Sources: Trump Asked to Nuke Hormuz. He Was Told No.

Trump asked the chairman of the joint chiefs whether he could use nuclear weapons on Iran.

He was told no.

That account reaches us from our own sources and, per this episode, has since been echoed elsewhere.

Meanwhile Tehran has set its terms: the northern route only, inbound and outbound, and 7% of cargo value.

On our guest’s arithmetic that is around $100 billion a year, collected by Iran.

The American strategic petroleum reserve, on his figures, has roughly 43 days left in it.

Only one of those two positions has a clock running on it.

INSIDE THE PAID BRIEFING (What You’ll Unlock Below):

• The 7% cargo levy and northern-route-only terms Tehran is expected to announce, and the annual figure that implies.

• $120 billion in frozen assets, plus the rest of Iran’s conditions for reopening the Strait.

• Why Strobe Talbott’s own book explains what Washington got wrong about Pakistan’s army chiefs.

• The word Trump’s economic-warfare post never mentions — and the three Pakistani ports it leaves open.

• 28 February to 8 April. Why our guest says the war lasted six weeks and everything since is posturing.

• Bahrain and Diego Garcia — what happened to the Fifth Fleet’s logistics base, and what replaced it.

The Islamabad delegation date could be announced within days and Tehran is openly watching the 3 November midterms — subscribers get each turn of this before anyone else.