Wednesday Afternoon Updates: Iran Unleashes Missile Barrage, CENTCOM Lies About It, and Trump Won't Go Out in Public – 6/3/26

Hi all, Ben here. It’s Wednesday and we’ve got a whole lot to unpack. Here are the top stories we’re tracking:

• Iran launches major missile and drone strikes on Kuwait International Airport and a connected U.S. Air Force base, killing at least one and wounding 63

• CENTCOM denies all damage — satellite imagery, on-the-ground footage, and AIS tracking data say otherwise

• Iran strikes the U.S. 5th Fleet’s naval support base in Bahrain and a container ship with Trump-connected ownership

• Trump claims Iran is “a big success” as he sports a new swollen eye in a pre-recorded interview. He’s not been seen in public in 7 days

• Netanyahu hedges on whether he and Trump share common goals for ending the war

• Marco Rubio and Scott Bessent both collapse under congressional cross-examination in separate hearings on the Hill

• Bill Pulte was named acting DNI and now bipartisan alarm bells are ringing

• Scott Pelley breaks his silence on being fired from 60 Minutes and what’s really happening inside CBS News

• Primary night results from six states, with Iowa delivering a significant upset and a possible bellwether for November

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Let’s get into it.

Iran’s Strikes Were Real. CENTCOM Lied. Again.

Overnight, Iran launched a significant wave of ballistic missiles and drone swarms targeting Kuwait and Bahrain. Kuwait International Airport’s Terminal 1 was devastated, structurally destroyed, with at least one person killed (an Indian national) and 63 others wounded. What makes this particularly striking is that Terminal 1 had just reopened the day before, with Kuwait’s civil aviation authority posting about the “successful first day” of resumed flights. Iran knew exactly what it was doing when it targeted that terminal 24 hours later.

Satellite imagery confirmed destruction of drone and aircraft shelters at Ali Al Salem Air Base, the U.S.-connected military installation right next to that commercial airport. Footage captured what analysts described as a successful ballistic missile impact at the U.S. 5th Fleet’s naval support base in Bahrain. And separately, Iran executed a precision strike on the MSC Panaya, a container ship docked at Bahrain’s Port of Hidd, vessel owned by the Aponte family, who have well-documented ties to Trump. Drop Site News put it plainly: Iran hit a ship belonging to a shipping tycoon in Trump’s orbit.

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CENTCOM’s response to all of this? They posted a “fact check” claiming every single Iranian attack on American forces failed. Every last one. Their formal press release acknowledged that U.S. and allied forces successfully intercepted missiles heading for Bahrain and noted that two missiles fired at Kuwait “fell short or broke apart en route,” but said nothing about the terminal that was demolished, the military base that was visibly damaged, or the ship that was sitting at dock when it was struck. It’s a telling omission. They’re defining their terms so narrowly that civilian casualties and destroyed infrastructure simply don’t register as things worth acknowledging. Or as Trump said regarding COVID in 2020: “If we stop testing, we’d have fewer cases.”

This is not the first time I’ve had to tell you that CENTCOM is lying. It won’t be the last.

How We Got Here

A quick refresher. The United States had a blockade set up in the Strait of Hormuz. A tanker attempting to leave that strait was hit with Hellfire missiles by U.S. forces, which the Pentagon framed as defensive enforcement of the blockade. Iran warned explicitly that if the U.S. did that, there would be retaliation. Iran then struck a tanker with connections to Trump’s circle. The U.S. responded by attacking Qeshm Island and Iranian radar and telecommunications assets. Iran then said: fine, we’ll show you what we’re actually capable of. Multiple waves of ballistic missiles and drone swarms followed.

Trump has not been seen in public in 7 days. Zero public events. Instead, we are occasionally getting pre-recorded interviews with people like his daughter-in-law Lara Trump. I’ll note the timing as well: this absence comes right after Trump’s trip to Walter Reed Medical Center. This morning, Miranda Devine of the New York Post released an interview with Trump this morning, and I’ll just say this plainly, he looked terrible. Swollen eyes, swollen hands, swollen legs. He did not look like a man who is in control of a situation. He claimed Iran is “a big success” right now. During the interview, Devine herself referred to Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei as “the gay Ayatollah,” and Trump just rolled with it, saying they’re talking to him, things are going great, and that he’d probably meet with him at some point depending on how things work out. The New York Post ran the exchange in a headline. I don’t know about you, but I am not so sure the Ayatollah is yucking it up with the man who killed his family.

