Massive risk in South China Sea exposed after four-day power loss on US Navy destroyer

August 18, 2026 1:12pm EDT / Fox News

A generator failure left the destroyer without air conditioning, toilets and potable water while near contested waters

By Morgan Phillips Fox News

Retired Navy Captain Brent Sadler warns that the U.S. Navy is currently stretched too thin to adequately counter global threats from adversaries like China and Iran. Sadler highlights the strain of the USS Abraham Lincoln’s 250-day deployment as a key symptom of a shrinking fleet. He urges the U.S. government to build more ships to restore the traditional six-month deployment standard.

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A U.S. guided-missile destroyer spent four days without power in the South China Sea last month after an engineering casualty involving its generators, forcing the Navy to tow the warship to the Philippines for repairs.

USS Benfold lost power July 24 and was towed on July 28 to Subic Bay in the Philippines, where power was restored two days later, according to U.S. 7th Fleet.

The ship reported an “engineering casualty involving its generators, causing a loss of power,” Cmdr. Matthew Comer, a spokesperson for U.S. 7th Fleet, said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “There were no injuries to the crew, who demonstrated resilience, grit, professionalism and unwavering steadiness in their response.”

The power loss disrupted galley services, toilets, air conditioning and potable water aboard the nearly 10,000-ton warship.

CENTCOM COMMANDER TOUTS USS ABRAHAM LINCOLN MENTAL HEALTH RECORD AFTER MORE THAN 260 DAYS WITHOUT PORT CALL

A rigid hull inflatable boat (RHIB) passes by U.S. Navy destroyer USS Benfold on November 21, 1997, while at sea.(Rebecca Kearns/U.S. Navy/Getty Images)

The guided-missile cruiser USS Robert Smalls helped provide meals for the crew, while the strike group supported the destroyer during the casualty, 7th Fleet said, and no injuries were reported. The loss of power was first reported by USNI News.

The Navy has not publicly detailed whether the casualty affected the Benfold’s propulsion, navigation, communications, sensors, weapons systems or emergency power. Those facts will help define the operational impact of the failure as the Navy investigates its cause.

The ship is an Arleigh Burke-class destroyer, which was operating with the USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group at the time of the power outage.

The breakdown occurred while the destroyer was in the South China Sea, a strategically vital waterway where the U.S. Navy routinely operates with allies and partners as China presses sweeping territorial claims. The Navy has described its regional missions as part of its commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.

The incident also left the Benfold dependent on support from the carrier strike group at a moment when USS George Washington was preparing to leave the western Pacific for the Middle East.

In this handout image released by the South Korean Defense Ministry, South Korean Navy’s destroyer Yulgok Yi I (C), U.S. Navy’s USS Benfold (R) and Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s JS Atago (L) sail in formation during a joint naval exercise in international waters on April 17, 2023, at an undisclosed location.(South Korean Defense Ministry via Getty Images)

The strike group is headed to relieve the USS Abraham Lincoln, which has been deployed since November.

PENTAGON RACES TO BUY 10X MORE MISSILES AS IRAN WAR DWINDLES ARSENAL, THREATENS READINESS FOR CHINA AGGRESSION

The Navy said on Aug. 14 that the Lincoln had been deployed for 266 days, including 200 days in a combat zone, and would return home as part of a planned rotation.

The shift underscores the operational demands on a Navy balancing commitments in the Middle East and Indo-Pacific. It is unclear whether The Benfold will rejoin the USS George Washington Carrier Strike Group for its Middle East deployment after regaining power.

A U.S. Navy fighter jet launches from aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72) in the Arabian Sea.(CENTCOM)

The 7th Fleet did not immediately say whether the Benfold casualty has prompted maintenance checks or other action across the destroyer fleet. The Navy is investigating the cause of the failure.

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Acting Navy Secretary Hung Cao said the Lincoln’s deployment was extended because “the mission demanded it” and said the ship would return home as part of a planned rotation.

Cao acknowledged that a small number of personnel had received mental health treatment and that meal plans were adjusted when fresh resupply was unavailable, while disputing broader media accounts of conditions aboard the carrier.

State Farm is sending $5 billion in dividend checks to customers. Here’s who qualifies.

August 18, 2026 3:14 PM EDT / CBS News

By Mary Cunningham

Mary Cunningham is a reporter for CBS MoneyWatch. She previously worked at “60 Minutes,” CBSNews.com and CBS News 24/7 as part of the CBS News Associate Program.

