The president also dismissed the high price of gas caused by his illegal war with Iran, describing it as “peanuts.”
With his approval ratings hitting a second-term low in recent polling, President Donald Trump decided on Tuesday to show off the progress being made on the luxury ballroom he’s building at the White House.
While speaking with reporters outside the White House, Trump boasted that the planned ballroom will “be something incredible” and then explained that it would apparently come with military defense capabilities.
“On top of the roof, we’re gonna have the greatest drone empire that you’ve ever seen,” the president said. “And it’s gonna protect Washington.”
Trump: "This is the ballroom and it's gonna be something incredible. On top of the roof we're gonna have the great drone empire that you've ever seen. And it's gonna protect Washington." pic.twitter.com/rLEPGC2x7W
A reporter then asked Trump to elaborate on some of the security features in the ballroom.
“The underneath part [of the ballroom]… it’s far more complex than the upper,” the president responded. “Because what you don’t see are the floors that are beneath here. And they have very, very important rooms down there, very, the most important. This was the one opportunity for the military to do something.”
After rambling about the ballroom being “ahead of schedule,” Trump said it would have “a drone-proof roof, again, it’s all sealed, and all of this that you see is totally sealed, and we use it as a drone port, you can have unlimited drones up there, and drones are what’s happening right now.”
Trump on the ballroom: "They have very very important rooms down there. The most important. This was the one opportunity for the military to do something. We use it as a drone port. You can have unlimited drones up there and drones are what's happening right now." pic.twitter.com/XWzFBNOlmO
Trump also reiterated his disinterest in Americans’ concerns about his illegal war with Iran raising the price of gas and leading to the highest level of inflation since 2023.
“This is peanuts,” Trump said of the price of gas, which as of Tuesday stood at an average of $4.53 per gallon in the US. “And I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while, it won’t be much longer… But I don’t even think about that. What I think about is you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, and they won’t have a nuclear weapon.”
Trump on high gas prices: "This is peanuts. I appreciate everybody putting up with it for a little while. But I don't even think about. What I think about is you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon." pic.twitter.com/XUVyNUpspm
There is no indication that Iran was anywhere close to having a nuclear weapon at the time Trump launched his war in late February without any authorization from the US Congress.
US Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbardtestified under oath before the Senate Select Intelligence Committee last month that Iran’s nuclear weapons program had been “obliterated” by US-led airstrikes that were launched last year, and that there “has been no effort since then to try to rebuild their enrichment capability.”
Trump’s boasting of the planned defense stockpile also came days after an anonymous White House official claimed to the press that Cuba is preparing to attack the US with drones—an allegation the Cuban government and commentators dismissed as laughable.
Donald Trump calls for help from NATO allies in securing the Strait of Hormuz despite saying on 7 March 2026 that they don’t need people to join wars after they’ve already won. He’s challenged with the claim that he lies as much as the IDF.Climate science denier Donald Trump confirms that he knows nothing about democracy and that more liquid gold is being secured according to his policy of global privateering.Orcas discuss rotting brain, front Orca says disinhibition and swearing are typical and common symptoms, small Orca speaks bluntly.
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White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks at the White House Press Briefing room in Washington DC., United States, on March 10, 2026. [Celal Güneş – Anadolu Agency]
US President Donald Trump favors a peaceful resolution with Iran but is prepared to escalate sharply if Tehran fails to accept the “reality of the current moment,” the White House said Wednesday, Anadolu reports.
Washington postponed planned strikes on Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure after “productive conversations” in the last three days, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt told reporters.
She said if Iran fails to accept that it has “been defeated militarily,” Trump will ensure the country is “hit harder than they have ever been hit before.” She added that the president “does not bluff and he is prepared to unleash hell.”
Leavitt also warned Tehran against “miscalculation,” claiming its last miscalculation had cost Iran its senior leadership, navy, air force and air defense system. Any further violence, she said, would be the result of Iran refusing to accept defeat and come to a deal.
She said the administration does not consider congressional authorization “necessary” for strikes against Iran, and acknowledged no specific timeline exists for the first oil tanker to pass through the Strait of Hormuz, though officials are working to realize it “as quickly as” possible.
