Trump Strikes Iran and Threatens War Crimes—Again 55%

By Alex Nguyen35%

7/8/2026, 6:19:52 PM

BS Summary: This article contains 20 faulty reasoning types, including Appeal to Emotion, Biased Writer Voice, and Quote-first Misdirection, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 42.4% saturation with 208 hits. Analysis detected 1,258 faulty-reasoning hits from 491 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 52.6% and a BS Rank of 55% (10,022 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 54.20% of the article peer group.

President Donald Trump said Wednesday that the US would continue strikes on Iran for a second night, and—if it had to—seize much of the country’s oil and target electric and desalination plants. 
The desalination plants are part of Iran’s vital civilian infrastructure, and, as I wrote in April , international law experts consider hitting these facilities to be war crimes because of the disproportionate harm targeting them would cause to civilians. 
On Wednesday, Trump also said that the US-Iran ceasefire agreement was over and that he would allow US officials to continue current negotiations to end the war, but they would be “wasting their time.” 
Trump’s threats come amid multiple American strikes against Iran since it signed an interim deal with Iran on June 17. 
The US strikes came in response to Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz , a passageway that carried about 20 percent of the world’s crude oil and natural gas before the 2026 war began. 
In late June, during the first major US strikes on Iran since the interim deal, Trump posted on Truth Social that if Iran continued its strikes, “we will be forced to military complete the job…if that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist!” 
As part of the US and Iran’s June agreement, Iran would allow ships to pass through without paying tolls for 60 days. 
But the country’s leadership has stated that oil tankers passing through the strait must use approved routes. 
According to a Wednesday report by the Associated Press , the ships Iran struck on Tuesday appeared to deviate from the designated route. 
These recent maneuvers put more lives at risk. 
As of June 10, multiple Iranian government ministries reported that about 3,500 people have been killed in Iran since the war began in February. 
Nate Swanson, President Joe Biden’s director for Iran at the National Security Council, told me two weeks ago what he considered the strategy at play here. 
The US doesn’t seem to be interested in making complex concessions to Iran, Swanson said, and Iran may be unwilling to agree to a deal with Trump specifically, given his support of the Gaza war and his strikes on the country in June 2025 . 
On Wednesday, Trump told reporters that Iran’s leaders were “scum” and “sick people.” 
“Based on their actions over the last week or two, they’re not doing a service to the people,” he said. 
“I’m not sure I want to make a deal with them.” 
The Trump administration’s efforts to end the war appear to be going backward . 
Republican lawmakers criticized the June ceasefire deal with Iran as  the worst foreign policy blunder in decades .” 
While many publicly blamed JD Vance , whom Trump said was responsible for Iran negotiations , the war is extremely unpopular with his base, which could hurt the GOP’s chances in the upcoming midterms. 
Article reasoning-pattern comparisonThis article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 3.4%Mother Jones: 4.0%Confirmation Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 1.0%Mother Jones: 0.7%Anchoring Bias0.0%This article: 17.1%Alex Nguyen: 3.3%Mother Jones: 3.3%Availability Heuristic17.1%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.9%Mother Jones: 0.8%Representativeness Heuristic0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.4%Mother Jones: 0.8%Hindsight Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.6%Mother Jones: 1.2%Overconfidence Bias0.0%This article: 1.4%Alex Nguyen: 7.2%Mother Jones: 7.2%Framing Effect1.4%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.6%Loss Aversion0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.5%Mother Jones: 0.6%Status Quo Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.1%Sunk Cost Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 1.1%Mother Jones: 1.6%Optimism Bias0.0%This article: 5.1%Alex Nguyen: 1.7%Mother Jones: 1.9%Pessimism Bias5.1%This article: 42.4%Alex Nguyen: 7.5%Mother Jones: 9.6%Negativity Bias42.4%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 1.8%Mother Jones: 0.8%Self-Serving Bias0.0%This article: 9.2%Alex Nguyen: 0.9%Mother Jones: 1.0%Fundamental Attribution Error9.2%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.4%Mother Jones: 0.2%Actor-Observer Bias0.0%This article: 6.9%Alex Nguyen: 1.4%Mother Jones: 1.0%In-Group Bias6.9%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.5%Out-Group Homogeneity Bias0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 1.9%Mother Jones: 1.5%Halo Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.3%Horn Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.0%Dunning-Kruger Effect0.0%This article: 15.1%Alex Nguyen: 1.6%Mother Jones: 1.1%Recency Bias15.1%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.3%Mother Jones: 0.3%Primacy Effect0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.0%Blind-Spot Bias0.0%This article: 2.6%Alex Nguyen: 0.7%Mother Jones: 1.9%Ad Hominem2.6%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.3%Mother Jones: 0.6%Straw Man0.0%This article: 17.5%Alex Nguyen: 4.4%Mother Jones: 3.6%Appeal to Authority17.5%This article: 6.9%Alex Nguyen: 1.2%Mother Jones: 1.4%False Dilemma6.9%This article: 9.4%Alex Nguyen: 0.8%Mother Jones: 1.7%Slippery Slope9.4%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.1%Mother Jones: 0.1%Circular Reasoning0.0%This article: 9.6%Alex Nguyen: 3.7%Mother Jones: 4.7%Hasty Generalization9.6%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.2%Red Herring0.0%This article: 6.9%Alex Nguyen: 0.5%Mother Jones: 0.5%Bandwagon6.9%This article: 22.6%Alex Nguyen: 7.1%Mother Jones: 6.4%Appeal to Emotion22.6%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.7%Mother Jones: 1.1%Begging the Question0.0%This article: 11.6%Alex Nguyen: 2.1%Mother Jones: 2.1%Post Hoc (False Cause)11.6%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.1%Mother Jones: 0.1%Tu Quoque0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.6%Mother Jones: 0.5%Burden of Proof0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.1%Mother Jones: 0.3%Appeal to Nature0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.3%Composition/Division0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 1.7%Mother Jones: 2.3%Anecdotal0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.1%Mother Jones: 0.1%No True Scotsman0.0%This article: 14.7%Alex Nguyen: 1.4%Mother Jones: 1.4%Ambiguity (Equivocation)14.7%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.0%Gambler’s Fallacy0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.1%Middle Ground0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.0%Mother Jones: 0.1%Personal Incredulity0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.2%Mother Jones: 0.1%Special Pleading0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.1%Mother Jones: 0.3%Genetic Fallacy0.0%This article: 10.4%Alex Nguyen: 2.3%Mother Jones: 1.8%Unattributed Quote10.4%This article: 18.9%Alex Nguyen: 1.5%Mother Jones: 1.5%Quote-first Misdirection18.9%This article: 21.0%Alex Nguyen: 4.2%Mother Jones: 9.2%Biased Writer Voice21.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 1.1%Mother Jones: 1.8%Indoctrination0.0%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 1.6%Mother Jones: 4.5%Politically Left Leaning Bias0.0%This article: 6.9%Alex Nguyen: 0.3%Mother Jones: 0.3%Politically Right Leaning Bias6.9%This article: 0.0%Alex Nguyen: 0.3%Mother Jones: 0.7%Attempt to Sell a Product or S…0.0%

