran has created an information vacuum that is being filled by state-controlled narratives, while the US and Israel have hoped to run information operations on the ground through Starlinks.

Submitted by QTR’s Fringe Finance

This is the kind of environment where how you deploy capital matters far more than just being “in the market.”

One lesson I’d repeat to myself here: don’t go throwing all your cash into the market just because we’re down 10% from the highs. That kind of thinking assumes the decline is basically over, when there’s no rule that says it is. In fact, a 10% decline is just considered a correction, not a bottom, and according to historical market data by firms Fidelity, a meaningful share of corrections go on to become deeper bear markets.

The biggest mistake you can make here is treating this level like a clearance sale instead of what it actually is: a potentially ongoing drawdown.

And just because I recently put out a list of stocks I’m watching on further plunges does not mean I think we’re anywhere near a floor. If anything, it means the opposite.

I’m preparing for lower prices, not declaring victory. There’s a huge difference between identifying names you’d like to own if they move lower and actually stepping in aggressively. Too many people confuse “this is interesting at some price” with “this is safe to buy a shitload of right now.” Those are not the same thing, and in declining markets that confusion gets expensive very quickly.

What really concerns me is seeing posts like the one circulating on X right now . You have someone openly talking about being down 80%+, already having blown up once before, and the response is not caution or humility—it’s doubling down, levering up, and planning to take out loans to buy more if things fall further. That’s not discipline, that’s gambling dressed up as conviction.

The language sounds inspiring on the surface—“volatility isn’t loss,” “now is the time to go big”—but underneath it is the exact mindset that tends to get completely wiped out in prolonged drawdowns. When people start talking about “rockets” and “relentlessly margining in,” that’s usually not a signal of opportunity. It’s a signal of late-cycle behavior that hasn’t fully accepted risk yet.

And this is where people get hurt the most. If the market continues to fall, the worst place you can be is in high-growth, no-profit, no-cash-flow names that were already priced for perfection. Those stocks don’t just drift lower, they collapse. When liquidity dries up and sentiment shifts, they have nothing to fall back on. No earnings support, no dividends, no real floor.

🔥 50% OFF FOR LIFE: Using this coupon entitles you to 50% off an annual subscription to Fringe Finance for life: Get 50% off forever

They can drop 50%, 70%, 90% and still not be “cheap” because there’s no clear way to value them in the first place. In contrast, some of the “boring” or “disappointing” companies (as one subscriber put it) that I pointed out days ago, with real cash flow and durable businesses at least give you something to anchor to. Speculative growth names give you narratives, and narratives don’t hold up well in bear markets.

That’s why, if I’m going to buy anything here, it has to be done slowly. Very slowly. Scaling in is not just a nice idea, it’s essential. Markets can and do overshoot to the downside, especially after long periods of excess. If historical norms hold we could easily see significantly lower levels before a true bottom forms. Buying all at once because something is “down a lot” is one of the fastest ways to find yourself immediately underwater.

If I’m forced to be a buyer in this environment, I’m sticking with fundamentals first. That might sound boring, and again some people did call my picks from yesterday “disappointing”. But boring is kind of the point right now. These are large, well-defined businesses with real earnings, strong balance sheets, and lower valuations than they’ve traded at in recent years. There will be liquidity to buy them at any price and they are predictable. I know they’ll be around. I know roughly where valuation support starts to matter. There is at least some concept of a bottom because there are actual cash flows and profits underpinning the business.

That is not true for companies with no earnings and no cash flow. Those don’t have a theoretical bottom. They can always go lower, because their value is based almost entirely on expectations. And expectations can reset very, very quickly when the market environment changes. And then, to buy these types of “growth” names blindly by going all in just because we are down 10%? A great way to get wiped out. And trust me, I know from experience. Mind the disclaimer. God bless.

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QTR’s Disclaimer: Please read my full legal disclaimer on my About page here. This post represents my opinions only. In addition, please understand I am an idiot and often get things wrong and lose money. I may own or transact in any names mentioned in this piece at any time without warning. Contributor posts and aggregated posts have been hand selected by me, have not been fact checked and are the opinions of their authors. They are either submitted to QTR by their author, reprinted under a Creative Commons license with my best effort to uphold what the license asks, or with the permission of the author.

This is not a recommendation to buy or sell any stocks or securities, just my opinions. I often lose money on positions I trade/invest in. I may add any name mentioned in this article and sell any name mentioned in this piece at any time, without further warning. None of this is a solicitation to buy or sell securities. I may or may not own names I write about and are watching. Sometimes I’m bullish without owning things, sometimes I’m bearish and do own things. Just assume my positions could be exactly the opposite of what you think they are just in case. If I’m long I could quickly be short and vice versa. I won’t update my positions. All positions can change immediately as soon as I publish this, with or without notice and at any point I can be long, short or neutral on any position. You are on your own. Do not make decisions based on my blog. I exist on the fringe. If you see numbers and calculations of any sort, assume they are wrong and double check them. I failed Algebra in 8th grade and topped off my high school math accolades by getting a D- in remedial Calculus my senior year, before becoming an English major in college so I could bullshit my way through things easier.

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