Leavitt said the US has destroyed more than 140 Iranian naval vessels, including nearly 50 mine layers, in “the largest elimination of a Navy on the face of the planet in a three-week period since World War II.”
She added that during the weekend, the US dropped several 5,000-pound bombs on an underground facility used to store anti-ship cruise missiles and mobile missile launchers positioned along the Strait of Hormuz coastline.
Trump, Leavitt added, wants to see a Iranian leadership that is “much more favorable” to Washington, willing to cooperate with the US and no longer chanting “Death to America!”
Asked about Iranian state television reports that Tehran rejected a US 15-point plan to end the war, Leavitt said talks have not broken down. “They have not. Talks continue. They are productive, as the president said on Monday, and they continue to be,” she said.
On the reported plan, Leavitt urged caution, saying she had seen a plan “floated in the media” but that the White House had never confirmed it. “There are elements of truth to it, but some of the stories I read were not entirely factual,” she added.
The US has reportedly sent Iran a 15-point plan, outlining steps on Tehran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs, as well as maritime security in the Strait of Hormuz. Iran rejected the proposal, saying any ceasefire would occur on its terms and timeline, and outlined five conditions for ending the war, including a complete halt to “aggression and assassinations.”
On possible face-to-face talks, including reports of a potential meeting in Pakistan, Leavitt said nothing should be considered official until formally announced by the White House, cautioning against getting “ahead of our skis” on any talks planned for the weekend.
She also dismissed claims by former counterterrorism director Joe Kent, who alleged the US had shifted its red line from preventing a nuclear weapon to preventing nuclear enrichment to justify the war. She said Kent “resigned in disgrace,” calling his assertions “ridiculous and laughable,” and saying his accusations carry “zero credibility.”
The US and Israel have struck Iran since Feb. 28, killing more than 1,300 people, including then-Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, prompting Iranian retaliatory strikes across the region and a severe disruption to global oil flows.
Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Keir Starmer explains that UK is participating defensively in Trump and Israel’s criminal war for Israel’s genocidal expansion in Iran and states that he supports Zionism “without qualification”. Keir Starmer said “I said it loud and clear – and meant it – that I support Zionism without qualification.” here: https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/keir-starmer-interview-i-will-work-to-eradicate-antisemitism-from-day-one/
White House wages online propaganda campaign with aggressive and tasteless videos seemingly designed for young rightwing American men
Trump with Jeffrey Epstein in 1997; plumes of smoke from US and Israeli strikes on Tehran. Composite: Getty Images, Middle East Images, AFP
White House wages online propaganda campaign with aggressive and tasteless videos seemingly designed for young rightwing American men
…
Over the past couple of days, the White House and officials affiliated with the Trump administration have shared on X a series of hype videos that aggressively, and tastelessly, show off deadly combat footage from the strikes on Iran, sometimes in combination with footage from fictional movies and video games.
The videos are short, rapidly edited, and seem designed to appeal to the attention spans and tastes of Gen Z males fond of video-game trash-talk – though it is unclear whether those Gen Z males universally appreciate the Trump administration’s narrowly tailored jingoism.
One video, released on Thursday and captioned “JUSTICE THE AMERICAN WAY”, is less than a minute long but manically mixes footage from iconic action movies such as Braveheart, Gladiator, and Iron Man with apparently real footage of American ordnance striking Iranian military targets. Pulsing, fast-paced electronic dance music plays in the background as Russell Crowe, in Gladiator, says, “Strength and honor,” and a face-painted Mel Gibson, in Braveheart, demands: “What will you do without freedom?”
(It is unclear if the White House obtained permissions for the film and music in these clips, though it seems not.)
…
Americans are overwhelmingly skeptical of the strikes on Iran, according to a recent NPR/PBS/Marist survey, with just 36% of the public saying that they approve of Trump’s handling of the war. The White House’s own messaging has been confusing and tautological.
