President Donald Trump, despite his earlier ultimatum to Iran, has now extended the deadline by 5 days. He said that the Iranians want to work out a diplomatic solution. He said that they have agreed to no nuclear weapons (which they have always “agreed” to, but refused to disable their facilities, program, and get rid of all their enriched uranium), but nearly every legitimate commentator realizes that the one thing this Iranian regime is good at is making a commitment and consciously lying about it to gain what they want. Trump has agreed to pause any attacks on their energy facilities for 5 days, and Israel has agreed to honor this by attacking only other infrastructure and places in Iran, not their energy facilities.
(Clearly, economics may also be part of this. Oil prices have been skyrocketing, but dropped 12% upon Trump’s announcement of a 5-day extension)
But Iran’s Foreign Ministry categorically denied Trump’s statements. “Iran maintains its position rejecting any type of negotiation before achieving its war objectives,” according to a statement quoted by the Sabereen news agency. “Trump’s statement is a retreat from his earlier threats, but the Islamic Republic remains committed to its declared positions. Its position on the Strait of Hormuz has not changed, and the passage will remain closed to the aggressors attacking Iran.” Spokesman for the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee in the Iranian Parliament, Ibrahim Rezaei, claimed: “The battle continues. Another defeat for Satan. Trump and the U.S. have failed again.” Fars agency went even further, denying there were even talks. They reported that an Iranian source claimed that “there is no direct contact with Trump, and not through an intermediary either. Trump backed down after hearing that our targets would be all power stations in West Asia.”
Trump insisted on CNBC that “what’s happening in Iran can be described as regime change.” He described the talks with Iran as “intensive” and said he “hopes something significant can be achieved.” Hours later, in an interview on Fox, Trump claimed that “Iran desperately wants to make a deal.” According to him, “it could happen within the next five days, or sooner.” Trump continued an hour later in an interview with CNN, telling them that the Strait of Hormuz “will open very soon,” adding that “there will be joint control. Me and the Ayatollah, whoever the next Ayatollah will be. And there will also be a very serious regime change.”
The president also said that talks were going on with the Ayatollah and were being held directly with Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf. But on Monday afternoon, Ghalibaf said that ‘there were no negotiations with the U.S.’ He added that ‘everyone stands behind the Supreme Leader’, Mojtaba Khamenei.
The military advisor to Khamenei said, “This time it won’t be an eye for an eye, but a head for an eye, and you will leave the Gulf. The war will continue until we receive compensation for all our losses, all economic sanctions are removed, and we receive international legal guarantees that Washington will not interfere in our affairs.”
CENTCOM announced that the U.S. has carried out more than 9,000 strikes against Iran since the start of the war, which included the sinking of more than 140 vessels of the Iranian military’s navy. It is the Navy that protects the Strait of Hormuz, which becomes more vital every day.
Many officials in both the U.S. and Israeli governments are saying that the goals have shifted in this war, and the only and most important goal is to control the Strait of Hormuz. The Washington Post reported that liberating the Strait from Iranian control would allow President Trump to declare victory in the war and strip Tehran of a significant deterrent against future strikes, which Israeli officials described as ‘inevitable’ if Tehran resumes producing ballistic missiles or developing nuclear weapons.
And in the meantime, every day and every night, Iran and Hezbollah are launching barrages of missiles, many with cluster bomb multiple warheads at Israel.
It is always important to remember history, and sometimes remembering events on specific days helps to inspire us today. On this day, March 24th, 1915, the Zionist Mule Corps was formed by Zev Jabotinsky and Yosef Trumpeldor (no relation to our President). This military unit developed over time into the Haganah and Irgun, and ultimately into the IDF. This Jewish legion of the British Army was created to fight the Ottoman Empire, even though its first duties were as a transport unit on the Gallipoli front. The brilliance and courage of Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor transformed this Mule Corps into the fighting units that came later. These two leaders understood the geopolitical realities of the region and had the foresight to unify Jews into military preparedness, which was vital to the ultimate success of the IDF.
May we all have the courage and wisdom to emulate Jabotinsky and Trumpeldor to see the truth of the situation and dangers of leaving the Islamic regime of Iran in power; and to be so committed to a lasting peace in Israel that we, like these two great leaders, are willing to do what is necessary in order to achieve that peace.
Chazak u’Baruch
Rabbi Michael Barclay
March 24, 2026
6th of Nisan, 5786
As Iran continues to attack Israel in conjunction with Hezbollah (is anyone else waiting to see when the Houthis and Hamas join the fray more actively?), Israel and the U.S. continue to take out Iranian infrastructure and weapons sites, including a Tuesday attack on the Iranian Bushehr nuclear facility, which apparently did little damage to the well-protected and underground facility.
Different U.S. media are reporting that 2,000–3,000 elite paratroopers will be sent from the U.S. to the region, although there has actually been no official confirmation. It is confirmed that Israel is calling up 400,000 reservists, which demonstrates that something potentially large is expected in the near future.
But before exploring a significant piece of war news, I think it is important to remember an old story, told in different versions in different cultures.
