The U.S. Loses A $500 Million Plane & Humanity Heads Back To The Moon

Hi readers, happy Tuesday! Today we’re covering the U.S.-Iran war, Spain’s line in the sand, an art heist in Italy, JD Vance’s take on aliens, Jerome Powell’s speech, and NASA’s moon mission.

Thank you for reading and please feel free to send any comments or feedback to [email protected]!

“If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.” – Mark Twain

More War As The Weather Warms

The scope of the U.S.-Israel-Iran war is broadening as the rest of the globe watches in horror. On Saturday, the Washington ​Post reported that the Pentagon is preparing for a weeks-long ground invasion of Iran, which will involve attacks by both Special ​Operations personnel and conventional infantry ​troops. In an interview with the Financial Times, Trump said that his “preference would be to take the oil” in Iran in the case of a ground invasion, adding that the U.S. could capture Iran’s Kharg Island oil export hub “very easily.”

While the Pentagon brews up that ground invasion, Trump is still claiming that he’s involved in peace negotiations with the Iranian government. “The one regime was decimated, destroyed, they’re all dead. The next regime is mostly dead,” Trump on Sunday, claiming that Iran has moved on to a “third regime” comprised of “a whole different group of people.” According to CNN, those people include Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf – Trump says they’re being “more reasonable” than previous Iranian leaders, and that talks are going well. Iran, meanwhile, has publicly slammed Trump’s 15-point “peace plan” as “unreasonable.”

But enough hypotheticals. As the war continues on, it seems like Iran’s missile attacks are finding more and more targets in the Middle East. Last Friday, a U.S. E-3 Sentry command and control jet was destroyed at a Saudi airbase (another one was damaged), marking a serious loss for the U.S.-Israeli war effort. The Boeing radar planes were two of six deployed to the Middle East for the war in Iran, and the U.S. only operates 14 others; replacing the destroyed jet will cost taxpayers $700 million. In other news, Yemen’s Houthi militant group joined the war on Saturday by launching two missile strikes on Israel. The Houthis being involved in the war might draw Saudi Arabia into the conflict as well, as the group could begin attacking ships in the Red Sea – which is where Riyadh has diverted some of its oil exports since the Strait of Hormuz closure.

Zooming out, the war has forced up fuel prices across the globe, hitting countries in Asia and Africa especially hard. Fuel prices in Nigeria have shot up 65% since the war started, bringing the country’s economy to a screeching halt, and the war has had similar effects in Southeast Asia. Making things worse, Trump threatened that the U.S. could “conclude our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely obliterating” electricity plants, oil facilities, and “possibly” the country’s desalination infrastructure – if the U.S. attacks Iranian oil export facilities, analysts predict that the price of crude oil could shoot up to $200 a barrel, almost triple the price of a barrel before the conflict started.

No Entering España’s Airspace

• Spain’s airspace is now closed to all U.S. planes involved in the war with Iran. Spanish Defence Minister Margarita Robles announced the closure on Monday, telling the world that U.S. planes would no longer be allowed to utilize two military bases at Rota and Morón, which are jointly operated by Spain and the U.S.

• “We will not authorise the use of Morón and Rota [military bases] for any acts related to the war in Iran,” she stated, adding that Madrid had “made this clear to the American government from the beginning.” Her colleague, Foreign Affairs Minister José Manuel Albares, noted that the aim of the closure was to wash Spain’s hands of “anything that could encourage an escalation in this war.”

• Over the past few weeks, Spain’s left-wing Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez has emphasized his country’s distaste for the U.S.’s war, describing Israeli and U.S. airstrikes on Iran as “reckless” and “illegal.” Last week, he announced that “all flight plans that involved actions related to the operation in Iran were rejected - every single one of them, including those of refuelling aircraft,” stating, “We are a sovereign country that does not wish to take part in illegal wars.”

The Italian Job In Real Life

• Remember last October’s Louvre heist? Apparently heist-ing season isn’t over – last Sunday night, four masked robbers broke into a private museum in Parma, Italy, stealing three paintings in a heist that took just three minutes. The paintings – Renoir’s “Les Poissons,” Cézanne’s “Still Life With Cherries,” and Matisse’s “Odalisque on the Terrace,” are worth an estimated $10 million altogether, according to the Italian media.

• The paintings were stolen from the Magnani Rocca Foundation villa outside the city of Parma (which is where parmesan is from). Media reports say that the “structured and organised” group of art thieves broke into the villa’s main door, making a beeline to the building’s French Room where the paintings were stored. They originally tried to scoop up four paintings, but ditched the extra one when the building’s alarm system went off, disappearing into the night by climbing a nearby fence. The museum tried to keep the heist under wraps until Italian state media reported on the story a week later.