Read Full Bio

Millions of customers are now receiving checks from State Farm after the company announced its largest dividend in history earlier this year.

More than 7.2 million checks have been mailed since payments began on July 31, with another 3.8 million set to go out this week, Steve Baldwin, a spokesperson for State Farm, told CBS News in an email.

The payments are part of a $5 billion dividend being issued by the insurer, which will go to policyholders of 49 million vehicles. Here’s what to know.

Am I eligible?

State Farm customers with an auto insurance policy in force between Jan. 1, 2025, and Dec. 31, 2025, are eligible for a refund, State Farm previously told CBS News.

How do I get the payment?

Customers who already have an email address on file with State Farm will receive an email from “donotreply@e.sfdividend.com.”

The email will contain instructions on how to log in to a payment portal where they can choose whether to receive the dividend payment via digital payment (Zelle, Venmo or PayPal) or by mail as a check. Customers who do not have an email address on file will automatically get a check in the mail.

How much will I get?

The average refund size will be $100 per vehicle. However, the exact amount customers get will be based on a percentage of the premium they paid for each qualifying policy in 2025. Percentages vary by state, ranging from 4% to 10%, according to State Farm.

When can I expect a check?

Payments are being distributed in waves by state, Baldwin told CBS News. The payment process will take several months to complete, given the scale of the distribution, he added.

Customers can visit sfdividend.com or call 1-888-808-9532 with any additional questions about the dividend payments.

Edited by Aimee Picchi

Apparent human remains found in Lake Mead as water levels reach record low

August 18, 2026 / 12:08 PM EDT / CBS News

Apparent human skeletal remains, including a jaw with the teeth still attached, were found at Lake Mead on Sunday, officials said, as water levels sink to new lows amid a drought and scorching heat in the West.

“On Aug. 16, the Lake Mead Interagency Communications Center received a report of potential human remains at Boulder Beach,” the National Park Service said in a statement. “National Park Service rangers and the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department responded to the scene. The incident remains under investigation, and no additional information is available at this time.”

The bones were discovered by a woman and her friend and his daughter on the shoreline of Boulder Beach, which is located on the western side of the lake within Nevada state lines.

“We just went to the lake to, you know, have fun for a little bit. My friend was playing with the rocks in the lake, and then he grabbed the jaw,” Dianelis Molina Cruz told Las Vegas CBS affiliate KLAS. “And when he looked, he saw the teeth and everything.”

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told KLAS it responded to the location alongside the Clark County Coroner’s Office, but they were not investigating the incident.

The reason the remains were found now can quite likely be chalked up to the concerning drop in water levels at the lake.

“We noticed that it’s very low. The water looks very low compared to where it should be,” Noel De Leon told KLAS on Monday. “As the water goes down, the skeletons come up.”

Boats and personal watercraft cruise by Boulder Beach in Boulder Basin on July 25, 2026, in the Lake Mead National Recreation Area, Nevada. Ethan Miller/Getty Images

Water levels have reached historic lows at Lake Mead, which is the largest reservoir in the United States. On Monday, the water level dipped to 1,039.77 feet above sea level, according to the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, well below the previous record low set in July 2022.

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At the time the water levels dipped in the summer of 2022, several discoveries of human remains garnered national media attention. In May 2022, boaters spotted a metal barrel that ended up containing human remains. A shirt and belt were still visible on the remains, according to the couple who found it.

The body was found near Hemenway Harbor, which is just a couple of miles south of Boulder Beach.

The man in the barrel was found to have been shot and was declared a homicide victim. The remains were believed to be from the 1980s, police said. The remains have still not been identified, though police released a composite image of what he may have looked like in November 2023.

The barrel was just one of a number of discoveries of remains in Lake Mead that year. On three dates in July and August 2022, human remains were found in the Boulder Beach area. Those were later identified as the same person, Claude Russell Pensinger, who disappeared in July 1998, according to the Clark County medical examiner. His cause of death was not determined.

Human remains found on May 7, 2022, in Callville Bay, just days after the body was found in the barrel, were later identified as Thomas Erndt, who had drowned in 2002, according to the medical examiner. The remains of another drowning victim, Donald Smith, who was believed to have drowned in 1974, were found in October 2022.

