Trump seems to have decided to take the economic pressure route on Iran for now
At least, that’s what he’s saying at the moment:
“We are low-keying it,” Trump said during a brief phone call.
“We are only semi-negotiating with them. We are just watching Iran with its huge inflation and the fact they have no money.”
He stressed that Iran “is in very bad shape” economically and has no money to pay its troops. The U.S. naval blockade has exacerbated the Iranian regime’s economic crisis, Trump said.
At the same time, Trump said that with oil down to slightly over $75 a barrel, U.S. consumers are feeling less pain from the war.
“It will work out. It always works out. It’s like a chess game,” Trump said of the back-and-forth with Iran.
I had long thought that it was the Iranians (Persians) who invented chess, but that’s not exactly true:
The history of chess can be traced back nearly 1,500 years to its earliest known predecessor, called chaturanga, in India; its prehistory is the subject of speculation. From India it spread to Persia, where it was modified in terms of shapes and rules and developed into shatranj. Following the Arab invasion and conquest of Persia, chess was taken up by the Muslim world and subsequently spread to Europe via Spain (Al Andalus) and Italy (Emirate of Sicily). The game evolved roughly into its current form by about 1500 CE.
How is Iran actually doing economically and politically?
U.S. officials also say there are growing disagreements inside the Iranian regime. One camp, led by President Masoud Pezeshkian, is extremely worried about an economic collapse and believes Iran needs to reach a deal with the U.S. Another led by the commander of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Ahmad Vahidi, rejects any concessions.
“Good cop, bad cop”? I very much doubt that either is actually a good cop.
I don’t especially trust any predictions on Iran, so I’ll skip them.
There’s also this:
After months of conflict, Iranian officials decided the United States should compensate them for damages tied to the war. …
[Trump replied]:
“It is an interesting idea because now I am likewise demanding compensation from Iran, for all of the people that they have killed and gravely wounded with their roadside bombs and many conflicts,” Trump countered.
He went on to mention the USS Cole bombing from nearly 26 years ago and suggested compensation to America should include consideration of “thousands of others killed in combat.”
“Additionally, compensation should be paid to the families of the hundreds of thousands of innocent protestors that Iran has killed over the last 50 years, not to mention the 52,000 that have been killed in the last five months,” he added.
Trump said he has instructed his representatives to include the compensation demand into “any, and all, future negotiations.”
I don’t think negotiations have much of a future. But then, I never did think so.
Sigh…the IRGC doesn’t give two sh1ts to a damn about economic collapse. They have zero interest in the welfare of the people. Survival is the only win in their minds. The only way this ends is to kill them off. Where are Sherman and Patton when we need them? Trump could use some lessons from them.
The Iranians can “win” in their minds under any kind of conditions. They’re completely free to declare victory from underneath the rubble while eating dead cats and scrounging for canned goods. We’re not, or ought not to be, deciding whether or not we “won” based on whatever whoever claims to speak for the government of Iran claims is victory.
Whether or not we actually “win” depends on what Iran is left capable of doing, not what they’re left capable of saying. There’s so little actual information that I don’t have any opinion on that, but if they are actually left incapable of causing significant trouble outside their borders for the next 20 – 50 years or so, I don’t care if they say they “defeated” us or not. They’ll just look stupid and delusional, like Saddam Hussein did all those times HE declared victory.