On Iran
[Hat tip: commenter “huxley.”]
Trump nixes negotiation while the killings continue:
“I’ve canceled all meetings with Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops,” Trump says, repeating his announcement from the Truth Social post, again telling protesters, “help is on its way.”
What’s there to negotiate? Hopefully, the only thing under consideration would be to allow them to surrender the government and leave the country. Even that seems way too kind.
More from Trump:
US President Donald Trump reiterates his call for Iranians to keep protesting, take over their institutions and save the names of those cracking down against them.
I’m not sure how an unarmed populace “takes over institutions,” except through sheer numbers.
I’m not sure how an unarmed populace “takes over institutions,”
But … but … but … didn’t that happen to us on Jan 6, 2021? That’s what I was told anyway.
Well, I am sure there are some that are armed. Take them from those that have guns, break into places that have them. Nothing is easy.
It feels very much as if Trump is goading Iranian protestors to ramp up the pressure and I have a hard time believing he is prepared to intervene if the Mullahs decide not to step down. And even if the Mullahs go, there is still the question of who could take over — something we’re still picking our way through in Venezuela. I don’t think crown prince Reza Pahlavi, was even born when his father fled and has never lived there. He does not sound like a realistic candidate.
I certainly hope we don’t get the Iranians to start a revolution and then leave them high and dry.
We may have unrealistic expectations thanks to the success of the operation to remove Maduro, which seemed as though it happened in a short time but in reality took many months. If the same many months of preparation didn’t happen for Iran, there’s no “regime change button” for Trump to push. It’s not just a question of planning but of physical presence.
Correction to my previous post:
I just watched an interview of Crown Prince Pahlavi on Bret Baier’s Special Report.
The Crown Prince said he was last in Iran in 1978. Please correct my previous post.
But I stand by my comment that Trump is goading protesters in that country, and if he does not follow through that will look bad.
The government is armed. The protesters are not. The government has no limit to how many they will kill. What are our options? Arm the protesters? Bomb Iran? I don’t think we know what to do.
Everyone here seems to assume they know as much or more than the adults in the room. It is their day job after all.
https://twitter.com/TheBabylonBee?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E2011152991659684100%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Finstapundit.com%2F769092%2F
If only. The AWFL would be awful there too. Scroll down a few ….
om:
I certainly don’t assume it.
Sarah Adams on Iran:
https://youtu.be/lYm2PBuIcn4?si=OBbcvC6MDPEkLM80
I really thought I heard, in the aftermath of the bombing of the nuclear sites, that U.S. authorities knew where the ayatollah’s bunker was but decided, at the time, to confine the attack to the military (nuclear) targets.
After Trump’s taking out the Iranian nuclear sites and snatching Maduro from his lair, I’m sure Trump has effective options.
And I’m sure he will exercise some of them.
Send Delta Force to Minneapolis to black bag Frey and the code talker.
om
Because someone has an opinion doesn’t mean they’re considering it to be anything other than someone offering an opinion. If they don’t like mine give an alternative. If you don’t like someone giving an opinion sucks to be you.
I don’t think crown prince Reza Pahlavi, was even born when his father fled and has never lived there. He does not sound like a realistic candidate.
==
He was born in 1960 and spent his first 18 years in Iran. Next in the line of succession is a cousin who grew up in Europe and lived in Iran from about 1970 to some time after 1978. That man, unlike Reza Pahlavi, has sons. However, he’s some sort of religious syncretist and might be unacceptable to broad swaths of the population for that reason.
==
There is a Qajar pretender as well. He’s 76 years old and lives in Dallas. Not sure he’s ever been to Iran or speaks the language.
==
Richard Cook:
Did you consider that Israel has assets in Iran. That the US probably has assets in Iran. That there is such a thing as “signals intelligence.” That not everybody in the US and Israel is a bumbling tool of FJB or The Lightbringer? Sucks not to think or to be a perpetual pessimist? You be you.
Richard Cook:
As to my opinion, the US should do all we can (more please) to send the m.f.ing mullahs and the IRGC packing: to Qattar, to Afghanistan, to Roosia. Or to an unmarked grave.
Your opinion may differ.
neo:
“Everyone here” was intended to address comments made to that point and not directed at you.
I apologize.
— Niketas Choniates
That’s what worries me. I’m afraid (not saying it’s true, just that I worry about it) that Trump might be trying to bluff the mullahs into standing down without being able to back it up. Great it if works, but if it’s so, it also opens up the possibility of a tragic mass murder event if the mullahs call the bluff.
I sincerely hope that isn’t the case. I have more faith in Trump than I do in any Democrat or most Republicans, but this still looks like a very iffy situation.