Socialists accused of ‘motor mouth’ rhetoric as longtime Dem strategist unloads on far-left candidate

2026-08-18T14:15:55-04:00 / Fox News

James Carville shoots back after DSA candidate Oliver Larkin says socialism can win anywhere ahead of Tuesday’s primary

By Paul Steinhauser , Matthew Donnell Fox News

Published August 18, 2026 2:15pm EDT

James Carville insists he’s not worried about communists taking over the Democratic Party: ‘Pack of fools’

Democratic strategist James Carville says he is not concerned about socialists taking over the Democratic Party and discusses Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., distancing herself from past ‘woke’ rhetoric on ‘Jesse Watters Primetime.’

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Longtime Democratic pundit James Carville is firing back at recent jabs from a socialist candidate running to unseat a mainstream Democratic congressman in Tuesday’s primary elections in Florida.

After Oliver Larkin told Fox News this past weekend that “it may be time” for Carville “to take a back seat, to people with fresh ideas,” the strategist who first gained national attention as one of the masterminds behind former President Bill Clinton’s 1992 White House victory shot back.

Referring to Larkin, who is a member of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), Carville told Fox News Digital he “has the attribute of every DSA member in the country, and that is he has a motor mouth.”

“He fits right in.”

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Oliver Larkin, Democratic candidate for Congress in Florida’s 25th District, addresses state Republicans’ newly approved congressional redistricting map on May 4, 2026, in Coral Springs, Florida.(Getty Images)

Carville, an establishment Democrat, has repeatedly railed against high-profile victories by far-left and socialist candidates over more mainstream candidates in primaries this spring and summer, which are framed by many pundits as a battle for the party’s ideological future.

“They’re a bunch of silly people… a pack of fools,” Carville said in his comments Monday in an appearance on Fox News’ “Jesse Waters Primetime.”

The 33-year-old Larkin, a veteran of Sen. Bernie Sanders’ 2016 Democratic presidential campaign, is the only DSA-endorsed House candidate running in a competitive congressional swing district. He is challenging more moderate Democratic Rep. Jared Moskowitz in Florida’s newly drawn 25th Congressional District.

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Rep. Jared Moskowitz is facing a primary challenge from socialist Oliver Larkin as he runs for re-election in 2026 in Florida’s newly-drawn 25th Congressional District.(Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Congressional Integrity Project)

Moskowitz is backed by the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) as well as indirectly by AIPAC, a major pro-Israel political group.

Larkin, meanwhile, has support from prominent far-left figures, including controversial political streamer Hasan Piker.

“Democratic socialism can win in any district, in any race, for any office all across the country,” Larkin told Fox News on the campaign trail this past weekend. He added that he was “very proud” to be carrying the “torch forward as a DSA candidate.”

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And pointing to Carville and other mainstream Democratic strategists, Larkin said “they’re seeing their power over the Democratic Party establishment wane, and a new generation of leadership taking a step forward.”

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In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” Larkin added, “I think it is very foolhardy to be excluding people from the Democratic Party that they’re going to be begging for our votes in 2028.”

Paul Steinhauser covers the national campaign trail from coast to coast for Fox News

Pandemic-era inflation left millions of workers with a lasting pay cut. Now it’s happening again

August 18, 2026 3:19 PM EDT / CBS News

By

Megan Cerullo Reporter, MoneyWatch
Megan Cerullo is a New York-based reporter for CBS MoneyWatch covering small business, workplace, health care, consumer spending and personal finance topics. She regularly appears on CBS News 24/7 to discuss her reporting.

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American workers’ wages are once again failing to keep up with inflation — a painful financial déjà vu of the pandemic years.

The repeat situation may feel even more acute given that many workers are still catching up from the 2021-2022 inflationary bout, when companies gave workers only moderate pay raises that fell short of four-decade high price increases, according to new economic research.

From February 2021 to June 2022, real wages — or the purchasing power of the average American’s paycheck — fell by more than 4%, according to the paper from the University of Chicago and ADP researchers.

That hit proved lasting for many, with the analysis finding that 37% of workers whose payroll records researchers examined earned less in inflation-adjusted terms in December 2024 than they had four years earlier. Those losses were never made up, and now many Americans are re-experiencing a similar trend.

The Iran war has reignited inflation by raising oil and gasoline prices, which pushed the Consumer Price Index to an annual pace of 3.4% in July. That outpaced the 3.2% increase in workers’ hourly wages over the same period, leading to a decline in workers’ real wages.

