Peace President Trump's new mess after his Iran War ... ceasefire (?)

Newsweek published a list of Members of Congress who have called J.D. Vance and the Cabinet use the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office. As of the time of its publication midday Tuesday, the list includes only Democrats. The list does not include Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who supports the Iran War and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries. Former Democrats House Leader Nancy Pelosi is on the list. (1)

After supposedly agreeing to a two-week ceasefire, the United States’ co-belligerent Israel is staging a new round of attacks on Lebanon, which it wants to keep in a failed-state condition which it will periodically strike with what it calls mowing-the-lawn attacks. It is obviously also trying to annex part of Lebanon’s territory.

Ryan Cooper reports:

Donald Trump is setting records. His war on Iran is certainly the stupidest war in American history - and that’s saying something - and Trump has now lost it more quickly than any previous war. It took 20 years to lose in Afghanistan, about ten years to lose in Vietnam, and two and a half years to lose the War of 1812, but Trump managed to get utterly dog-walked in a mere six weeks.

That’s the only possible conclusion from Trump’s announcement on Tuesday evening—after threatening to obliterate Iran’s entire civilization - that he had reached a deal with Iran based on an Iranian proposal. The ten-point plan includes acceptance of Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz and the country’s continued uranium enrichment, an end to all primary and secondary sanctions, war reparations, withdrawal of all American forces from the region, and an end to the Israeli bombing of Lebanon. (The last one is already being violated right now with a huge barrage by the Israelis, leading Iran to close the strait again, so the durability of this cease-fire is in deep question.) [my emphasis] (2)

Trump is so erratic and demented that the war could go on for much longer. But Iran still has the escalation dominance. And Israel is entirely unreliable as a partner for doing anything other than turning Iran into a failed state.

Jeremy Scahill reports on the Iranian negotiating position in this report, including comments on China’s role in the diplomacy over the war: (3)

Juan Cole speculates on the implications of the US-Israeli war on Iran for the world standing of the US:

Going into the war, the Iranian government had just committed a massacre of thousands of protesters and was without a friend in the world. Trump and Netanyahu committed breathtaking war crimes on Iran and acted and spoke so monstrously that many countries ended up at least rhetorically supporting Iran, or at least opposing the war on it. Israel comes out of the war a pariah. The US is too rich, big and powerful to be a pariah but its standing has certainly plummeted and it can expect much less cooperation going forward. [my emphasis] (4)

It’s always important to remember that there are real issues about violations of international law at stake in this war. (5)

John Feffer reminds us what a militarized foreign policy the Trump regime is running:

The United States has long operated in these two registers: deploying overwhelming military force and using its diplomatic skills to broker peace deals. The two strategies have often gone hand in hand, as they did with [Henry] Kissinger [during the Nixon Administration].

But what was once a matter of some sophistication — if often wrapped in secret violence — has now simply become heavy-handed and transparently brutal. The Trump administration has touted a series of peace deals that, at least in their sheer quantity, rival the successes of Henry Kissinger. Examined more carefully, however, those deals are either premature, non-existent, or largely a function of showmanship. The “peace deal” in Gaza, for instance, was hastily assembled and poorly thought through; it’s no wonder that it hasn’t gotten to its second stage. [my emphasis] (6)

Notes:

(1) Lawmakers Demand 25th Amendment Be Invoked Against Trump: Full List. Newsweek 04/07/2026 1:08PM EDT. <https://www.newsweek.com/invoke-25th-amendment-donald-trump-officials-list-1179479191> (Accessed: 2026-08-04).

(2) Cooper, Ryan (2026): Donald Trump, Wrecker of American Empire. The American Prospect 04/08/2026. <https://prospect.org/2026/04/08/donald-trump-wrecker-of-american-empire-iran-war/> (Accessed: 2026-08-04).

(3) Iran READY FOR WAR To Resume ANY DAY. Breaking Points YouTube channel 04/08/2026. <https://youtu.be/iehAHCZrrnM?si=Yk48AOaIEb1BcKEm> (Accessed: 2026-08-04).

(4) Cole, Juan (2026): How Iran won the Iran War. Informed Comment 04/08/2026. <https://www.juancole.com/2026/04/how-iran-won.html> (Accessed: 2026-08-04).

(5) Lieblich, Eliav (2026): Reprisals and the Paradox of Trust: Why Threats of Retaliation in the Iran War are Unlikely to Work. Just Security 04/07/2026. <https://www.justsecurity.org/135894/reprisals-paradox-trust-iran-war/> (Accessed: 2026-08-04).

(6) Feffer, John (2026): Negotiating with bombs. Hankyoreh [South Korea] 04/08/2026. <https://english.hani.co.kr/arti/english_edition/english_editorials/1252900.html> (Accessed: 2026-08-04).