This is what failure looks like. The U.S. security umbrella in the region is not just absent, but rather it has become a liability. Countries hosting American bases are now being targeted because of it.

Oil Prices and the Coming Supply Shock

We are approaching a critical threshold in global oil reserves. We’re very close to that 7-billion-barrel floor that top energy economists watch closely. Once we dip below it, the consensus projection from leading oil analysts is somewhere between $150 and $200 per barrel at minimum. Markets are already reacting. Oil prices are spiking. This is not hypothetical anymore. The Iran conflict is directly threatening the global oil supply chain in a way that will hit every American at the pump and in grocery prices, compounding the damage already being done by tariffs.

Rubio and Bessent Get Taken Apart on Capitol Hill

While all of that was unfolding in the Middle East, two of Trump’s top cabinet members were sitting in congressional hearings getting systematically dismantled.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio testified before the House. Rep. Jacobs asked him directly: “You said the war is over. So who won?” Rubio’s answer was that destroying Iran’s defense industrial base and reducing its drone and missile stockpiles counts as victory. Jacobs told him flatly that the intelligence community disagrees. Then Rep. Lieu confronted Rubio about Trump’s physical and cognitive decline, noting that Trump has not been seen publicly in eight days and has now had multiple cognitive tests at Walter Reed. Lieu showed video of Trump apparently asleep during Rubio’s own remarks and Rubio claimed he’d never seen Trump fall asleep. Rubio testified under oath that he had never seen that. Lieu showed him the receipts in real time.

There was also the Greenland exchange. Rep. McBride asked Rubio whether he was aware that Greenland is part of Denmark. Rubio said: “For now.”

And then there were the oversized Florsheim shoes that Trump reportedly bought for him, which he defended by saying they fit fine. They do not fit fine. Trump does this to his cabinet members. He buys them shoes that don’t fit and makes them wear them. This is more than about shoes. They can’t even tell the truth about the most basic of things.

Rep. Stanton also pressed Rubio on Jared Kushner’s investment firm, which has raised more than $6 billion since 2021, with 99% of that coming from foreign nationals. Rubio’s response was that Jared is “a private citizen who has been advising.” A private citizen with $6 billion in foreign money, no appointment, no oversight, advising the Secretary of State on negotiations with the very countries that money is coming from.

Over in the Senate, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had his own bad day. Sen. Hassan asked him about grocery prices and whether he’d been to a grocery store recently. Bessent claimed food prices are “going down,” then acknowledged they’re actually up 2.5% since Trump took office, which he tried to frame as an improvement over Biden’s numbers. Sen. Warren pressed him on Trump’s stock trading and the fact that his investments are not blind. Bessent deflected by telling the Senate to get its own house in order first, then told Warren, who doesn’t trade individual stocks, that she’s “very rich.” Sen. Lujan asked Bessent about Trump’s sons signing a deal with sanctioned individuals and an addendum that now exempts Trump and his entire family from sanctions consequences. Bessent had nothing. At one point, Lujan grew so frustrated with non-answers that he had to directly ask Bessent whether he was, in fact, the Secretary of Treasury. Bessent sat in silence until Lujan demanded a response.

Sen. Smith asked about Minnesota farmers who can’t afford fertilizer. Bessent responded by explaining that he himself is “a former farmer” and therefore understands their pain. He is a billionaire. He is not a farmer.

“Trans-ing the Mice”

At a House Republican leadership press conference, the party leadership stood in front of a poster. The left side said Republicans are cutting your taxes. The right side said Democrats were “trans-ing the mice.”

What they’re referring to is transgenic mice. Genetically modified laboratory mice that are foundational to lifesaving medical research on cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, and neurological disorders. Scientists have used this research model for decades. People are alive today because of it. Republicans looked at the word “transgenic,” saw the first five letters, and decided that was their message to the American public.

That’s the whole play. They are standing next to signs mocking research that could save your life, because the word used to describe it sounds like it might be about something they can use to scare their base. They don’t care that cutting this research has real consequences for real patients. They’re counting on you not knowing what transgenic means.

