Rabbit Trails

The Dispatch

The President of the United States published an update to his position on the Strait of Hormuz on April 3, 2026, at 8:22 AM. The post read as follows: “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE. IT WOULD BE A ‘GUSHER’ FOR THE WORLD???” The post was signed President DONALD J. TRUMP.

For the purposes of administrative record, this correspondent notes the progression of the President’s Hormuz positions over the preceding 72 hours. On April 1, the President posted that he would consider Iran’s ceasefire request once the Hormuz Strait was open, free, and clear, and that until that condition was met, the United States would be blasting Iran back to the Stone Ages. That evening, in his primetime address to the nation, the President urged other countries to build up some delayed courage and go take the strait themselves, as China, Japan, South Korea, France, and other nations receive the majority of their oil through it and should be responsible for its security. On April 2, the President posted video of Iran’s largest bridge being destroyed and stated that it is time for Iran to make a deal before it is too late and there is nothing left of what could still become a great country. On April 3, the President posted that with a little more time, the United States can easily open the strait, take the oil, and make a fortune.

The Strait of Hormuz has been effectively closed to commercial shipping since early in the conflict, contributing to a 25 percent increase in United States gasoline prices, which the President described in his Easter Lunch remarks as a short-term increase and a true investment in the nation’s children’s future. The President said at those same remarks that the United States now controls 59 percent of the world’s oil supply as a result of the Iran operation and a prior military action in Venezuela. He said he would prefer to simply take Iran’s oil but acknowledged that the American public lacks the patience for an extended occupation. The April 3 post does not reference that assessment.

The Hormuz Strait condition remains in effect. The gusher has not yet materialised.

Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps conducted a series of strikes on Thursday, April 2, 2026, targeting technology infrastructure, military assets, and transportation facilities across multiple countries. The strikes were described by Iranian state media as retaliation for the ongoing United States and Israeli military operation against Iran, which entered its second month in late March.

The IRGC attacked Oracle Corporation’s data center in Dubai, according to Iranian state media. Earlier on Thursday, the IRGC struck an Amazon cloud computing centre in Bahrain, citing retaliation for attacks on Iran, according to the Iranian Students’ News Agency. The Amazon facility in Bahrain had been damaged in a previous Iranian strike on Wednesday; Bahrain’s Interior Ministry confirmed on Wednesday that civil defense teams were extinguishing a fire at a company facility following what authorities described as an Iranian attack. Two drones targeted a United States diplomatic facility near Baghdad Airport in Iraq, according to security sources. Drone attacks were also conducted against United States fighter jets at Jordan’s Al Azraq air base, according to Iran’s Mehr News Agency. A drone crashed at Iraq’s Trebil border crossing with Jordan, damaging customs clearance offices. The Islamic Republic’s semi-official Fars News Agency published a list of potential military targets on Thursday that included bridges in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Jordan. Bahrain’s Foreign Minister told the United Nations Security Council on Thursday that he hopes for a vote on Friday on a resolution to protect commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

At 12:37 PM on April 2, the President of the United States published a video to Truth Social showing the destruction of a bridge in Iran. “The biggest bridge in Iran comes tumbling down, never to be used again — Much more to follow,” the President wrote. “IT IS TIME FOR IRAN TO MAKE A DEAL BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, AND THERE IS NOTHING LEFT OF WHAT STILL COULD BECOME A GREAT COUNTRY.” The post was signed President DONALD J. TRUMP. The post was published approximately fifteen hours after the President’s primetime address to the nation, in which he stated that the United States’ strategic objectives in Iran are nearing completion and that two to three additional weeks of strikes are planned. The ceasefire condition — the opening of the Strait of Hormuz — was not referenced in the post. Iran has named its own military operation Operation Roaring Lion.

This correspondent notes, for purposes of administrative completeness, that Oracle Corporation announced layoffs of several thousand employees in the weeks preceding the IRGC’s attack on its Dubai data center. The circumstances of those layoffs were reported in a prior dispatch. Oracle has not commented on the status of the Dubai facility. Amazon has not commented on the status of the Bahrain facility. The bridge has been confirmed as tumbling down.