The story goes that there was a scorpion that wanted to cross the river. It went to the tiger that was by the river and asked if it could travel on the tiger’s back. The tiger replied, “I cannot take you across the river, for if I do, you will sting me and I will drown.” The scorpion replied to the tiger, “That is ridiculous, for if you drown, I would also drown in the river.” The tiger realized that this was good logic and took the scorpion upon his back and started to wade across the river. Halfway across, the scorpion stung the tiger. As he was about to drown, the tiger looked at the scorpion and said, “Why would you do this? Now we will both drown.” The scorpion replied to the tiger, “What you say is true, but I cannot go against my nature.”
Our administration, especially Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, needs to remember this story when dealing with Iran, which has demonstrated its nature consistently for 47 years.
President Trump announced on Tuesday that the negotiations with the Iranian leadership (not the current leaders, but other ones unnamed) are going extremely well. According to him, Iran has given up the idea of ever having nuclear weapons; as well as have said they are willing to have some sort of joint control over the Strait of Hormuz with the United States.
Trump has also stated that the plan for Iran, as developed by Kushner and Witkoff, will be modeled after the “Gaza peace deal” (What peace? There is still no peace in Gaza), including a month-long ceasefire between Iran and the U.S.-Israel alliance, while details of a longer peace deal can be worked out. Again, despite all the blustering by the administration that there is peace in Gaza, we must remember that the Gaza ceasefire was to return all hostages and prevent Hamas attacks… but the reality is that the attacks continue from Hamas even today, and that the hostages, who were to have been fully returned within 3 months of the ceasefire in Jan. 15, 2025, were not finally returned until Jan. 26, 2026, over a year past the deadline Hamas had agreed to. The Gaza deal negotiated by Witkoff and Kushner was and is a failure, and now, they are proposing something similar for Iran?
The Iranians, for their part, are saying that no negotiations have been happening, and that they are still committed to their goals in this war: closing all American bases in the Middle East; payment of compensation for damage from strikes in Iran; a ‘new regime’ in the Strait of Hormuz where Iran could collect fees from ships passing through the strategic waterway, ‘as Egypt collects in the Suez Canal’; guarantees that the war will not resume; removal of all sanctions on Iran; and refusal to accept restrictions on Iran’s missile program, while opposing negotiations on this possibility altogether. These are the exact same goals they have been repeating verbatim for weeks.
According to Reuters, on Wednesday morning, Ibrahim Zulfiqari, spokesman for Iran’s emergency command of forces (Khatam al-Anbiya Headquarters) responded to Trump’s claims. Zulfiqari sarcastically wondered about Trump: “Has your level of internal struggle reached the stage where you are negotiating with yourselves?” According to him, “People like us can never get along with people like you.” And Iranian Parliament Member Ismail Kouthari said that, “Trump is unstable in his statements.”
It would seem that somebody is not being fully honest, and it is also entirely possible that Trump is negotiating with leaders who are not involved directly with the IRGC, nor the IRGC spokespeople.
But it doesn’t matter who in this Islamic regime the American negotiators are dealing with. Iran is a scorpion, and has demonstrated their values and behavior for 47 years. This Islamic regime is and has always been absolutely committed to the destruction of Israel and all of Western culture, and they have both said and acted according to that nature. To suddenly think that they will reverse course and not develop nuclear weapons, when we have seen repeatedly how they have lied about that and continued their nuclear development program in the past, is as foolish as the tiger trusting the scorpion not to sting him.
Since 2015, when Obama made his famous Iran deal, the Iranian regime has been lying about what it has actually been doing. They’ve continued to develop nuclear weapons, as well as enrich uranium well past any non-military needs. They have lied consistently about nuclear development for at least these 11 years. Why would we believe them now? What possibly could make Kushner and Witkoff believe that the Islamic Iranian regime will suddenly stop what they were secretly doing for the last number of years?
But President Trump says that he is optimistic about the war being resolved soon and peace enveloping the region. On the other hand, there are reports that we are about to send U.S. paratroopers over to the region. We know Israel is preparing for some operation, either offensively or in defensive preparation. And we know that whatever the Islamic regime of Iran says, they have demonstrated their evil nature for years.
As we try to understand these components, we should also remember one of the teachings embedded in the upcoming holiday of Passover. The ancient Hebrews were ruled by an evil pharaoh, but God set them free with a “mighty hand and an outstretched arm”. They were slaves, and God created miracles that led to their freedom. They had their backs to the Sea of Reeds with Pharaoh’s army about to catch them, but God opened the waters for them.
Whatever challenges we see in the Middle East, we must know that God can and will change the course of humanity according to His will. Natures can be changed, miracles do happen, and there is always a divine plan, even if we are unable to see it in the moment.
May that divine plan include a long and lasting peace for Israel with its neighbors, a defeat of the Iranian regime and its proxies, and a time of peace in the world, and may that time come soon and in our time.
Chazak u’Baruch
Rabbi Michael Barclay
March 25, 2026
7th of Nisan, 5786
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