Additional World News

• Cuba to receive a sanctioned Russian oil tanker as it struggles under US blockade (AP)

• Myanmar’s Military Leader Moves One Step Closer to Becoming President (NYT, $)

• Ukrainian drones damage Russia's Ust-Luga port again, governor says (Reuters)

• Palestinians convicted of deadly attacks face death penalty under new Israeli law (BBC) 

• AI got the blame for the Iran school bombing. The truth is far more worrying (Guardian) 

• Dozens killed as gang attacks ravage western Haiti ahead of international force’s arrival (CNN) 

Take Me To Your Vice President

• If you’ve ever wondered about aliens, you can rest easy – Vice President JD Vance is on the case! In an interview with conservative influencer Benny Johnson, the country’s second-in-command said that he’s “obsessed” with unidentified anomalous phenomena (UAPs). Apparently, Vance believes that these phenomena (formerly known as UFOs) are actually “demons.”

• “I have not been able to spend enough time on this, but I am going to. Trust me, I’m obsessed with this,” Vance said, adding, “I don’t think they’re aliens, I think they’re demons anyway, but that’s a longer discussion.”

• “Every great world religion, including Christianity, the one that I believe in, has understood that there are weird things out there, and there are things that are very difficult to explain,” he went on. “I think that one of the devil’s great tricks is to convince people he never existed.” Earlier this year, Obama stated that aliens are “real” on a podcast, and Trump has already called on the government to begin the process of identifying and releasing government files related to alien and extraterrestrial life.”

Powell Says We’re Fine… For Now.

• This is a packed week for U.S. economic data, with the federal government slated to release March employment data and some other numbers delayed from earlier this year. To kick it off, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell held a Q&A session at a Harvard macroeconomics class – despite worries about the war with Iran driving up global fuel prices, Powell said that the U.S. is currently well-positioned to weather the storm.

• “We ‌feel like our policy's in a good place for us to wait and see how that turns out,” he told the class. “There's sort of downside risk ​to the labor market, which suggests keep[ing] rates low, but there's upside risk to inflation, which suggests maybe don't keep rates low,” he went on. “You've got ⁠tension between the two objectives.” Apparently every market maker in America was in attendance, as the market upticked slightly after his remarks. 

• While this might sound like some decent news in our current environment, you should probably know better than to be optimistic about anything in 2026. Later in his talk, Powell noted that the economy still has yet to feel the full shock to energy prices caused by the war with Iran, saying, “The Fed is kind of in a holding pattern until we find a little more about the shape and scope and size of this energy shock that's ahead of ​us.”

Additional USA News

• Trump says White House ballroom plans include 'massive' underground military complex (NBC) 

• Private-Credit Wobbles Could Prove Perilous for Trump (NYT, $)

• ‘It’s biblical’: Maga anxiety over Iran war on display at CPAC as Trump skips event (Guardian)

• After 20 Years of Resistance, Trump Is Walling Off the Rio Grande Valley (Texas Observer)

• California to impose new AI regulations in defiance of Trump call (Guardian) 

• Law Seeks to Ban Public Officials From Making Polymarket Bets on Upcoming Bloodshed (Futurism)

Artemis Is All Set

• We are headed to the moon! As you read this, NASA is counting down the minutes until its Artemis II mission – the countdown started yesterday afternoon, and the space agency is targeting a liftoff time of 6:24 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. The mission will see a crew of four astronauts take a trip around the Earth before continuing their flight to the moon – they’ll make a loop to the dark side of the moon before using its gravity to slingshot back to Earth.

• “Our team has worked extremely hard to get us to this moment,” said NASA launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson. “Certainly all indications are right now we are in excellent, excellent shape.” Artemis II was actually supposed to take off in February, but that launch was scrubbed when multiple issues came up. Now, though, NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and the Orion crew capsule are sitting ready on the launchpad, and the astronauts are all fully prepared for takeoff.

• Artemis II will allow the crew to observe parts of the lunar surface that have never been seen by human eyes. Data from the mission will inform NASA’s 2027 mission, Artemis III, which will bring more humans into lunar orbit and also test lunar landing equipment. After that, NASA will try to actually land humans on the moon with the Artemis IV and V missions, which are scheduled for 2028.

Additional Reads

• The final batch of World Cup tickets is about to go on sale. Here are 5 things to know (NPR)

• Another Starlink satellite has inexplicably exploded (Verge)

• Salmon sperm to bird droppings: The science behind bizarre skincare trends (BBC)

• The most successful health campaign in modern history (Vox)

• Chromebook Remorse: Tech Backlash at Schools Extends Beyond Phones (NYT, $)

• Meet the Man Making Music With His Brain Implant (Wired, $)

Please consider supporting Daily Pnut, an independently operated and bootstrapped publication, and you'll receive our exclusive Sunday edition. Many thanks to everyone who already supports us!

Peanut For Your Thoughts

Apparently the White House started the war with Iran while the U.S.’s strategic petroleum reserve is at roughly half of its peak capacity, and is planning to release a record amount of oil. Also all that oil reserve is stored in massive salt caverns, which can hold over 700 million barrels. Pretty cool!

Editor + Writer: Marcus Gee-Lim

Designer: Joe Stella