The Dispatch

Paula White, spiritual advisor to the President of the United States and director of the White House Faith Office, attracted public attention in January 2020 for a prayer delivered at a church event in which she called for all satanic pregnancies to miscarry. The prayer was delivered in full as follows: “In the name of Jesus, we command all satanic pregnancies to miscarry right now. We declare that anything that has been conceived in satanic wombs will miscarry, it will not be able to carry forth any plan of destruction, any plan of harm.”

White subsequently clarified that the comment had been taken out of context. She stated that she had been praying against the fulfilment of demonic plans in people’s lives, with reference to Ephesians 6:12, a biblical passage concerning spiritual warfare rather than physical pregnancy. “Anything that has been conceived by demonic plans, for it to be canceled and not prevail in your life,” White said in her clarification. She added: “That is — any plans to hurt people.” The clarification was issued via Twitter. The original prayer was not retracted.

Jesuit priest and America Magazine editor James Martin SJ responded to the original prayer by stating that no pregnancies are satanic, that every child is a gift from God, and that no one should ever pray for any woman to miscarry. White did not respond to Father Martin’s statement directly. White described the broader controversy as a disingenuous attempt to use words out of context for political gain, and stated that she would keep praying.

On April 1, 2026, White delivered the opening prayer at the White House Easter Lunch, an event attended by the President, the Vice President, cabinet members, and six additional members of the clergy. At that event, White conveyed what she described as a message from the Holy Spirit indicating that the President will be victorious in all that he puts his hands to. She did not reference the 2020 prayer during her remarks. The assembled guests laid hands on the President. The lunch continued.

The White House Easter Lunch held on April 1, 2026 featured a formal spiritual programme comprising seven prayers delivered by six named clergy and one unidentified pastor. The event was attended by cabinet members, faith leaders, and the President of the United States. Remarks by the President preceded the prayers. The programme was organised by the White House Faith Office, which the President noted had not previously existed.

Spiritual advisor Paula White opened the prayer portion of the event by conveying what she described as a message from the Holy Spirit. White told the President that the Holy Spirit had directed her to express gratitude on behalf of God. She characterised the President as the greatest champion of faith that we have ever seen in a president. She then drew parallels between the President’s trials and those of Jesus Christ. “Mr. President, no one has paid the price like you have paid the price,” White said. “It almost cost you your life. You were betrayed and arrested and falsely accused. It’s a familiar pattern that our Lord and Savior showed us.” White added that God had communicated a further message for the President: that because of Jesus Christ’s victory in resurrection, the President will be victorious in all that he puts his hands to. She did not specify the medium through which this communication was received. She then led the assembled guests in laying hands on the President.

Evangelist Franklin Graham, son of the late Reverend Billy Graham and president of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association, delivered the second prayer. Graham opened with a reference to the Book of Esther, a text from the Hebrew Bible in which the Persian king’s advisor Haman plots to kill the Jewish people and is ultimately defeated through the intercession of Queen Esther. “Father, you tell us in the Book of Esther that the Persians — the Iranians — were wanting to kill every Jew, woman, child, and do it all in one day,” Graham said. “But you raised up Esther to save the Jewish people. Today, the Iranians — the wicked regime of this government — wants to kill every Jew and destroy them with an atomic fire, but you have raised up President Trump.” Graham prayed for victory for the President, protection for the military, and freedom for the people of Iran, whom he described as seeking to be set free from what he called Islamic lunatics. He closed in the name of Jesus Christ.

Further prayers were delivered by Pastor Marilyn Rivera, who prayed for unity and protection; Bishop Robert Barron, who prayed for the President to be given grace, courage, wisdom, and prudence; an unidentified pastor who reported having just returned from Venezuela, where he said 10,000 pastors had gathered and the fire of God fell on that place, which he attributed in part to the President’s military action in that country; Ralph Reed, chairman of the Faith and Freedom Coalition, who thanked God for causing the President to turn his head at the correct moment in Butler, Pennsylvania in July 2024, and for causing an agent to observe a rifle barrel at the President’s golf club, and who prayed specifically for the Iran conflict; and Pastor Robert Jeffress, who stated that he had told the President in January 2016 that God had appointed him to the presidency, and who characterised the current political situation as a battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan.