The “long shadow” of the pandemic’s high inflation is still hanging over workers, University of Chicago Booth School of Business professor Erik Hurst, a labor economist and co-author of the paper, told CBS News.

“Workers were already behind the eight ball in terms of affordability, even going into inflationary pressures that started earlier this year from the war in Iran,” University of Chicago Booth School of Business professor Erik Hurst, a labor economist and co-author of the paper, told CBS News.

Gloomy consumer sentiment

Researchers used monthly payroll data from ADP covering 16 million workers to analyze firms’ practices in setting wages and raises. They found that most firms peg annual raises to a common norm, making only modest adjustments during periods of high inflation.

That failure to peg pay raises to inflation caused real wage losses, the research found. Before the pandemic, workers were typically given pay increases of about 2% to 4%, but when inflation hit a 40-year high of 9.1% in June 2021, companies stuck with their regular pay hikes. Many workers lost financial ground as a result, according to the analysis.

Hurst said most companies have wage growth “norms” whereby workers, including himself, receive a relatively standard 3% wage increase each year.

“That’s what I got at Chicago, which works well when inflation is at 2%, because it gives us 1% real wage growth,” he said. “But when inflation exceeds 3%, then real wages start to erode.”

The latest bout of inflation, driven directly by oil price increases, is contributing to diminished consumer sentiment because workers can see they are losing ground financially, according to Hurst. In August, consumer sentiment dipped about 8%, reversing two months of improvement, according to the University of Michigan.

“When real wages are low, well-being is low because purchasing power has gone down,” Hurst said. “Consumer sentiment is low, despite unemployment being low and employment being relatively high.”

Inflation transfer

If a company gives a worker a 3% pay adjustment when inflation is at 4%, that effectively amounts to a 1% pay cut.

This dynamic creates an “inflation transfer,” effectively shifting the burden of higher prices from corporations to workers.

For example, assuming a worker’s productivity does not drop by 1% over one year, but their real wages fall by the same amount, a company benefits from that same productivity but is paying wages that are 1% lower.

“Real wages are low and firm profits are high, and they are not unrelated to each other,” Hurst said.

Job hopping and wages

One way to avoid real wage erosion is to switch jobs, according to the report, which found that job changers’ wages rose nearly in line with inflation. But that comes with its own costs, according to Hurst.

“People who switch jobs tend to keep up with inflation, which is great, but switching jobs is not free,” Hurst said. “You have to expend effort to look for a job, move your family and change your workflow. Some actions workers take to keep up with inflation are themselves inherently costly.”

Edited by Aimee Picchi

Rubio announces sanctions on ICC officials amid campaign to dismantle the court

2026-08-18T17:53:01.711Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/18/politics/us-announces-sanctions-on-icc-officials

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio targeted two International Criminal Court officials with new sanctions Tuesday amid his campaign to “dismantle” the court.

Rubio announced in a statement he is imposing sanctions on ICC President Tomoko Akane, who is Japanese, and senior trial lawyer Abdoulaye Seye, who is Senegalese.

“These individuals have directly engaged in efforts by the ICC to investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute officials whose government has not consented to ICC jurisdiction,” he said.

The ICC denounced the new sanctions, saying that they “undermine the rule of law.”

“The Court remains undeterred and stands firmly behind its personnel and behind victims of unimaginable atrocities,” it said. “The Court will continue to fully discharge its mandate with independence and impartiality, in full accordance with the Rome Statute and in the interest of victims of international crimes.”

The Trump administration has imposed a slew of sanctions against ICC officials for their attempts to investigate the United States and Israel, neither of which are members of the court. President Donald Trump’s criticism of the ICC goes back to his first term, when his administration targeted the court for seeking to investigate alleged war crimes committed by US forces in Afghanistan.

In November 2024, the court issued arrest warrants for several officials including Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The court said it found “reasonable grounds” to believe that Netanyahu bears criminal responsibility for war crimes during Israeli military operations in Gaza including “starvation as a method of warfare” and “the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts.”

Last month, Rubio announced a significant escalation of the administration’s efforts against the global court — a State Department-led, “whole-of-government campaign” to dismantle the ICC.

The US has asked other countries to join the pressure campaign and has threatened “increased scrutiny” against those that do not.

Rubio said Tuesday that he expects “more countries to join our campaign by ending their funding and participation in this politicized and unaccountable court.”

