Emirati diplomats racing across Washington, Brussels and Tokyo. Abu Dhabi wants US troops to seize Abu Musa island. Dubai wants to mine-sweep for America. The once wannabe neutral hub of the new multipolar order volunteering to be the tip of Netanyahu's spear.

The WSJ piece then pivots to Trump telling aides he's willing to end the war without reopening Hormuz and leave it to other countries. The morning that story dropped, the S&P ripped 1.5% and Nasdaq climbed 2%. Oil dropped, vassals panicked and the UAE volunteered to be cannon fodder. And that's what we call the trade.

And it has a precise anatomy by now. Fifteen minutes before Trump posted "productive conversations" with Iran on Truth Social Marfy 23, $580 million worth of oil futures changed hands in a single minute. Paul Krugman called it what it is… treason.

"We have another word for situations in which people with access to confidential information regarding national security — such as plans to bomb or not to bomb another country — exploit that information for profit. That word is treason." Iran's own parliament speaker called it first: "Pre-market so-called news or Truth is often just a setup for profit-taking. Do the opposite: if they pump it, short it. If they dump it, go long." His post got 8 million views. And he was right.

Meanwhile Hegseth's broker had already been sniffing around BlackRock's Defence ETF weeks before the first bomb dropped. The SEC's top enforcement official resigned rather than pursue it. Nobody is minding the store.

Markets are now so numb to Trump's Sunday evening habit of walking back threats that they barely react anymore. The manipulation has a diminishing half-life — which means the next move has to be bigger. A suicidal ground offensive. A Kharg Island high water mark seizure… A new escalation to reset the trade.

While the exit story circulated, the Pentagon was quietly preparing for weeks of ground operations in Iran. Two Marine Expeditionary Units in theatre. 82nd Airborne deploying. Iran having already mined Kharg's beaches, moving MANPADs to the shoreline, laying anti-personnel and anti-armour traps. Tehran read the playbook years earlier and are waiting.

Here's what the Epstein class cheerleaders won't say. Kharg sits 20 miles off the Iranian coast. Every artillery battery, drone battalion and rocket system on the mainland has it pre-registered. Russian military analyst Igor Korotchenko assessed Iranian forces could destroy a US landing force on Kharg within two hours. The ranking member of the Armed Services Committee (Adam Smith) said bluntly, "I don't think we can do it. All Iran needs is one drone, one mine, one suicide boat." Even Erik Prince — Trump's own man said publicly: "You will see imagery of burning American warships in the next couple of weeks."

Russia and China will veto the UN resolution with NATO already declining to go. France wants to wait until the war ends. And the UAE which has absorbed almost 2,500 Iranian projectiles, more than any country including Israel, whose airport terminals burned and property market cratered has decided the suicidal play is to formally join the war that's already destroying it. Because Trump begged. The same Trump who is simultaneously telling aides he'll walk away and leave them facing Iran alone.