As soon as Operation Epic Fury began to move dials in Wall Street in the wrong direction, and the prospect of international inflation, stagnation, energy market mega-turbulence registered with the idiot king Donald J Trump, who is the shame of the US and Americans, the brakes were slammed on.

The war that Pete Hegseth, self-styled US Secretary for War, championed was dialled down from a projected length of four to six weeks to an operation that could end in days. Trump’s curious refusal to rule out US boots on the ground vanished in a flurry of negative market and economic signals.

The very first day of Epic Fury, the all-powerful US military fired a barrage of super-sophisticated Tomahawk missiles at Minab in southeastern Iran, one of which hit a primary school, killing a reported 160 girls and staff. Video footage of the American atrocity was proudly uploaded to international media.

Then Trump became aware of the child carnage, and promptly did what he always does in any such difficulty: he lied. He immediately claimed that the Iranians had butchered those children in an accidental misfiring of their own ordnance.

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A White House reporter is being praised online after confronting Donald Trump during a press conference about the war with Iran.

Shawn McCreesh, a correspondent for The New York Times, challenged the president after Trump suggested that Iran may have bombed its own elementary school using a Tomahawk cruise missile.

McCreesh pushed back directly:

“You just suggested that Iran somehow got its hands on a Tomahawk and bombed its own elementary school… but you're the only person in your government saying this. Even your defense secretary wouldn't say that. Why are you the only person saying this?”

Trump replied: “Because I just don’t know enough about it.”

The exchange came as reporters pressed the administration about the deadly strike on the Shajareh Tayyebeh girls’ school in Minab, southern Iran, where around 160 people — many of them children — were reported killed during the early wave of attacks in the conflict.

Open-source investigators and journalists have since analyzed geolocated video and satellite imagery from the scene. One widely circulated clip appears to show a Tomahawk cruise missile striking a compound next to the school.

Tomahawks are long-range precision cruise missiles developed and primarily used by the United States, typically launched from U.S. Navy destroyers or submarines and capable of traveling hundreds of miles before striking a target with high accuracy. Iran is not known to possess Tomahawk systems, which is why the president’s suggestion immediately drew scrutiny in the briefing room.

The exchange quickly spread online, with many praising McCreesh for directly challenging the claim during a live White House press briefing.

“Let me teach you how little girls are supposed to be.” — The quote the DOJ "forgot" to release.