“The ICC’s ability to target American nationals and those of other non-States Parties must end,” he said, referencing countries that are not members of the court. “The Trump Administration stands ready to take additional measures, if necessary, to systematically dismantle the ICC until it is incapable of threatening American sovereignty.”

A US official said last month that countries “that partner with US law enforcement, host a US military presence, or benefit from the broader US security umbrella are being called upon to reject the ICC’s purported authority to prosecute American officials and servicemen.”

“We will watch with interest which nations join ranks with us against this threat to Americans who are willing to risk their lives to protect others,” they noted.

The US-backed interim government in Venezuela announced in late July it will pull out of the ICC. The foreign minister said that, under instruction from acting President Delcy Rodriguez, Venezuela had informed the United Nations of its “firm and irrevocable decision” to withdraw from the court. He argued in a post on X that the “Court’s actions reflect a demonstrated geographical bias” by focusing on African and Latin American countries.

The State Department praised the decision.

“The so-called court has been ‘investigating’ Nicolas Maduro since 2018 with no result. The ICC has instead wasted its resources on investigating and charging persons from countries that have competent, independent judicial systems and which never submitted to the jurisdiction of the court,” the department said in a media note at the time.

Chad also announced in late July its decision to withdraw from the ICC, after the launch of the US campaign.

The ICC’s Presidency of the Assembly of States Parties noted both decisions “with concern,” saying the withdrawals “risk undermining the collective pursuit of justice and weakening global efforts to end impunity.”

The story has been updated with additional reporting.

Ex-lawmakers, pardoned felons and carpetbaggers seek political redemption in chaotic Florida GOP House primary

2026-08-18 1:38 PM EDT / CNN

By Dana Bash, CNN

Ex-lawmakers, pardoned felons and carpetbaggers seek political redemption in chaotic Florida GOP House primary

Inside Politics

Dana Bash and the “Inside Politics” panel break down the list of Republicans in a Florida house primary that one GOP operative calls a “clown show.” Jeff Zeleny tells Bash, “I can’t think of any time when so many congressional misfits… and former felons and other things have arrived in the same place, the southwest corner of Florida, to run for this seat.”

3:18 • Source: CNN

Frank Beard, ZZ Top drummer, dies at age 77

August 18, 2026 / 3:41 PM EDT / CBS News

By Jordan Freiman

Frank Beard, longtime ZZ Top drummer, has died, the band confirmed to CBS News. He was 77.

A cause of death was not immediately provided, but the band’s publicist said in a statement, “He was in hospice care when he passed away at his ranch in Richmond, TX with family members at his side.” He died on Monday.

Beard, along with guitarist Billy Gibbons and bassist Dusty Hill, formed ZZ Top in 1969. Hill died in 2021, and at his request, was replaced by his longtime bass tech, Elwood Francis.

“Today, Elwood and I lost a great friend and collaborator, and the world lost one of the most naturally innovative drummers and a great and true son of Texas. His signature backbeat was key to keeping ZZ on top,” Gibbons said in a statement posted on social media.

Frank Beard of ZZ Top performs during the $20 Best Night Ever Tour at DTE Energy Center on August 20, 2013, in Clarkston, Michigan. Scott Legato / Getty Images

The band said it has canceled its two upcoming shows in Salt Lake City and Colorado Springs, but that the tour would continue this weekend at Austin City Limits, “one of Frank’s favorite venues and in a city that had been something of a second home for him.”

This is a breaking story. It will be updated.

Hayden Panettiere was with on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson when she died, police report says

August 18, 2026 / 2:44 PM EDT / CBS News

Hayden Panettiere’s on-and-off boyfriend Brian Hickerson and his brother were at the scene of her death, according to a police report obtained Tuesday by CBS News. The “Heroes” actor, 36, was found dead in a South Carolina apartment on Sunday.

Panettiere and Brian Hickerson had a tumultuous relationship, including Hickerson being arrested multiple times over alleged abuse, according to Panettiere’s recent memoir and media reports.

Hickerson and his brother, Zach, made the 911 call that brought first responders to the Greenville, South Carolina, apartment where Panettiere was found unresponsive, the partially redacted police report says. The report is attributed to Officer Matthew Bryan.

