Rigging Illusory Iran Peace Progress for Fun and PROFIT

Rigging Illusory Iran Peace Progress for Fun and PROFIT

“If they don’t agree, the bombing starts.” 

Trump on his expectations of a one-page settlement agreement of the Iran War

I have been consistent in stating that two statistics, often cited by Donald Trump as proof of his success in his foreign and domestic policies, that have little or nothing to do with the financial well-being of average Americans: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the stock markets. I’ll add to that reality the expectation that if Iran and the US sign a one-page memo ending their war, the war will end. Forget about the 2015 UN-sponsored Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), the multiparty agreement that successfully contained Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, a complex “book” of an agreement that took teams of experts, on both sides, two years of exhausting negotiations to finalize. Trump killed that functioning agreement by withdrawing the US in May of 2018. I will note that the Strait of Hormuz had been wide open until Trump’s war.

The problem with the US GDP – a monetary measure of the total annual market value of all of the final goods and services which are produced and rendered within the US – that it is wildly impacted when the richest in the land (especially major corporate interests) are making money hand-over-fist… as the rest of the nation stagnates or struggles. Oil prices rise, military hardware is being ordered in excessive droves, and the GDP soars. The stock markets? Artificial intelligence currently accounts for approximately 80% of the recent rise … a very vulnerable one-industry bulwark of the entire stock market. Not to mention how prices rise and fall on Trump-issued news.

A vector of government grift and corruption, that underlies the Trump family wealth building and the Trump favoritism of his mega-wealthy business cronies slorping at the insider trough, seems to have poured into the who makes money in the commodity futures and general stock markets. Insider trading is supposed to be illegal. In theory, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC, which regulates the public equities market) and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC, which regulates agricultural, mineral and oil markets) are charged with ensuring that the public playing field remains flat and level to all traders, making acting on limited insider information illegal. Martha Stewart’s federal conviction sentence for insider trading is a reminder of how overriding federal regulation can (should) be. A clear look at how Trump insiders are profiting from inside information discussed below.

Meanwhile, Trump continues to make a mess of his war on Iran, posturing and presenting inane statements of success. If you believe a one-page document (which requires massive missing detail) will end this war… or if Trump even has a plan to end his unilateral declaration of war against Iran… in which Iran learned they had the power of a nuclear weapon simply by closing the Strait of Hormuz, bringing the world into energy desperation… there’s a bridge in Brooklyn you should see. Let’s see how Trump’s recent plan – to use the US Navy to escort oil tankers through the Strait (“Project Freedom”) – panned out. “The president announced the pause on Tuesday [5/4] evening on Truth Social, claiming it would last for ‘a short period of time’ while the U.S. pursued a ‘Complete and Final Agreement’ with Iran. The move came just a day after ‘Project Freedom’ began on Monday [5/3], following Trump’s Sunday [5/2] announcement that the U.S. Navy would help ‘guide” ships of ‘neutral and innocent bystanders’ safely through the Strait of Hormuz.

“‘Based on the request of Pakistan and other Countries, the tremendous Military Success that we have had during the Campaign against the Country of Iran and, additionally, the fact that Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement with Representatives of Iran, we have mutually agreed that, while the Blockade will remain in full force and effect, Project Freedom (The Movement of Ships through the Strait of Hormuz) will be paused for a short period of time to see whether or not the Agreement can be finalized and signed,’ the president wrote.

“But two U.S. officials told NBC News that the president’s reversal was actually triggered by Saudi Arabia, after the country’s leadership was angered by Trump’s surprise Sunday [5/2] announcement of the initiative. The country retaliated by telling the U.S. it would no longer allow U.S. military aircraft to use the Prince Sultan Airbase or fly through Saudi Arabian airspace while conducting ‘Project Freedom.’” Mediate.com, May 7th. Iran has contested US claims of control.

“‘To what remains of Iran’s forces: If you attack American troops or innocent commercial shipping, you will face overwhelming and devastating American firepower,’ [Secretary of Defense/War, Major Pete] Hegseth said. ‘The president has been very clear about this.’… Iranian parliamentary speaker and top negotiator Mohammed Ghalibaf [responded] in a statement on X on Tuesday that a ‘new equation’ was being ‘solidified’ in the strait, adding that the maritime traffic was jeopardized by the U.S. and its allies ‘through the violation of the ceasefire and the imposition of a blockade.’… Of course, their evil will diminish,’ he wrote. ‘We know full well that the continuation of the status quo is intolerable for America, while we have not even begun yet.’

“On Tuesday [5/4] evening local time, the United Arab Emirates’ defense ministry said in a statement on X that the country’s defensive systems ‘are actively engaging with missiles and [drone] threats’ and that ‘sounds heard across the country are the result of ongoing engaging operations.’.. On Monday [5/3], the UAE said it engaged a total of 12 ballistic missiles, three cruise missiles and four drones launched from Iran.” Mediate. Oops. And the fact that the information about this Trump must have leaked into the Trump corporate grifter/insider network, that somehow the markets went crazy before the actual announcement:

“Oil prices plunge after mysterious $920 million crude short hits market before US-Iran 14-point deal report — did traders know the news early? The crude oil market is no stranger to sudden shocks. But what happened in the early hours of Wednesday, May 6, 2026, was something different. Something that traders, analysts, and market-watchers are still picking apart. A massive crude oil short — nearly $920 million worth — was placed in near-total silence, at 3:40 a.m. ET, with no major news on the wires to justify it. Seventy minutes later, Axios published a bombshell: the United States and Iran were close to a 14-point memorandum of understanding to end their 67-day war. Oil prices crumbled. And whoever placed that crude oil short made an estimated $125 million in a matter of hours.” Economic Times, May 7th

And if you believe that the price at the pump would drop to “normal” if there is a declaration of peace, take a look at Michael Hiltzik’s May 7th contribution to the LA Times in which he explains in detail: “Here’s the name for an economic phenomenon that consumers are going to be hearing a lot more in the coming weeks and months…: It’s the rocket-and-feathers hypothesis, which concerns why gasoline prices rise so quickly (i.e., like a rocket) when oil prices surge and drift downward oh so slowly (like feathers) when crude prices come back to earth…. The academic bookshelf groans with the weight of studies of the phenomenon, but the seminal analysis of the topic remains a 1997 paper by economist Severin Borenstein of UC Berkeley and his colleagues... The phenomenon is still ‘alive and well,’ Borenstein told me Wednesday [5/6], adding that ‘much of this is a retail pricing phenomenon,’ meaning that much of the explanation can be found at your corner gas station.” You may just feel like taking a swig from a bottle of FBI Director Kash Patel’s private stash of Kentucky bourbon, pictured above!

I’m Peter Dekom, and it appears that virtually nothing that Donald Trump or Pete Hegseth has said about the Iran War has been true, but somehow Trump’s cronies are raking in big bucks at the administration’s exceptionally large missteps… with insider information that could only come from…