The global instability caused by the illegal U.S./Israeli war against Iran, along with the economic crises which are the byproducts of such ill-conceived aggression, is intensifying. As President Trump’s blockade of the Strait of Hormuz remains in place, Iran has made it clear that the closure will continue, affecting energy supply, fertilizer costs, and more essential necessities from reaching nations across the world. As a result, UN Development Program Administrator Alexander De Croo reported that more than 32 million people have been pushed back into poverty worldwide. Against this backdrop of a global depression, President Trump’s wild, contradictory statements continue to cast doubt on his mental health, as he desperately seeks to convince the American population that Iran is losing the war and is collapsing economically.
Just after his last-minute announcement on Tuesday night that he would extend the ceasefire with Iran until the Iranian side produced a unified proposal on a negotiated settlement to conclude hostilities, Trump said in a Truth Social post, “Iran is collapsing financially! They want the Strait of Hormuz opened immediately – Starving for cash! Losing 500 million dollars a day. Military and Police complaining that they are not getting paid. SOS!!!”
Rather, it’s possible that President Trump may have conflicted the $500 million figure with the report of European Union Energy Commissioner Dan Jørgensen, who said that the Iran war was costing Europe around €500 million (approx. $585 million) each day, and was comparable in scope to the surge in energy prices caused by the 1973 oil crisis and 2022 Ukraine war combined. In the United States, essential programs such as SNAP, Medicaid, and Medicare are being cut back to free up funds for national defense. At the same time, Trump has proposed increasing the defense budget to an unprecedented $1.5 trillion—despite previously pledging to cut the $1 trillion budget in half.
The trans-Atlantic financial system, dependent on speculation, military spending, and other waste has created a devastating gap between the small minority of the 1% ‘Epstein Class’ billionaires and trillionaires who benefit from the state of perpetual war and mass censorship, and the overwhelming majority of citizens who have become poorer and poorer as the result of such policies. While the “adults in the room” are sparse, one such representative, Pope Leo XIV, has shed light on who is really bearing the cost of wars.
Pope Leo XIV, a prominent opponent of the Iran war, has faced repeated attacks from the Trump administration over his principled stance. As he concluded his historic four-nation tour of Africa—ending in Equatorial Guinea—he again spoke out against those who justify violence in the name of God. In a meeting with the authorities, civil society, and the diplomatic corps, the Pope said, “It is even more evident today than in years past that the proliferation of armed conflicts is often driven by the exploitation of oil and mineral deposits, occurring with no regard for international law or the self-determination of peoples.”
In honor of the new capital city being built in Equatorial Guinea, “Ciudad de la Paz” (the City of Peace), Pope Leo XIV referenced St. Augustine’s notion of the “City of God” in contrast to the ‘earthly city’ of the Epstein Class today: “You know that Saint Augustine interpreted events and history according to the model of two cities: the ‘city of God‘, eternal and characterized by God’s unconditional love (amor Dei), as well as love for one’s neighbor, especially the poor; and the ‘earthly city,‘ which is a temporary dwelling place, where men and women live until death. From this perspective, the two cities coexist until the end of time (cf. De civitate Dei, 19,14), and every human being, through the decisions he or she manifests day by day, belongs to one or the other of them… May the name of the new city "prompt every person to ask themselves which city they wish to serve! As I had the opportunity to remind the Diplomatic Corps accredited to the Holy See, according to the great father Augustine, the earthly city is centered upon the proud love of self (amor sui), on the lust for power and worldly glory that leads to destruction.”
In contrast to the earthly city of the Epstein class—embodied by King Charles III and his royal entourage, visiting the United States from April 27 to 30—citizens of the world should aspire to St. Augustine’s City of God, recognizing every human being as equally divine and worthy of love. As America marks 250 years since its anti-imperial revolution, this legacy stands at the center of today’s political crisis amid an increasingly vacillating Trump administration, which, like Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, is being driven mad by its own arrogance. As a 90-year-old nun from Barcelona wrote after an International Peace Coalition meeting, “It’s a question of world heritage: the founding principles of the United States must be revived.”
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