Before we get to the Final Countdown and all the big geopolitical stuff, a small story that, except by the families of the dead, will soon be utterly forgotten. Longtime readers will be familiar with my decade-old planes-dropping-from-the-sky thesis, more recently modified to my crapness-of-everything thesis. Yesterday, a plane did not drop from the sky. It landed safely at LaGuardia - and then disaster struck.
So LaGuardia Airport - which has been a dysfunctional dump my entire adult life - is closed all day today. Yesterday, a United Airlines flight reported a strange odour at the rear of the 'plane that was making the cabin crew feel ill, so they expressed a wish to return to the gate. No-one picked up the gate-assignment telephone, so the control tower said they'd take care of it. Six minutes later, a fire truck collided with an Air Canada jet killing the pilot and co-pilot and sending a stewardess hurtling through the window. The control-tower audio is an interesting glimpse into the fragility of systems:
A fire truck was trying to cross runway 04 at LGA - LaGuardia Airport this evening to get to a United Airlines flt 2384 that had 2 rejected takeoffs. The United 737 Max declared an emergency on the ground and requested fire trucks due to a strange odor that was making the flight... https://t.co/KJ7wJIgyvz pic.twitter.com/w3e6DhvUfH
— Thenewarea51 (@thenewarea51) March 23, 2026
The above is the future. But, if you are of more conspiratorial bent, the ill-fated Air Canada flight from Montreal was returning to New York a large group of orthodox Jews.
(UPDATE! New York City's three airports are currently down to one.)
Which brings us somewhat circuitously to the top story of the day - the countdown to President Trump's deadline:
🚨 "If Iran doesn't FULLY OPEN, WITHOUT THREAT, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various POWER PLANTS, STARTING WITH THE BIGGEST ONE FIRST..." - President DONALD J. TRUMP pic.twitter.com/htLz1A0Mf7
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) March 22, 2026
Moments ago, the President updated the situation:
I AM PLEASE TO REPORT THAT THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA, AND THE COUNTRY OF IRAN, HAVE HAD, OVER THE LAST TWO DAYS, VERY GOOD AND PRODUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS REGARDING A COMPLETE AND TOTAL RESOLUTION OF OUR HOSTILITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST. BASED ON THE TENOR AND TONE OF THESE IN DEPTH, DETAILED, AND CONSTRUCTIVE CONVERSATIONS, WITCH WILL CONTINUE THROUGHOUT THE WEEK, I HAVE INSTRUCTED THE DEPARTMENT OF WAR TO POSTPONE ANY AND ALL MILITARY STRIKES AGAINST IRANIAN POWER PLANTS AND ENERGY INFRASTRUCTURE FOR A FIVE DAY PERIOD, SUBJECT TO THE SUCCESS OF THE ONGOING MEETINGS AND DISCUSSIONS. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION TO THIS MATTER! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP
Iran, for its part, is denying the US version of events: There has been "no direct or indirect contact with Trump". UPDATE! from the foreign ministry:
We deny what US President Donald Trump said regarding negotiations taking place between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran...
The Islamic Republic of Iran adheres to its position rejecting any type of negotiations before achieving Iran's goals from the war.
The main reason there are only four or five ships passing through the strait each day is, as in the LaGuardia story, because of the nature of our systems: the insurers will not cover them in the present circumstances. Steyn Show viewers may recall my shows from Ukraine four years ago. There was no Monday show that week was because, upon my landing in Budapest, the GB News producers informed me that their insurers would not cover them for travel to a war zone. So their fallback plan was that I do the show from eastern Hungary instead. But barely had they pitched it to me when London called to nix it on the grounds that the insurance wallahs would still not cover them if they were in the general vicinity of a war zone. So I wound up crossing into Ukraine with my longtime New Hampshire cameraman and his delightful and plucky girlfriend, a nurse from the Granite State who gamely offered to handle all the war-zone producing chores and in fact proved rather good at it. It does not take much to make insurers jittery: In the present situation, you don't have to mine the entire strait, as Iran had promised. The discovery of just one mine would do it. Or, indeed, merely the announcement thereof.
Still, we shall see what the now extended deadline brings. For those who missed last week's formal Recitation of the Time Zones on our Clubland Q&A, the President's threat goes active at 11.05am Greenwich Mean Time on Saturday 28th, which is 7.05am North American Eastern/4.05am Pacific, 1.05pm in Jerusalem, and 2.35pm in Tehran.
As you know, I think this war is a disaster. That view has sent many readers stampeding for the exits, with a few suggesting that I've lost it and it's time to head to the retirement home. (I would but the best estimate from the lawyers is that the Mann vs Steyn case still has a decade of Mann's Big Climate-funded appeals to run.) Despite my pessimism, it remains the case that Trump is sui generis, and one bets against him at one's peril. So, for my three or four remaining readers, I thought I would start each day by trying to find a pro-war view - other than Lindsey Graham, that is:
I am deeply upset at the lack of respect for life Senator Lindsey Graham is displaying when talking about our troops. He is acting as if they are expendable cattle. This is unacceptable and dark. There were over 26,000 American casualties at Iwo Jima. pic.twitter.com/EWMaVtOWX3
— Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (@RepLuna) March 22, 2026
Bloomberg reports that Senator Graham, Rupert Murdoch and Rupert's employee Mark Levin were those who talked the President into war, while Vance, Rubio and Susie Wiles cautioned against. But forget Senator Graham, and let us commence our pro-war links with my friend and former editor Roger Kimball at American Greatness:
'Tis But a Flesh Wound: Iran's Delusional Victory Claims Amid Regime Collapse
If you see any other well-argued cases for the pro-war side, feel free to pass them along.
Meanwhile, the Administration continues its efforts to hold oil to $100 a barrel by lifting sanctions against both Russia and Iran and related methods: Brent Crude opened today on the Asian markets a little north of $113, but has sunk back upon news of the presidential tweet. Ahead of his meeting with the Aussie PM, the head honcho of the International Energy Agency says it's back to the Seventies:
"Many of us remember the two consecutive oil crises in the 1970s... at that time, in each of the crises, the world has lost about five million barrels per day, both of them together, 10 million barrels per day," Birrol said.
"As of today, we lost 11 million barrels per day, so more than two major oil shocks put together."
The only advice I would offer anyone is to try to consider the situation from the enemy's viewpoint and his own incentives, as well as from those of rival powers, such as Russia, China and even India.
The clock is reset.
Meanwhile, back on the home front, it's business as usual...
~We had a very busy weekend at SteynOnline, beginning with Mark's column on the widening war. Our weekend music show was a very mixed bag, including Liza Minnelli talking to Steyn about her very first Broadway show. Rick McGinnis's Saturday movie date was a Pickup on South Street, while our Sunday Song of the Week was a hangup on Spring Street. Our marquee presentation was the latest installment of Mark's highly prescient demographic bestseller, America Alone.
If you were too busy this weekend sending money to John Cornyn and Lindsey Graham, we hope you'll want to check out one or three of the foregoing as a new week begins.