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Trump officials are continuing to suppress photojournalists because they don’t like how they look in the pictures.On Tuesday, Status reported that White House press secretary Karoline Leavittt hated a November photo of her, her young son, and a turkey so much that she reached out to Agence France-Presse and had it removed from their archive, which removed it from Getty as well.The photo, taken by Agence France-Presse photographer Andrew Caballero-Reynolds at a very low angle, is pointed up at Leavitt, who is smiling in a manner that gives her a double chin, while she is holding her son. A turkey they were looking down at, “Waddle,” is also featured in frame very prominently.AFP maintains that while the White House did tell them Leavitt didn’t like the photos, the decision to scrub them was theirs alone.“While we were made aware that White House staff found the photo unflattering, we want to be clear that there was no formal request to remove it, nor was there any external pressure involved,” AFP’s director of brand and communications Grégoire Lemarchand told The Daily Beast. It didn’t seem like a formal, written request was necessary anyway. This is at least the second time a Trump official—a public figure who is regularly on camera—has suppressed photos because they didn’t like how they were objectively captured. Earlier this month, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth banned press photographers from department briefings on the U.S. war on Iran after he too found pictures of him from multiple outlets “unflattering.”

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says ending the war in Iran is up to one person and one person alone: President Donald Trump. Speaking at a press conference Tuesday morning, Hegseth refused to say how long the U.S. and Israel’s joint military campaign in Iran would continue.“[Trump]’s said four to six weeks, six to eight weeks, three—it could be any particular number,” Hegseth said. “But we would never reveal precisely what it is.”“We’re well on our way,” Hegseth said, of meeting the U.S. military’s stated objectives. “It would be the president’s determination, and the president’s determination alone, when those objectives are complete and when it serves the interest of the American people to cut that deal. To make sure that Iran doesn’t have a nuclear capability, and ultimately that our objectives, or our interests are advanced.”Hegseth on when US objectives will be achieved: "He said four to six weeks, six to eight weeks, three weeks -- it could by any particular number. It will be the president's determination." pic.twitter.com/YBSdPN1vjg— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 31, 2026Hegseth graciously clarified that the war will wrap up within a number of weeks, as time is generally measured numerically. But as the fighting has now entered its fifth week, the likelihood of the conflict lasting just three or four weeks has decreased significantly. It seems clear that the bombing could stretch on for an indeterminate amount of time because Trump has absolutely no clue how to end the war he started. Hegseth’s utter refusal to lay out real parameters for Trump’s reckless military campaign allows it to be prosecuted with impunity.Despite repeatedly claiming that the United States has entered productive negotiations with Iran, Trump practically begged other countries on Truth Social Tuesday to step in to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. During his press conference, Hegseth emphasized that this was not just a problem for the U.S. but for the world—even though it was caused by the U.S. pretty much entirely and Americans are paying for it in higher energy and food prices, surging mortgage rates, and lost jobs.  It seems that Trump may be hoping to build an off-ramp to withdraw from the region without cleaning up the mess he made. 

The White House has practically given up its initial aims for attacking Iran.Donald Trump has reportedly spoken with his aides about ending the military campaign, even if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, administration officials told The Wall Street Journal Tuesday.Situated between Iran and the United Arab Emirates, the Strait of Hormuz is the single most important energy transit point in the world, funneling approximately one-fifth of all crude oil shipments. Iran began laying mines across the passageway earlier this month, effectively sealing the only sea passage from the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman to the rest of the open ocean.In 2024, the U.S. imported roughly 500,000 barrels of crude oil per day through the strait, accounting for roughly 7 percent of total U.S. crude imports, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.Trump and his aides estimated that reopening the waterway would extend the conflict past the administration’s advertised four-to-six week timeline for military involvement. Allowing Tehran to retain control of the strait would leave a complex problem in the Middle East that would need to be dealt with at a later date.The president has since reshuffled America’s priorities in the region, opting to focus on decimating Iran’s navy and its missile stockpiles while pressuring the country to resume its oil trade via diplomatic means. Officials told the Journal that if that strategy fails, Washington would press its allies in Europe and the Gulf to pick up the mantle on reopening the strait.Trump practically confirmed the latter details of the Journal’s report within hours of its publication, writing on Truth Social that European countries should “go to the Strait, and just TAKE IT.”“You’ll have to start learning how to fight for yourself, the U.S.A. won’t be there to help you anymore, just like you weren’t there for us,” Trump wrote Tuesday morning. “Iran has been, essentially, decimated. The hard part is done. Go get your own oil!”Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth did not express confidence in an immediate resolution to the conflict, telling reporters at a press conference Tuesday morning that the war could end in “any particular number” of weeks—it’s all up to the president.

The Trump administration says the United States has struck 11,000 targets in Iran since the U.S.-Israeli war on the country began. Critics have questioned the accuracy of the Maven system, the artificial intelligence system used by the military to speed up the process of identifying targets. “Imagine Google Earth for war, a map of war with white dots, infused with information like elevation, coordinate, what is precisely there, whether it’s friendly or foe,” says Katrina Manson, a reporter for Bloomberg News and author of Project Maven: A Marine Colonel, His Team, and the Dawn of AI Warfare. The Pentagon launched Project Maven in 2017. Google was an initial partner, but the company pulled out after over 3,000 Google employees signed a letter opposing the work. The big data firm Palantir then took over the project and has run it ever since.

Foreign firms know that Gulf leaders have long memories and will reward those who stand by them.

A Russian tanker carrying around 700,000 barrels of crude oil has arrived in the port of Matanzas, Cuba, breaking the U.S. blockade imposed by President Trump three months ago. Fuel shortages in Cuba have caused dayslong blackouts and have brought all sectors of the country to the brink of collapse. The White House is claiming the arrival of the Russian tanker, unimpeded by the United States, does not signal a “formal change in sanction policy,” and said U.S. decisions on shipments going forward would be made on a case-by-case basis. “I think possibly what’s going on is that the administration has begun to worry that their effort to strangle the economy could push the economy over the edge and generate a mass migration crisis,” says William LeoGrande, professor of government at American University. “Who is the United States? Who gave you the authorization to say how much oil is going into Cuba or not? This is illegal,” adds Liz Oliva Fernández, a Cuban journalist with Belly of the Beast.