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President Trump just gave Iran an ultimatum: fold on a deal, or get “hit much harder.” In a phone call with Axios, he warned that “the clock is ticking” and that if Tehran doesn’t come with a better offer, “they are not gonna have anything left.”
Here’s what he didn’t say: who writes the check for those “harder strikes.”
While Trump gathers his top national security team in the Situation Room on Tuesday to discuss military options, American families are already drowning in the economic fallout of this war. Gas prices are nearing $4 a gallon. Inflation just hit its highest level since 2023. And a new CBS News/YouGov poll found that 65% of Americans believe Trump’s policies are making the economy worse – not better.
But the drums of escalation keep beating.
Trump spoke with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday. He met with JD Vance, Marco Rubio, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe at his Virginia golf club – not exactly a hardship post. Meanwhile, a drone struck the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, and global oil prices jumped over 2% to $111 a barrel.
Every new threat, every “clock is ticking” soundbite, sends defense stocks soaring and grocery bills climbing. According to OpenSecrets, the defense sector has spent over $153 million on lobbying in the past year alone. They’re not lobbying for peace. They’re lobbying for the next contract.
The real winners of endless war aren’t sitting in Tehran or Washington negotiating ceasefires. They’re sitting on corporate boards, watching their share prices tick up every time Trump warns of “harder hits.”
Pakistan is mediating. Qatar is mediating. But no one is mediating between the White House and the American taxpayer who will bankroll the next wave of strikes.
Trump says he wants a deal. But his definition of a deal – Iranian capitulation on nuclear programs, regional influence, and the Strait of Hormuz – is one Tehran has already rejected. So now the military option is “back on the table.” And with it, more deployments, more contractor paydays, and more strain on working-class communities who can’t afford another $4 gallon of gas.
The cost of war spending isn’t abstract. It’s what you pay at the pump. It’s why your paycheck doesn’t stretch as far as it did last year. And it’s why 70% of Americans now say their incomes aren’t keeping up with inflation.
Trump declined to give a specific deadline for negotiations. But American families have a deadline of their own: the next credit card bill, the next rent check, the next tank of gas.
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Another “harder strike” means another transfer of wealth from your wallet to weapons contractors.