This is all they have. While they crater the economy with tariffs, drag the country into a Middle East war with no exit strategy, gut Medicaid, and hand the intelligence community to a Trump loyalist with no credentials, their message to voters is that Democrats are trans-ing the mice.

Bill Pulte, the DNI, and a FISA Crisis in Nine Days

As we reported yesterday, Trump has named Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence following Tulsi Gabbard’s resignation. Pulte has no national security experience. His primary qualification appears to be being a loyal Trump supporter who uses his current platform to attack the president’s enemies. Senate Democrats have told Majority Leader Thune directly that they will withhold votes for FISA reauthorization if Pulte remains in the role. FISA expires in nine days. Mitch McConnell issued a pointed statement noting that the DNI role has statutory eligibility requirements and that any nominee who doesn’t meet them will not get his vote.

During Rubio’s testimony, a member of Congress asked Rubio if he’d ever heard Bill Pulte’s name in an intelligence context. Rubio said: “No.”

Scott Pelley Speaks Out

Scott Pelley, a 37-year CBS News veteran, has broken his silence following his firing from 60 Minutes, and his account is damning. He says new management instructed him to inject falsehoods and bias into politically sensitive stories, to include unverified assertions, and told him that politicians were being invited to choose their own interview correspondents. He said he managed to ignore or refuse those instructions every time — until he couldn’t anymore.

He described an editorial meeting in which CBS News President Tom Cibrowski used the word “firing” within the first 15 seconds, CBS News Editor-in-Chief Bari Weiss refused to answer any of his questions about why senior staff were terminated, and the whole thing ended after roughly ten minutes when Cibrowski stood up and declared the conversation over. Pelley then released a follow-up statement directly accusing Weiss of lying to CBS staff about what had happened in that meeting. He was unambiguous about it.

His conclusion was equally unambiguous: the firings of Executive Producer Tanya Simon and correspondents Cecilia Vega and Sharyn Alfonsi were an effort to win favor with the Trump administration. The principles that made 60 Minutes what it was, he wrote, are gone.

Election Day Updates

Six states held primaries Tuesday. The headline result was in Iowa, where businessman Zach Lahn narrowly defeated Trump-endorsed Rep. Randy Feenstra in the Republican gubernatorial primary. Trump’s endorsement didn’t carry it. That’s worth noting.

Even Republicans on the ground in Iowa are starting to take notice of the reality under Trump. Iowa is leading the nation in farm foreclosures. Fertilizer prices spiked because of tariffs, and then spiked again when the Iran war started. Medicaid cuts from last year’s reconciliation bill have led to rural clinic closures, including the end of labor and delivery services at one medical center in the 1st District. Both the governor’s seat and a Senate seat are open simultaneously for the first time since 1968. Democrats think they can win both. Even GOP strategist David Kochel acknowledged that things are breaking toward Democrats.

No Democrat has won the Iowa governorship since 2006. They think this year is different. Based on what I’m seeing, I’m inclined to take that seriously.

California results are still very much in flux. The state’s heavy mail and drop-off voting means what we’re seeing right now is early and incomplete, and final results could look meaningfully different as more ballots come in over the coming days.

With that caveat in place, here’s where things stand as of Wednesday afternoon. In the governor’s race, Steve Hilton (R) and Xavier Becerra (D) are leading in early counts under California’s top-two primary system, with Hilton slightly ahead at roughly 58% of ballots counted. Both top finishers advance to November regardless of party. Tom Steyer is in third. It should be noted that the incoming ballots should overwhelmingly favor Becerra and Steyer, so this is still way too early to call.

In the Los Angeles mayor’s race, incumbent Karen Bass is leading with roughly 35% at about 63% counted, and is headed to a November runoff. Reality TV villain Spencer Pratt is currently in second place at around 30%, narrowly ahead of progressive Councilmember Nithya Raman at roughly 22%. No candidate hit the 50% threshold needed to avoid a runoff. Just like with the governor’s race, outstanding mail ballots in LA are substantial and this picture is going to keep developing until we see whether Pratt or Raman will advance.

We’ll keep you updated. Thanks for subscribing and spreading the word!