The United States military operation against Iran, Operation Epic Fury, entered its second month during the week of the Easter Lunch. The operation has been framed by the White House as necessary to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon. The Director of National Intelligence assessed last year that Iran is not currently seeking to build one. The Book of Esther does not address nuclear weapons. Bible sales are currently at their highest level in many decades, according to figures cited by the President during his preceding remarks. Church attendance among young people has nearly doubled compared to five years ago.

God has not issued a statement.

The President of the United States delivered remarks at the White House Easter Lunch on April 1, 2026, prior to the event’s formal spiritual programme. The remarks were unscripted and covered multiple subjects. The full transcript runs to approximately 10,000 words. This correspondent has filed a summary of the principal items of note.

On Iran: the President stated that the military operation is winding up, with a few more hits required. He said the United States has blown up most of Iran’s thousands of ballistic missiles and that Iranian fire at American and allied targets has been decreasing weekly. He said the United States is now controlling 59 percent of the world’s oil supply, which he described as a combined result of the Iran operation and a prior military action in Venezuela, which he said was won in 45 minutes and is now operating as a joint venture. He said he would prefer to simply take Iran’s oil but acknowledged that the American public lacks the patience for an extended occupation. On the question of regime change, the President clarified that it was never the stated objective. “We got it by accident,” he said. He described the current Iranian government as the third regime to have emerged during the operation, following the elimination of the first regime’s leadership and the subsequent targeting of the 88-member council convened to select a replacement while they were in the process of voting. He said the third regime is much less radical. He said he would be addressing the nation on the subject at 9:00 that evening to tell everybody how great he is and what a great job he has done. He also stated that without him, Israel would not exist, and that the Middle East would not exist, and that there would have been a nuclear weapon.

On NATO: the President stated that the alliance is a paper tiger. He said he had asked member states to contribute forces to the Iran operation to test their response, not because he needed them. He described France’s President Macron, whose wife treats him extremely badly, as having declined to send ships until after the war was won, which the President noted was not useful. He said the United Kingdom’s Prime Minister said he needed to ask his team and would meet the following week, by which point the President said the war would be over. He said he is considering withdrawing the United States from the alliance. He noted that King Charles is visiting in two weeks and is a nice guy but was not among the most helpful allies. He said NATO will not be there if we ever have the big one, adding that his relationships with the big one are better than with NATO. He did not elaborate on the big one.

On domestic matters: the President reported that Somali immigrants in Minnesota had stolen 19 billion dollars through fraudulent daycare centres, that autism payments in that state had risen from under one million dollars to over 400 million dollars in four years, that the Department of Education has been largely returned to the states, that a judge had blocked construction of a $300 to $400 million White House ballroom depending on the marble selected, that transgender athletes had broken weightlifting records by 111 pounds and won marathons by five hours and 14 minutes, and that Bible sales are at their highest level in many decades. He said he is inviting all Americans to the National Mall on May 17th for a day of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

The President noted that he refrains from profanity when Franklin Graham is in the room. Graham was in the room. The President did not use profanity during the remarks. The ballroom remains under construction.

The President of the United States held an Easter Lunch event at the White House on April 1, 2026. Remarks were delivered. During those remarks, the President addressed the question of Israel’s existence. “If you didn’t have me, you wouldn’t have Israel,” the President said. The lunch continued.

The President of the United States delivered a primetime address to the nation on the evening of April 1, 2026, providing what the White House described as an important update on Operation Epic Fury, the military campaign against Iran launched jointly with Israel on February 28. It was the President’s first formal address to the nation since the operation began. The address was delivered approximately twelve hours after the President posted to Truth Social that Iran’s new regime president had requested a ceasefire — a claim denied by a spokesperson for Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who said Iran was determined to fight on.

The President opened by stating that in the past four weeks, United States armed forces had delivered swift, decisive, overwhelming victories on the battlefield. He said Iran’s navy is gone, its air force is in ruins, most of its leaders are dead, and its ability to launch missiles and drones has been dramatically curtailed. He said weapons factories and rocket launchers are being blown to pieces, with very few of them left. He said the United States military has struck 12,300 targets and damaged or destroyed 155 Iranian vessels since February 28, according to US Central Command. He said the United States is winning bigger than ever before.

