Had enough? President Trump warned Iran that its negotiators had better “get serious” about reaching a deal with the U.S. to end the war, i.e., surrender, or else. He told his Cabinet that the Iranian leaders are “begging” for a deal.

Special Envoy Steve Witkoff said Iran has “no good alternatives” but surrender.

The conflict is now a month old, and there are few, if any, signs that Tehran is willing to give up on Mr. Trump’s terms. The president is deploying more troops to Iran, and lawmakers are bracing for the White House to request at least $200 billion more in emergency defense spending.

Gas prices in the U.S. have neared $4 per gallon, contributing to the public’s lack of support for the war. It’s the highest price for gas since 2022, under Mr. Biden, when Russia invaded Ukraine and gas topped $5 per gallon.

Mr. Trump said he will consider suspending the federal gas tax to help ease prices at the pump.

The rising cost of fuel corresponds with a drop in Mr. Trump’s approval rating, which stood at 36% in a new Reuters poll, the lowest of his second term.

In this midterm election year, the president is now underwater in public polling on nearly every major issue, including immigration, once his strongest point.

Markwayne Mullin was sworn in by Mr. Trump as the new Homeland Security secretary. He replaces Kristi Noem, who was fired after the lethal Minnesota immigration enforcement debacle and her own self-inflicted, self-promotion scandals.

The former senator from Oklahoma said he is “humbled” by the new job and won’t take it for granted.

“I don’t care what color your state is. I don’t care if you’re red or you’re blue. At the end of the day, my job is to be the secretary of homeland security and to protect everybody the same. And we will do just that,” he said.

The Senate confirmed Mr. Mullin for the post in a 54-to-45 vote. He is the first member of the Cherokee Nation to serve as a member of a presidential Cabinet.

Dark-of-night passage. After 41 days of partisan feuding over Homeland Security, the Senate voted at 2:19 a.m. to approve DHS funding for all but Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. 

Mr. Trump forced a breakthrough in the impasse by ordering DHS to pay Transportation Security Administration workers who had gone without pay since the shutdown began on Feb. 14. The logjam has created long airport security lines that have stretched for hours around the country as more and more unpaid TSA workers quit or called out sick. 

The funding deal now moves to the House, but new funding for ICE must wait for later congressional action. 

Sanctuary cities create “staging areas” for illegal immigrant criminals and their violence spills over into neighboring jurisdictions that do try to cooperate with federal authorities, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee said in a new report.

The staff report, shared first with The Washington Times, catalogued the scope of resistance and the costs borne by taxpayers for the resistors, and set the groundwork for new legislation Congress could pass.

Among the calls were for bills stripping sanctuaries of federal money and requiring proactive information-sharing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The report also urged the Justice Department to figure out ways to charge officials in sanctuary jurisdictions with harboring illegal immigrants or obstruction of justice.

The House Intelligence Committee voted to hand over classified documents to federal prosecutors as part of the investigation into former CIA Director and longtime Trump foe John Brennan, indicating the Justice Department may be getting closer to filing charges.

The vote was held behind closed doors after the Justice Department requested the records. None of the documents will be made public for now.

Prosecutors have been digging for months into allegations that Mr. Brennan misled Congress about an intelligence assessment on Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. Mr. Brennan has denied any wrongdoing.

Big win for Trump. A federal appeals court said the Trump administration is likely on solid legal ground with its new interpretation allowing mandatory detention of illegal immigrants as they await their deportation hearings.

The decision by the 8th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could be a major boost to the Homeland Security and Justice departments, which have been battling thousands of lawsuits from migrants who say they have a legal right to post a bond and be set free while they await their day in immigration court.

Nearly all lower court decisions have gone against the administration. But the 2-1 decision by the circuit court could alter that equation.

Judge Bobby Shepherd, a George W. Bush pick, said the case turned on how the law was written and whether Congress wanted to allow expansive detention powers for the government in deportation cases, including the power to hold anyone who jumped the border without permission.

“In distinguishing an alien ‘who has not been admitted’ from one ’who arrives,’ the text makes clear that it applies to aliens in the nation’s interior as well as at the border,” Judge Shepherd wrote, joined by Judge Steven Grasz, a Trump appointee.

The issue has turned into a high-stakes battle at the heart of Mr. Trump’s plans for mass deportation, with thousands of habeas corpus cases being filed each month in federal district courts challenging the new Trump interpretation.

Detention has been central to Mr. Trump’s plans for mass deportations.

The Washington Times Editorial Board calls Mr. Trump’s “ghoulish glee” in the death of former FBI Director Robert Mueller III “undignified” and “unpresidential.”

War is too important for the White House to be making “banger memes” about it, argues Michael McKenna.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul is begging New Yorkers who fled the state to come back — without saying her tax binge that prompted them to leave would end, writes Commentary Editor Kelly Sadler.