President Trump told The Post Monday that he’s not ruling out sending US ground troops into Iran “if they were necessary” — adding that Operation Epic Fury was “way ahead of schedule” after taking out dozens of Tehran’s top officials.

“I don’t have the yips with respect to boots on the ground — like every president says, ‘There will be no boots on the ground.’ I don’t say it,” Trump said after launching strikes Saturday to decapitate Iran’s military and political leadership. “I say ‘probably don’t need them,’ [or] ‘if they were necessary.'”

Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said at a Monday morning Pentagon press conference that no American troops are currently inside Iran, though he also did not rule out the possibility. (NY Post – Continue Reading)

To think clearly about Middle East wars, you need to hold multiple thoughts in your head at the same time. It’s a complicated, kaleidoscopic region where religion, oil, tribal politics and great power politics interweave in every major story. If you are looking for a black-and-white narrative, you might want to take up checkers. So, here are my four thoughts on Iran — at least for today.

First, I hope this effort to topple the clerical regime in Tehran succeeds. It is a regime that murders its people, destabilizes its neighbours and has destroyed a great civilization. There is no single event that would do more to put the whole Middle East on a more decent, inclusive trajectory than the replacement of Tehran’s Islamic regime with a leadership focused exclusively on enabling the people of Iran to realize their full potential with a real voice in their own future. (NY Times – Continue Reading)

Headline consumer price growth in the Eurozone in February likely remained well beneath the level preferred at the European Central Bank, which is largely expected to leave interest rates at current levels this year and perhaps beyond, according to observers.

The bank’s next rate decision is on March 19.

An economists’ poll predicted that the annual Eurozone headline inflation rate in February held at 1.7%, well short of the ECB’s target of 2.0% over the medium term.

The less-volatile core rate was set to remain at 2.2% y/y, observers said.

“Flash HICP inflation is expected to have edged higher in February, driven by pass-through from the rebound in oil to petrol prices, but core inflation is expected to hold steady,” ABN Amro wrote. (LiveSquawk – Continue Reading)

The U.S. Supreme Court’s Feb. 20 ruling curbing the president’s ability to unilaterally impose tariffs is generally positive for U.S. ports, Fitch Ratings says. Longer term, a lower overall tariff environment may help improve import demand and recovery in U.S.-bound ocean freight volumes, which would support port revenue and liquidity.

The Supreme Court’s ruling invalidated broad-based tariffs on imports from most countries imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA). Even with the 10% blanket tariff that the administration announced following the ruling, authorized through Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974, the U.S. effective tariff rate (ETR) has fallen to 9.4% from 12.7%. ETRs for most countries remain unchanged, while 26 of the US’s largest trading partners will see their ETR decline. No country’s ETR increased.

However, tariff-related uncertainty remains and may temper port volume recovery. Long-term contractual guarantees with shipping lines and port tenants provide ports with a level of revenue stability despite volume fluctuations from tariff volatility. (Fitch – Continue Reading)

Western governments are being urged to clamp down on cryptocurrency as new research suggests $350 billion has been laundered by criminals and hostile states using the technology in the past two decades.

A new report for the Henry Jackson Society think tank, shared with POLITICO, finds that worldwide money laundering has shifted dramatically towards cryptocurrency in recent years — with the United States, Russia and Britain seeing the highest number of confirmed cases.

The report draws on a database of 164 publicly identified and documented money laundering cases between 2005 and 2025. It was compiled by Alexander Browder, son of American-British financier and anti-corruption campaigner Bill Browder. (POLITICO – Continue Reading)