The President stated that the war’s core strategic objectives are nearing completion. Those objectives, as enumerated by the White House, are: obliterating Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal and production capability, annihilating its navy, severing its support for regional proxy groups, and ensuring Iran does not acquire a nuclear weapon. He reiterated that the war is necessary to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. His own Director of National Intelligence acknowledged last year that Iran is not currently seeking to build one. The President stated there would have been no Middle East and no Israel without his withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear accord, which required Iran to scale back its nuclear programme under international monitoring. Iran has maintained that its nuclear activities are peaceful.

The President stated that the United States will continue hitting Iran extremely hard over the next two to three weeks, and will take them back to the stone ages where they belong. He warned that if no deal is reached during that period, the United States has its eyes on key targets and will hit every one of Iran’s electric generating plants, very hard, and probably simultaneously. He stated that regime change was never the United States’ goal, but that regime change has occurred because of their original leader’s death. He stated that the conflict represents a true investment in your children and your grandchildren’s future. He stated that the whole world is watching and cannot believe what it is seeing. He acknowledged that gasoline prices have risen by more than 25 percent since the war began, and attributed the increase entirely to deranged Iranian terror attacks on commercial oil tankers. He described this price increase as short-term.

On the Strait of Hormuz, the President urged other countries to build up some delayed courage and go to the strait and just take it, protect it. Earlier in the same week, the President had established the strait’s reopening as the condition for considering Iran’s ceasefire request. The President did not address this condition during the address. He closed by stating that the United States is on the cusp of ending Iran’s sinister threat to America and the world. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

The Dispatch

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian published an open letter to the people of the United States on April 1, 2026, via PressTV, the English-language Iranian state broadcasting network. The letter was published at 6:32 PM local time. It is addressed to the American people and to all those who, as the letter states, amid a flood of distortions and manufactured narratives, continue to seek the truth and aspire to a better life. The letter opens with the phrase: In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.

The letter traces the history of US-Iran relations from the 1953 coup — described as an illegal American intervention aimed at preventing the nationalization of Iran’s own resources — through America’s support for Saddam Hussein during the Iran-Iraq war of the 1980s, the imposition of sanctions, and the current military operation. Pezeshkian states that Iran has never, in its modern history, initiated a war. He states that Iran pursued negotiations, reached an agreement, and fulfilled all its commitments, and that the decision to withdraw from that agreement and launch military action were choices made by the U.S. government. He states that attacks on Iran’s energy and industrial infrastructure constitute a war crime. He states that the Iranian people harbor no enmity toward ordinary Americans. He states that Iran, throughout its millennia of proud history, has outlasted many aggressors, and that all that remains of them are tarnished names in history.

The letter poses a number of questions for the American people. Pezeshkian asks whether the United States has entered the conflict as a proxy for Israel. He asks whether Israel manufactured the Iranian threat to divert attention from its actions toward Palestinians. He asks whether Israel now aims to fight Iran to the last American soldier and the last American taxpayer dollar. He asks whether America First is truly among the priorities of the U.S. government today. The letter does not provide answers to these questions. The letter invites Americans to speak with those who have visited Iran and to observe accomplished Iranian immigrants who contribute to universities and technology firms in the West.

This correspondent notes, for purposes of administrative completeness, that earlier on April 1, 2026, the President of the United States published a post to Truth Social reporting that Iran’s new regime president had requested a ceasefire. The President described Iran’s new regime president as much less radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors. The President stated the United States would consider the ceasefire request when the Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. The open letter published by Pezeshkian does not reference the ceasefire request. The Truth Social post does not reference the open letter. Both documents were published on the same day.

The Hormuz Strait condition remains in effect.

The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention published a report in the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report on March 19, 2026, designating SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.3.2 as a variant under monitoring. The variant has been assigned the informal designation Cicada. It was first identified in South Africa in November 2024, remained at low levels of detection for approximately twelve months, and has since been identified in rising numbers across multiple countries. As of February 11, 2026, the most recent date for which complete CDC data is available, BA.3.2 has been detected in 132 wastewater surveillance sites across at least 25 states, in nasal swab samples from four international travelers, in three airplane wastewater samples, and in clinical samples from five patients. The variant has been identified in at least 23 countries. The World Health Organization listed it as a variant of monitoring on February 23, 2026.

