THE WAR ROOM: President Trump said a Navy destroyer yesterday attacked and seized an Iranian-flagged vessel in the Gulf of Oman just as US negotiators will be back in Pakistan tonight trying to make a peace agreement even though he has said Iran has already acceded to all demands.

  The President said in a post on his Truth Social that, “The Iranian crew refused to listen, so our Navy ship stopped them right in their tracks by blowing a hole in the engineroom,” before US Marines  took custody of the vessel and  “are seeing what’s on board!” 

  Iran says it will retaliate.

  Iran had fired at two ships over the weekend and declared a renewed closure of the Strait of Hormuz, causing Trump to declare on his Truth Social that they are in “Total Violation of our Ceasefire Agreement!”

  Trump went on to threaten that; “We’re offering a very fair and reasonable DEAL, and I hope they take it because, if they don’t, the United States is going to knock out every single Power Plant, and every single Bridge, in Iran. NO MORE MR. NICE GUY!” 

  Stewart Patrick of the Carnegie Endowment for Peace writes in The NY Times that: “The temptation to exploit dominance is a recurrent historical impulse — one to which Trump’s America has succumbed. Tired of assuming burdens in the general interest, the United States is now leveraging and abusing its structural dominance for maximal gain, coercing and extracting benefits from even its closest partners. As in Thucydides’ time, this posture promises short-term gains but long-run disaster.”

BY THE GALLON: Energy Secretary Chris Wright yesterday told CNN’s Jake Tapper that gasoline prices might not come down to pre-war levels until next year once the Iran war ends. “I don’t know,” Wright said. “That could happen later this year. That might not happen until next year. But prices have likely peaked.”

  The average national price for a gallon of regular gas was $2.98 before the war, and is now  $4.05 according to the AAA motor club.

THE ART OF FIRING: The Walt Disney Company laid off 1,000 employees and in the process nearly wiped out the entire visual artist team at Marvel Studio, including the illustrators, character designers, environment designers, and other technical specialists who make the look of Marvel’s film and television productions including The Avengers, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Daredevil.

  This appears to be a major move into creation with artificial intelligence. Artist Wesley Burt said he was sat down and fired by the human resources department in a room with walls featuring his artwork.

THE SHOOTING GALLERY: Eight children ages 3 to 11 were killed yesterday in Shreveport, Louisiana by their father and uncle who went on a rampage following an argument with his wife. 

  Shamar Elkins, 31, an army veteran killed himself in a confrontation with the police. He was the father of seven of the children and uncle of the eighth. He also wounded two women who were mothers of the children.

  Also over the weekend, three University of Iowa students were among five people wounded in a shooting near the school’s campus. One victim is in critical condition.

  The shooting is reported to have occurred at 1:45 am yesterday just as police were responding to a complaint about a fight in a public plaza. The cops are looking for a group of five young men.

INFINITE SCROLL: 

— The Trump administration says it will begin refunding $166 billion in tariffs that were ruled illegal by the Supreme Court. More than 3,000 businesses including FedEx and Costco have already sued to recover tariffs they paid on imported goods. 

  The money will go to the companies, not customers who paid higher prices at Walmart.

— In a continuing quest by the Trump administration to find election fraud, the Justice Department is demanding all the ballots from the 2024 election in the Detroit area.  The DOJ has already seized 2020 ballots in Georgia and obtained 2020 election records in Arizona.

  They have yet to announce any finding of fraud.

PRESSING ISSUES: Paramount CEO David Ellison, who owns CBS News, has sent out invitations for a dinner “in celebration of the First Amendment honoring the Trump White House and CBS White House Correspondents.”

  Ellison, who has no experience either in practicing journalism or owning a news organization, is asking his White House correspondents to “honor” a White House that refers to them as “fake news” every day. It is not the proper position of journalists under any administration, and certainly not this one, to honor the White House.

  It will be interesting to see whether the correspondents accept the invitation … and whether they are invited. They should refuse even at risk to their jobs.

  Ellison’s company Skydance was able to merge with Paramount only after Paramount agreed to pay President Trump $16 million to settle his complaint about the editing of a “60 Minutes” profile of then presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Ellison then appointed the Trump-friendly Bari Weiss to be the editorial director to bring CBS News to heel.

  Paramount is now in a deal to acquire Warner Brothers, creating an entertainment behemoth that would require approval from the Trump administration. It’s no surprise Ellison is throwing a dinner to “honor” The White House and its occupants.  

THE SPIN RACK: Principal Kirk Moore of the Pauls Valley High School in Oklahoma, who recently took a bullet in the leg tackling a school shooter, was named Prom King on Saturday night. — Glamorous Brazilian triathlete and internet influencer Mara Flávia, 38, drowned during a competition in Texas. Witnesses said that during the open water swim Flávia simply “went under.” 

BELOW THE FOLD: Alex Cooper the beautiful blonde 31-year-old host of the popular podcast “Call her Daddy” and Alex Earle, the famous beautiful blonde 25-year-old “influencer,” are having a public spat that fascinates The New York Post.

  In other news ….