Mike Waltz, the man who got fired as National Security Advisor and was immediately rewarded with a UN ambassadorship, went on television Sunday to explain that the United States pausing its 13-day bombing campaign against Iran is actually a peace move. He also mentioned, almost as a footnote, that more military assets are moving into the region. President of peace, everybody.
Thirteen Days of Bombs, Then a Weekend Off
Here's the situation as CBS News laid it out on Sunday. The U.S. bombed Iran for 13 straight days after a ceasefire that had held for nearly three months collapsed in early July. Then, on Friday and Saturday night, the strikes paused. On Sunday, Iran paused its strikes too. Omani diplomats have been shuttling between the two sides, and one Iranian official told CBS News those conversations have been constructive.
Waltz called Oman's efforts praiseworthy. He said the pause was 'giving diplomacy some space' and 'a little bit of time' to work. Great. Wonderful. Also, he said, 'not only do we have what we need in theater, there's more moving into theater.' So the diplomatic space we are giving Iran comes fully equipped with additional American ordnance. Noted.
This is not a contradiction that Waltz seemed to notice, or care about. That particular species of cognitive flexibility is basically a job requirement at this point in the Trump foreign policy apparatus.
The Weapons Running Low Story That Won't Go Away
CBS News reported last week that the pace at which the U.S. is burning through advanced air-defense interceptors and precision-guided munitions in the Middle East has become a serious source of tension inside the Trump administration. These are not cheap weapons. These are not fast to replace. And the U.S. has been launching them at a rate that is making people in uniform genuinely nervous.
Waltz called that reporting 'nonsense.' He used that word specifically. The same man then followed up by confirming, in the next breath, that additional assets are being moved into the region. Which, to be clear, you generally do not need to do if supplies are completely fine and there is no pressure on your inventory. But sure. Nonsense.
The CBS News poll out Sunday found that most Americans describe their feelings about the war as 'uncertain' or 'frustrated.' The poll also found that while Americans still want the Strait of Hormuz open and Iran's nuclear program stopped, they broadly believe the conflict is not going well. The administration's response to that public sentiment appears to be: move more stuff in and tell everyone it's a peace operation.
Bernie vs. The Guy Who Wants to Bomb a Mountain
CBS News brought on both Bernie Sanders and Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana to offer contrasting views, and the contrast was, let's say, vivid. Sanders, who has opposed this war since the beginning, made a simple argument. 'Let's sit down. Let's negotiate with them. Let's stop the killing,' he told host Margaret Brennan. He also pointed out that the war is hammering gas prices and costs across the economy.
Kennedy listened to Sanders' interview and then delivered what he clearly felt was a devastating rebuttal. 'Bernie wants to just come home. He wants to turn out the lights, make sure the cat's inside, and go to bed.' That is a real sentence a sitting U.S. senator said about ending an active war. Kennedy then argued the U.S. should 'stay the course for at least a few more months,' tighten sanctions, continue the blockade, and quote, 'starve them out.'
Kennedy also said the U.S. should bomb something called Pickaxe Mountain, a suspected deeply buried nuclear site, and 'try to reach what's underneath it.' Pickaxe Mountain. He said it twice. The bar for war commentary in the United States Senate is apparently set somewhere around a Tom Clancy novel that nobody finished.
What a Diplomatic Pause Actually Looks Like
To be fair to the basic facts here: diplomatic pauses during active conflicts are not inherently meaningless. Oman has a track record as a back-channel intermediary between the U.S. and Iran going back decades. The fact that Iranian officials and Omani counterparts have been in constructive discussions, as CBS News reported Sunday, is not nothing. Ceasefires and negotiations have started from shakier foundations than this.
But the way this administration is framing it strains credulity in ways that are hard to overlook. Thirteen days of sustained bombing does not become a peace initiative because you stop for a weekend and say nice things about Oman. Calling Trump a 'president of peace' while simultaneously announcing additional military assets are moving toward the country you just spent two weeks bombing is the kind of messaging that works only if nobody is paying attention and everyone agrees not to ask the obvious follow-up question.
Margaret Brennan, to her credit, kept asking the follow-up questions. Waltz kept answering a slightly different version of them.
The Dingo Take
Look, there is a version of this weekend's news that is genuinely encouraging. Both sides stopped shooting for 48 hours. Diplomats are talking. Oman is doing what Oman does, which is quietly hold things together while everyone else acts unhinged. Those are real facts and they matter.
But the spin coming out of the Trump administration on Sunday was so aggressively detached from reality that it almost looped back around to being funny. 'President of peace' is not a phrase you use about a 13-day bombing campaign. Telling the public that weapons concerns are 'nonsense' and then confirming more weapons are moving in is not a rebuttal, it's a confession. And deploying John Kennedy to explain why Bernie Sanders is a coward for wanting to stop a war, while Kennedy himself proposes bombing a mountain called Pickaxe Mountain, is the kind of thing that you'd cut from a political satire screenplay for being too on the nose.
The American public, per CBS News polling, is uncertain and frustrated. That's probably the most rational response available to them right now. The people in charge are moving weapons in and calling it diplomacy, and a senator from Louisiana is on national television demanding we bomb a mountain. Uncertain and frustrated seems about right.