Rather than try to persuade the American people as a whole of the necessity and efficacy of the war, however, the administration seems more worried about pacifying a small sliver of its base – a very online, very male, and often younger segment of the Maga “new right” that is skeptical about foreign interventionism and especially cynical about anything redolent of the Middle East misadventures of the George W Bush years.
So far that audience seems less than impressed. On X, commenters have responded to the White House war propaganda videos by mocking the videos’ ham-fisted and bloodthirsty aesthetics, describing the US as a cat’s-paw of Israel, or disparaging the Trump administration for betraying the MAGA movement’s promise to put “America first”.
Comments referred to Hegseth as “GI Joke” or suggested that the war with Iran be known as “Operation Epstein Distraction”.
Donald Trump warns against following the https://onaquietday.org blog, says that it’s easy atm, she only needs to report war crimes supporting Israel’s genocidal expansion.Orcas discuss rotting brain. Front Orca says “Wish someone would lock him up”.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.
Cuban President and First Secretary Miguel Diaz-Canel is seen in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on July 7, 2025, and US President Donald Trump boards Air Force One at Haneda Airport in Tokyo on October 29, 2025. (Photo by Mauro Pimentel and Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images)
The White House accused Cuba of supporting terrorist groups as the Trump administration cut off much of the island’s energy supply and threatened countries with tariffs if they continue to send Cuba oil.
Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday said the country is open to expanding “bilateral cooperation” with the US, following President Donald Trump’s comments that the White House is “going to make a deal with Cuba”—but diplomatic officials emphasized that they vehemently reject Trump’s recent accusations that they harbor terrorists and pose an “unusual and extraordinary threat” to the US.
“Cuba categorically declares that it does not harbor, support, finance, or permit terrorist or extremist organizations,” said the ministry.
The statement was released days after the White House issued an executive order to address what it called threats that Cuba poses to the US, threatening to impose new tariffs on countries that sell oil to Cuba.
Trump’s invasion of Venezuela—which had been the top energy supplier to Cuba—and his push to take control of the South American country’s oil has left Cuba’s economy struggling with a virtual energy blockade and rolling blackouts. The US has also been pressuring Mexico to stop supplying energy to the island nation, prompting fears of a potential humanitarian crisis.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Millersaid last month that the US has the right to take over any country if doing so furthers its interests, and said the Trump administration should “secure our interests unapologetically in our hemisphere.”
In the executive order last week, the president made sweeping accusations against Cuba, claiming that it provides support for countries including Russia and China—though the Trump administration has also sought improved relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping—and offering no evidence for the allegation that it also supports Hamas and Hezbollah.
The Cuban storytelling platform Belly of the Beast called the accusation “laughable, if it weren’t so serious,” and spoke to some of the hundreds of Palestinian medical students who are studying to be doctors at the Latin American School of Medicine and other institutions.
“The vast majority of Palestinians in Cuba are medical students,” said Ihab Masri, who is studying there alongside students from about 100 other countries. “Trump is a person who says he stopped 10 or 12 wars… a person who not only justifies but also denies the genocide in Gaza that they commit and have committed. You can’t trust someone like that.”
In his attempt to block oil shipments to Cuba, Donald Trump now claims the country is a safe haven for Hamas and Hezbollah, without presenting any evidence. Cubans say it’s complete nonsense. The real story? Hundreds of Palestinian students training to be doctors in Havana. pic.twitter.com/3X24dhF6mN — Belly of the Beast (@bellybeastcuba) February 1, 2026
Trump’s executive order also accused Cuba of spreading “its communist ideas, policies, and practices around the Western Hemisphere, threatening the foreign policy of the United States.”
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday emphasized that “Cuba does not host foreign military or intelligence bases and rejects the characterization that it is a threat to the security of the United States. Nor has it supported any hostile activity against that country, nor will it allow its territory to be used against another nation.”
The US has maintained a trade embargo on Cuba for more than six decades and has had hostile relations with the country since the communist revolution gave rise to the late President Fidel Castro and overthrew authoritarian leader Fulgencio Batista, who was backed by the US.
US Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-Ill.) warned that Trump’s “latest economic assault against the island is designed to cause a humanitarian collapse, deepening our collective punishment of the Cuban people and forcing more migration.”
“Cuba poses no threat to the United States, but that’s not the point. Trump is manufacturing an excuse for cruelty and regime change,” added the congressman, while Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) denounced Trump’s executive order as “pure cruelty” that could “kill countless innocent Cubans.”
This Executive Order will kill countless innocent Cubans. I am horrified by the Trump Administration's attempt to strangle an entire people. Homes, schools, hospitals without power. Children without food or medicine. Cuba poses no threat to the US. This is pure cruelty. https://t.co/C28fHUmbW9
Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said last week that Trump’s threat against countries that continue to supply energy “reveals the fascist, criminal, and genocidal nature of a clique that has hijacked the interests of the American people for purely personal ends.”
On Monday, the global organization Progressive International joined Cuban officials in denouncing Trump’s executive order as a “cruel and criminal act of economic warfare that will bring nothing but starvation, deprivation, and despair to [Cuba’s] people.”
“With this new executive order, the logic of siege has reached its apotheosis: Sanction not only Cuba but every nation that dares show solidarity, effectively demanding that sovereign states choose between the interests of their own people and the dictates of an empire,” said the Cabinet of Progressive International.
The group called on the international community to “coordinate diplomatic resistance, demand that governments refuse to enforce secondary tariffs, and amplify Cuban voices against this assault on international law, human dignity, and basic human rights.”
“History will judge those who saw this moment and turned away. Cuba stood with oppressed peoples globally—from defeating apartheid in South Africa to sending doctors to the frontlines of epidemics—and now it is our time to act with audacity, moral courage, and collective force,” said Progressive International.“
“Stand with the Cuban people now,” the group added. “Stand against this siege, this economic assault, this unfolding humanitarian disaster; join together in the provision of key supplies to the island, from medicine to food to fuel for its people; and stand for the right of all nations to self-determination and human dignity, or be complicit in its destruction.”
Orcas discuss Donald Trump and the killer apes’ concept of democracy. Front Orca warns that Trump is crashing his country’s economy and that everything he does he does for the fantastically wealthy.Elon Musk urges you to be a Fascist like him, says that you can ignore facts and reality then.Donald Fuhrump says that Amerikkka doesn’t bother with crimes or charges anymore, not being 100% Amerikkkan and opposing his real estate intentions is enough.
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Flags of Israel and Saudi Arabia
Defense and intelligence officials from Israel and Saudi Arabia are visiting the US this week to discuss Iran amid a US military buildup in the region, Axios reported Thursday, citing sources.
Gen. Shlomi Binder, the head of Israel’s military intelligence, conducted a series of high-level consultations on Tuesday and Wednesday with top leadership at the Pentagon, the CIA, and the White House, according to two American officials.
The general’s visit was said to be centered on delivering specific intelligence requested by the Trump administration, including data on potential strike targets within Iran.
In contrast, Saudi Defense Minister Prince Khalid bin Salman is expected to emphasize diplomatic avenues during his Thursday and Friday meetings with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, envoy Steve Witkoff and Defense Department officials.
Saudi Arabia, who have been passing messages between Washington and Tehran, said earlier it would not allow the US to use its airspace in any attack.
The diplomatic friction occurs as the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group arrives to finalize a naval “armada” that President Donald Trump recently claimed is “bigger than” the force previously deployed toward Venezuela.
“The directive at the moment is to prepare,” a US official noted, suggesting that the president is rapidly approaching a final decision regarding military action.
Neither sides has provided a public information regarding the ongoing meetings reported by the news outlet.
Trump has called on Iran to make a deal on its nuclear program before it is too late, warning that this time the attack would be “far worse.” The US had bombed three Iranian nuclear sites in June 2025 during Tehran’s 12-day war with Israel.
Iran says its civil nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, but the West argues it is developing a nuclear weapon. The US has also expressed concerns over Iran’s ballistic missile program.
The developments come amid recent unrest and protests in Iran over worsening economic conditions due to a sharp depreciation in the local currency.
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Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.