BA.3.2 carries approximately 70 to 75 substitutions and deletions in its spike protein gene, compared to 30 to 40 in predecessor variants JN.1 and LP.8.1, which served as the basis for the 2025-2026 vaccine formulation. The CDC has assessed the variant as having immune escape potential — meaning antibodies produced by prior infection or current vaccines show reduced neutralization effectiveness in laboratory conditions. The variant is part of the Omicron lineage. No evidence has emerged that it causes more severe disease or higher mortality than other recent Omicron subvariants. Symptoms are consistent with standard COVID-19 presentation and are not clinically distinguishable from influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, or the common cold without testing. The CDC has not changed its core recommendations. Antivirals are expected to remain effective.

As of the week ending March 21, 2026, BA.3.2 was detected in approximately 11 percent of national wastewater samples, according to CDC monitoring data. WastewaterSCAN, a disease-tracking program operated by Stanford University, reported detection in 3.7 percent of its samples as of March 14. The dominant circulating strain in the United States remains XFG, which accounts for approximately 53 percent of samples. BA.3.2 has not yet reached a proportion sufficient for inclusion in the CDC’s variant proportion tracker. In Northern Europe, the variant reached approximately 30 percent of sequenced cases in Denmark, Germany, and the Netherlands during the late 2025 to early 2026 period. Overall COVID incidence in those countries was not reported as dramatically elevated relative to prior periods. The first U.S. detection occurred in June 2025, via a traveler arriving from the Netherlands at San Francisco International Airport. The first confirmed U.S. clinical patient sample was collected in January 2026. National prevalence in sequenced samples from December 2025 through February 2026 was approximately 0.19 percent.

The CDC’s wastewater surveillance program, which detected the variant’s presence across 132 monitoring sites in 25 states, operates by collecting samples from sewage, industrial discharge, and stormwater systems. It is the primary mechanism by which BA.3.2 has been tracked in the United States, given the reduction in formal clinical testing since the acute phase of the pandemic. The CDC is classified as a variant-under-monitoring designation, which indicates the agency is tracking the variant but has not assessed it as a variant of interest or a variant of concern. A reformulated vaccine targeting fall 2026 circulation is under development. Surveillance continues.

The Dispatch

The President of the United States has reported that Iran’s new regime president has requested a ceasefire. The update was published to Truth Social at 8:50 AM on April 1, 2026, and signed “President DJT.” The President described Iran’s new regime president as much less radicalized and far more intelligent than his predecessors. The President indicated the United States will consider the ceasefire request when the Hormuz Strait is open, free, and clear. Until that condition is met, the President stated, the United States will be blasting Iran into oblivion or, as he characterised it, back to the Stone Ages.

The Hormuz Strait condition was previously established. On March 30, 2026, the President issued a diplomatic update outlining contingency infrastructure targets in the event a deal was not reached and the strait remained closed. Those targets included electric generating plants, oil wells, Kharg Island, and, with an exclamation point, desalination plants. That post closed with “Thank you for your attention to this matter.” The Hormuz Strait condition has not changed. The desalination plants have not yet been touched.

Amir Tsarfati, a former Israeli Defense Forces major and founder of the evangelical intelligence ministry Behold Israel, filed commentary on the post from his Telegram channel at 8:57 AM. Tsarfati noted that the President published his update minutes before the opening of Wall Street. Tsarfati further observed that whether Iran’s president had actually requested a ceasefire was not entirely certain, adding “But who cares?” Tsarfati assessed the strategic objective as follows: the United States requires oil, and degrading Iran’s capabilities to dust while bringing prices down serves that objective simultaneously. Wall Street opened at 9:30 AM Eastern. Oil prices were not reported in this dispatch.

This correspondent notes, for purposes of administrative completeness, that the President’s characterisation of Iran’s new regime president as far more intelligent than his predecessors refers to a government that came to power during the current military operation. The previous regime, against which the operation was initiated, is no longer in office. The new regime has now requested a ceasefire. The President has described this as a positive development and has also described his current course of action as blasting them back to the Stone Ages. Both characterisations were published in the same post.

The Hormuz Strait condition remains in effect.