Firefighters and EMS were performing CPR on Panettiere when police arrived, Bryan wrote. Panettiere “did not seem to have any obvious physical reasons to be unresponsive,” Bryan said. He wrote that EMS performed life-saving measures “for an extended amount of time before they called a time of death.” He did not specify how long they worked.

Zach Hickerson told Bryan that Panettiere was Brian Hickerson’s girlfriend, the report says. Bryan said there is CCTV footage showing Panettiere and the Hickersons coming and going from the apartment.

Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson on January 31, 2019, in Los Angeles, California. gotpap/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

Bryan said that Zach Hickerson was “very emotional” as EMS worked on Panettiere. Brian Hickerson “did not become emotional until EMS declared her officially deceased,” Bryan wrote. Details of conversations between Bryan and the Hickersons have been redacted.

At some point, Brian Hickerson showed Bryan “the bag of medication” that Panettiere was “currently on,” according to the report. The list of medications is redacted.

Panettiere was declared dead at 2:31 p.m., according to the report. Other investigators arrived on the scene, and a search warrant was conducted, Bryan said.

Panettiere’s death remains under investigation. Police previously said that a preliminary investigation “has not indicated any signs of foul play or suspicious circumstances.”

An autopsy was completed Monday, the Greenville County Coroner’s Office said. Her cause and manner of death remain pending until results from the autopsy are returned, which could take up to eight weeks, the office said Tuesday.

Hayden Panettiere and Brian Hickerson attend a celebration of life event for Panettiere’s younger brother Jansen on March 8, 2023, in Palisades, New York. MEGA/GC Images

Panettiere’s film and television career spanned more than 30 years. She got her start as a child actor, appearing in films including “Remember the Titans” and “Ice Princess,” before rocketing to fame as a teenager on the hit “Heroes.” She also appeared in the “Scream” horror series and led the TV drama “Nashville,” which earned her two Golden Globe nominations.

Amid her success on-screen, Panettiere struggled behind the scenes. She has talked openly about an addiction to opioids and alcohol that began in her teens, as well as her struggles with postpartum depression after the birth of her daughter with ex-fiancé Wladimir Klitschko in 2015. In 2023, her brother Jansen died at 28 from a heart condition.

In her memoir “This Is Me: A Reckoning,” released in May, Panettiere detailed her upbringing as a child actor, her experiences with addiction and physical abuse, and her recovery. She told CBS News’ Gayle King that she hoped the memoir could help others.

“I really wanted to share with the world that they don’t have to be afraid. That they can live their truth. They can be imperfect,” she said. Asked how she was doing, she replied, “Still working on myself all the time. I had a great therapist and I’m — I’m better, healthier than I’ve been in a long time.”

12 of Trump’s most bizarre moments on the Iran war

2026-08-18T17:11:05.990Z / CNN

This week, President Donald Trump has: threatened to go to war with a second Middle Eastern country, floated making the Strait of Hormuz a US territory and contradicted his administration’s messaging by claiming there are no ongoing negotiations with Iran.

It’s only Tuesday.

Trump is no stranger to eccentric comments. But the Iran war has proved to be a frequent outlet for this behavior — with huge stakes involved.

His commentary has, at times, sounded like he’s not terribly engaged or clued in to what’s happening. At other points, he’s made seemingly unfeasible proposals. Several times, he seems to be trying to will an alternate reality into existence.

Here are some of the most bizarre Trump comments of the nearly six-month-old war.

Praising Iran’s leaders as ‘rational’ and ‘not radicalized’

“We’re dealing with people that I think are very rational people,” Trump said June 16 at the G7 summit in France. “They were nice to deal with. They were strong people, smart people. … But they’re not radicalized, and they’re, you know, looking to help their country.”

Many criticized these comments as Pollyannaish. And it didn’t take long for Trump to eat his words.

Just three weeks later, after negotiations predictably fell apart, Trump called these same leaders “cuckoo,” “evil,” “sick,” “dirty players” and “scum.”

“They violate the agreement every day,” Trump said at a NATO summit in Turkey. “They lie. They cheat.”

Trump told CBS News on April 17 that Iran had “agreed to everything” the US demanded. That included Tehran stopping its backing of proxy groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, relinquishing its enriched uranium stockpile and committing to stop enriching uranium forever.

None of those claims came to fruition, nor is there evidence Iran actually agreed to them.

Even when Iran and the United States reached a memorandum of understanding in June, it contained none of those items.

