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In case you blinked and missed it, President Donald Trump is back to threatening Iran.
And it seems to undermine the idea that their envoys are negotiating very well with the Iranians through intermediaries.
Look at the tone of his Truth Social posting yesterday:
“The United States is in serious discussions with a new, and more reasonable, regime to end our military operations in Iran. Much progress has been made, but if for any reason there is no agreement soon, which there probably will be, and if the Strait of Hormuz is not immediately ‘open for business’, we will end our lovely ‘stay’ in Iran by blowing up and completely destroying all of our power generation plants, oil wells, and Kharg Island (and possibly all of it) Desalination plants!), which we have not yet deliberately ‘touched’, this will be in retaliation for the many of our soldiers and others who were killed by Iran during the 47-year ‘reign of terror’.
Does this sound like someone who believes he is close to agreement?
Why are Trump and Iran seemingly at odds over any potential agreement to end the war?
President Donald Trump has once again come out to threaten Iran. (Yuri Gripas/Abaka/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
I don’t think Trump wants to bomb Iran’s energy facilities. He is fully aware how this would escalate the war and keep America trapped in the conflict for at least several months – a worst-case scenario for a man who campaigned against engaging in foreign wars.
That’s why he extended his deadline by 10 days to try to reach some compromise with what remains the world’s leading terrorist state. It’s hard to feel even the slightest sympathy for these murderous dictators, who are responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, including their own people.
The President told the New York Post yesterday that the administration is working with Iran’s parliamentary speaker Mohammad Ghalibaf, adding that we will find out within a week “if he is someone the United States can really work with.”
From Iran’s perspective, the regime simply has to survive and claim victory later. (AFP via Getty Images)
Press Secretary Carolyn Levitt told reporters yesterday, “I hope the journalists in this room will be smart enough not to do this[the word of] An Iranian regime that has lied repeatedly for nearly five decades about our country, about our values, about everyone in this room.”
From the perspective of Iran, which was invaded by British and Soviet forces during World War II, the regime simply has to survive and then claim victory.
The President is like a box. He clearly wants to end our military involvement in Iran, but he cannot be seen to back down from his threats.
Trump needs at least two things. There is an agreement that it can sell as limiting Iran’s ability to enrich uranium for nuclear weapons. The second is to end Tehran’s blockade of “hostile” powers using the Strait of Hormuz, which has blocked 20 percent of the world’s oil traffic.
With the President deploying thousands of troops to the Middle East, he certainly has the boots on the ground for a sustained attack.
As everyone knows, Trump is having to pay the price for this in his country. The stock market has crashed, shrinking the retirement accounts of millions of Americans. The cost of living continues to rise due to rising gas prices following an election that focused on “affordability.”
And the president’s reputation has declined among young people, many of whom want no part in the war or feel they have been misled about foreign wars.
Media under fire: Journalists keep raising questions on Iran war as Hegseth calls them ‘not patriots’ and ‘anti-Trump’
Meanwhile, Iran’s military machinery is depleted, but it still has the ability to cause damage with cheap drones. Over the weekend, one such drone hit at least 10 U.S. service members at a Saudi airport, two of them seriously, and another caused damage in Israel, killing at least 20 people.
The New York Times says, “Talks have made little progress. Iran has refused to engage in substantive negotiations with the United States and has rejected the Trump administration’s terms as unfair. The war has raged, engulfing much of the Middle East, sending oil and gas prices skyrocketing and fracturing Mr. Trump’s political support domestically.”
The Wall Street Journal reports that according to US officials, the President is “considering a military operation to extract approximately 1,000 pounds of uranium from Iran, a complex and risky mission that would likely keep US forces in the country for several days or longer.” “Considering the threat to American troops,” Trump is “open” to the idea “because it could help meet his central goal of preventing Iran from ever producing a nuclear weapon.”
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth claims the “Trump-hating” press is constantly running negative news. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
Trump is no stranger to changing rhetoric. After vowing to block any oil shipments to Cuba, Trump let a Russian tanker go, saying it didn’t matter because the island’s economy was collapsing anyway. An alternative approach: He wanted to avoid confrontation with Moscow by focusing more on the Middle East.
Secretary of War Pete Hegseth says the “Trump-hating” press is constantly running negative news. Although the coverage has indeed been overly pessimistic, I don’t know how else the latest exchange between Washington and Tehran could have been reported.
Hegseth, a decorated Army veteran, has been criticized for his repeated emphasis on Christianity, including, as The Washington Post notes, bringing chaplains from his small Christian denomination to preach at the Pentagon.
The next day, while speaking about the war, Hegseth prayed for American troops to “take action of enormous violence against those who deserve no mercy… We ask these things with bold faith in the mighty and mighty name of Jesus Christ.”
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It sounds dramatic to say this, but we are at a turning point. Either some kind of deal is made, face-saving or otherwise, or an airstrike is launched on Iran that prolongs the war and increases the possibility of an Iraq-style quagmire.
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If Iranian leaders were rational, they would want to avoid further destruction. But I’m not sure they are. They are extremely hypocritical negotiators who deserve everything they get. But the consequences of an all-out bombardment could be just as serious for America and the President himself.