–om
No doubt. That isn’t terribly reassuring, considering some of what the ‘adults in the room’ have bungled over the last 30 years. Even if Trump is cut from different cloth than Obama or the others, he still has to work with and through much of the same apparat that presided over previous disasters.
— neo
I would consider that outcome a win, if it prevents mass bloodshed in Iran or the whole Middle East blowing up.
HC68:
It seems that the likes of General White Rage Miley have been booted from their social justice/leftist perches in the ring. One can hope the fellow travelers in the Intelligence Agencies/wanna be gang of 51 members have been sacked or moved to Thule. Those walruses need watching.
Return of the Shah, same rhythm as the ‘79 chant Death to the Shah.
I thought Chalabi being installed in Iraq as US pre-election leader would have been better than what we got.
I suspect Trump has many mediocre options, including allowing a few more days of protests & Islam murders. The failure of the UN to condemn the killings, and so little compassion for Iranian victims from the usual anti-American human rights groups is an aspect of making the Trump haters more obviously hypocritical. Complaining when he acts in Venezuela, despite wide acknowledgement of illegitimate Maduro rule; complaining at his slow response to Mullahs killing Muslims.
I saw that HRW & Amnesty did make a statement, a couple of weeks after protests began, but haven’t read it. Pretty sure it will condemn the killings with strong words, but offer no force to enforce the human rights rules they claim to want.
The US is not the world’s policeman, but often acts like it, and is always accused of being the bully when it does. Getting rid of a dictator, like in Libya, Iraq, or now Venezuela, does not always guarantee a better country.
Peaceful leadership change is the greatest superiority of democratic voting vs other govt forms.
Great meme:
You can’t have any Greenland,
[Picture of a young woman mixing some batter]
Until you finish your Venezuela.
Could also have been
You can’t have any Iran.
Trump is doing so much, so fast, it’s easy but wrong to think he can do anything anytime.
My guess is he’s working with Israel to get more weapons & trained snipers into Iran to kill the leaders, trying to do the minimum to get rid of the Ayatollahs..
Most of the Middle East that can blow up is already blowing up, now. Long term Peace won’t come without regime change in Iran.
Trump has been beating the odds for a long time. You can buy the trend or short it.
Also it’s not just Trump, it’s the Iranian people. Who are very angry and desperate — for excellent reasons. And the mullahs are weaker then they’ve ever been since 1979.
It’s different this time, but whether it’s different enough remains to be seen. Pessimism is safe, but it’s not necessarily wisdom.
There are now reports that Iranian troops have entered hospitals to finish off protesters who were merely injured in the streets. This after the ayatollah ordered his troops to shoot to kill all protesters on sight. There are also reports of Russia shipping heavy weapons into Iran on IL-76 transport planes in addition to the Starlink jammers shipped in earlier.
In response Trump has ordered a 25% tariff on countries who do business with both Iran and America. That should help. Sigh.
Maybe by morning things will be different.
Fortunately the DNC has finally come out and said something about all this. Here it is nicely summed up in a WSJ editorial:
https://archive.fo/z3nEj
om
I think pessimism is pretty justified at this point concerning the future of this country. It would be time consuming to draw up a list of changes for the ill, since my youth, concerning the polity of this country. I would draw up a list but it would be too time consuming. And my comments are about politics. Usually nothing else.
7INN, “USA withdraws personnel from Al-Udeid Airbase in Qatar“
https://www.israelnationalnews.com/news/420890
And we’re all gonna die ….
sdferr – looks like the shoe is about to drop
Three sources told Reuters today…
Well, I hope this doesn’t compromise whatever is coming.
Just to say — I’m expecting SEAD/DEAD missions will kickoff an attempt at total air superiority over Iran by combined US/IAF forces, which in turn the US/IAF expects may trigger Iranian ballistic missile barrages aimed at Israel and at US bases in the region. I don’t think any such Iranian retaliation will accomplish any strategic goal(s) the mullahs can conceive, though of course suffering and death are fairly high probable results. On the contrary, such retaliation will cement in place the Islamic Republic’s utter annihilation by their opposing forces: the Iranian people first and foremost among those, with Israel and the US close behind.
SEAD/DEAD
Suppression Enemy Air Defense/Destruction Enemy Air Defense
@ Mike Plaiss > “Three sources told Reuters today…
Well, I hope this doesn’t compromise whatever is coming.”
Headline at PJM indicates the AntiTrumpDeepState is alive and well.
So, yeah, anything to hurt Trump, even if it gets Americans and other people killed.
https://pjmedia.com/victoria-taft/2026/01/14/federal-dhs-whistleblower-doxxes-identities-of-thousands-of-ice-and-border-patrol-agents-n4948300