Comments on: Trump: about to strike Iran, or not?

By: AesopFan

AesopFan — Wed, 20 May 2026 06:10:48 +0000

@ huxley > “Trump is under real pressure to resolve Iran soon in terms of getting back to the economy and driving into the midterms with momentum.”

Just a brief survey of news this last weekend leaves me persuaded that the Trump administration is quite capable of walking and chewing gum at the same time.

At least this time he has all his Cabinet Secretaries on deck, and more control of the bureaucrats (not enough, but better than Trump 45).
Plus, the voters are enforcing MAGA Party discipline on campaigning candidates this time around.

By: huxley

huxley — Tue, 19 May 2026 16:01:39 +0000

crasey:

Well said. Trump has shown what the US and Israel can do and have done. Iran is severely degraded.

Other nations, especially the Gulf states, are now recalibrating, which opens new possibilities for future cooperation, rather than the US and Israel remaining vigilantes doing the dirty work which the rest of the world can disavow.

In which case Iran and other bad actors can wait until the Democrats come back into power, then they are back in business.

The TACO callers got Midnight Hammer and Epic Fury spectacularly wrong. So I don’t worry that Trump has lost his nerve, though I do weary of his bombast.

Trump is under real pressure to resolve Iran soon in terms of getting back to the economy and driving into the midterms with momentum.

By: crasey

crasey — Tue, 19 May 2026 15:13:02 +0000

The Iran problem won’t be solved without total buy-in, cooperation and support of the regional muslim states. POTUS appears to be pushing them to advance the no regional or intercontinental nuclear threat. Engaging the Gulf states to compel the Iranian regime to surrender their nuclear ambitions and material may just succeed. If it does we leave the aftermath to the more modern muslim states and the people of Iran to return Iran to the modern world. Otherwise we’re locked and loaded for more punishing strikes. It’s not a choice between force or diplomacy. It’s how they work together to achieve the desired end-state.

By: SENNACHERIB

SENNACHERIB — Tue, 19 May 2026 14:07:16 +0000

You can destroy bridges etc. all you want it doesn’t make a difference to these people.
It must be a 2 step process:
1) Find out who believes in martyrdom and
who doesn’t.
2) Help the first mentioned and negotiate with the second.

By: Barry Meislin

Barry Meislin — Tue, 19 May 2026 13:41:01 +0000

Oh ye of itty bitty faith…

(BTW, Option iii: the mullahs agree to ALL of Trump’s gentle hints…following which they declare TOTAL, GLORIOUS VICTORY over the two EVIL, SATANIC Enemies of God(TM) and their godless allies…um, praise Allah!…as they ride off into the sunset—towards Moscow? Istanbul?Wherever, just NOT Lebanon…)

By: physicsguy

physicsguy — Tue, 19 May 2026 13:05:33 +0000

” It seems to me that he is giving the regime one last chance to do it the easy way,”

For the last 4 weeks it’s been “one last chance”. It’s getting tiresome. Great article this morning over at American Thinker. The majority of the comments align with the direction I’m going. One in particular from a John Collins:

“But my faith is wavering. His desire for “beautiful deals” is almost pathological — akin to Trump Derangement Syndrome, not something to be reasoned with. His continued search for a deal makes him look silly, now, and naive. I’m hoping you are right, but day by day, my confidence is waning. And I believe it is happening across the MAGA base, folks like you notwithstanding. Nothing would make me happier than you being proven right and me being proven wrong, by the way. I’m just not so sure any more.

It’s gone on longer than it needed to already. Anything more is on borrowed time. He needs to get it done. Yesterday.”

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/05/there_is_no_such_thing_as_a_deal_with_iran.html

By: Bauxite

Bauxite — Tue, 19 May 2026 13:02:30 +0000

The chances of Iran agreeing to give up its nuclear plan or agreeing to open Hormuz without significant concessions from the US are slim and none. The options are (i) remove the Iranian regime militarily; or (ii) cut and run with the least awful deal that can be had and try to spin it as a diplomatic success.

There is no third option.

By: BenDavid

BenDavid — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:54:23 +0000

This is not “wobbly” – it is deliberately vague, and brilliant.

From Day One, the press has been trying to extract a statement that can be construed as a deadline and used to “gotcha” the President.

By: Mike Plaiss

Mike Plaiss — Tue, 19 May 2026 12:24:09 +0000

You break it, you own it.

I think it was Thomas Friedman who said that. Once upon a time I read him quite frequently. I honestly believe that foreign policy analysts should study him closely. Whatever that man says, the opposite must be true.

By: om

om — Tue, 19 May 2026 11:48:02 +0000

Don’t go wobbly.

Iwan depends on wobblies.

They have no wabbits.