491 words analyzed.

Speakers

3speakers51%attributed speech241writer words
Voice mapSelect a segment to jump to its words
Writer's voice • 7 words • 100.0% coverageDonald Trump • 32 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 39 words • 100.0% coverageDonald Trump • 34 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 20 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 37 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 46 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 22 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 17 words • 100.0% coverageAssociated Press • 23 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 8 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 24 words • 100.0% coverageNate Swanson • 26 words • 0.0% coverageNate Swanson • 45 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 13 words • 100.0% coverageDonald Trump • 20 words • 0.0% coverageDonald Trump • 11 words • 0.0% coverageWriter's voice • 14 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 19 words • 100.0% coverageWriter's voice • 34 words • 100.0% coverage
Selected voice

Associated Press

100%flagged-word coverage
23 attributed words9.2% of attributed speech91% writer coverage
0%22.5%45.0%Biased Writer Voice-42.7 ptsWriter: 42.7%Associated Press: 0.0%0.0%Politically Right Leaning -14.1 ptsWriter: 14.1%Associated Press: 0.0%0.0%Unattributed Quote-7.1 ptsWriter: 7.1%Associated Press: 0.0%0.0%

Attribution is sentence-level. Pattern percentages are calculated only from words assigned to that voice.

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Analysis

Hover over highlighted words in the article to view the associated bias or fallacy analysis.