Trump has frequently claimed that Iran has been desperate to make a deal and that such an agreement was just around the corner.

As far back as April 7, Trump claimed on social media that negotiations were “very far along” but needed two weeks “to be finalized and consummated.” He concluded by saying that “it is an Honor to have this Longterm problem close to resolution.”

That resolution has still not arrived.

The president had made such claims more than three dozen times by mid-June. And he’s continued making them since then, despite Iran signaling the opposite of desperation, including by violating the memorandum of understanding, which included favorable terms for Tehran.

Long before Trump floated the US taking control of the Strait of Hormuz, he floated another idea: the United States entering into a partnership with Iran to charge tolls to cross the critical waterway.

“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture. It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people,” Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on April 8, adding: “It’s a beautiful thing.”

Never mind that Iran has been an adversary for nearly five decades, with its citizens famously chanting “death to America.”

And never mind that Secretary of State Marco Rubio previously called charging tolls to cross the international waterway “illegal” and “dangerous for the world.”

Trump said March 9 that Iran’s Middle Eastern neighbors “were largely neutral” until Iran attacked them.

“The neighbors came on to our side and started attacking them, and actually quite successfully,” Trump said. “If you look at Saudi Arabia, you look at UAE, Qatar and others.”

This had not, in fact, happened. Other Gulf countries have steadfastly sought to avoid getting involved in the war, though Saudi Arabia last month did get dragged into it, somewhat.

That same day, Trump told CBS News: “I think the war is very complete, pretty much.”

That was 10 days into a war that has now lasted 172 days.

“They have to have some, because other people have some,” Trump said June 17, while trying to forge a deal with Iran. He added that “missiles aren’t the problem” because “they don’t blow up the planet.”

“In relative proportion, I think it’s OK,” Trump said later.

These comments were a stark and confusing contrast to Trump saying when the war began that one of his top goals was to “raze their missile industry to the ground.” Trump has pitched Iran’s missiles as an unacceptable risk to the region, including to the US troops stationed in it.

“It’s the beginning of building a new country,” Trump said on March 9.

He added on April 6: “We may even get involved with helping them rebuild their nation.”

These comments came after Trump spent many years decrying the folly of nation-building overseas — especially in the Middle East.

And like many of Trump’s ideas, he seemed to quickly abandon this one.

Early in the war, both Trump and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth claimed the United States had free rein over the skies of Iran, with the president saying Tehran “can’t do a thing about it.”

By early April, two US jets were taken down.

But Trump kept making this claim. He said in June, “We now have complete and total control of the skies over Iran.” He added in July that Iran had “nothing” militarily, including “no air force” and that their “anti-aircraft is gone.”

Just five days later, though, the administration secretly moved Trump from Air Force One to a smaller plane when he was departing Turkey, over fears that Iran could take down the larger plane.

Trump has claimed over and over again in recent weeks that the United States controls the Strait of Hormuz, and that the strait is “open.”

“They don’t have control,” Trump said Wednesday. “We have total control. We own it.”

The US does have a blockade against Iranian ports in the strait, which is applying economic pressure on Tehran. But Trump hasn’t been able to force the strait open as Iran keeps attacking ships. And traffic remains far below the prewar peaks.

Indeed, the Strait of Hormuz is basically Iran’s leverage at this point. And if the US actually controlled it, the war would look very different.

This wasn’t just some internet meme that Trump fired off Tuesday morning. He also said Monday: “I think it’s a great idea. We control it. I like the idea of declaring it a territory.”

But this seems, at the very least, entirely impractical. Not only does the US not really control the strait now, but holding it over the long term would likely require an extended troop presence in a volatile region. It’s an odd goal from a president who repeatedly said the war would last only four to six weeks and who has lambasted “forever wars.”

Of course, Trump says stuff like this a lot. Last year, he briefly floated a plan to take control of Gaza. That went over like a lead balloon, and there’s been almost nothing about it since then.

“If Oman gets in the way, we’ll bomb the sh*t out of them,” Trump said in an interview this week with Fox News’ Trey Yingst.

Trump fires off lots of threats, but this one — which the president initially made in May and then re-upped on Monday — has left allies in the region thoroughly confused.

Oman has been a historic partner for the United States and a mediator during negotiations with Iran. And while Trump warned Oman on Monday not to interfere, he previously — in a signed document — said that Oman would “conduct dialogue” with Tehran to determine the future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz.