So, what's Trump's plan in Iran? It's not regime change, it's not stopping them building a nuclear weapon...What is it?
The weekend was all about war and Trump insisting Iran had not yet “paid a big enough price”.
Tuesday was Project Freedom, styled as a grand “humanitarian gesture” to allow trapped ships and their crews to escape the Gulf, but which was also aimed at weakening Iran’s chokehold on the strait of Hormuz.
By the early hours of Wednesday we were back to peace. Trump said that “Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement” so Project Freedom would be paused to give negotiations a chance.
All three approaches on three consecutive days do at least have something in common. They are all attempts to wrestle with the same set of hard facts: the regime in Iran is NOT going to collapse or surrender the right to enrich uranium no matter how many bombs are dropped on it. Tehran has shown its capacity to close the strait of Hormuz, and a total blockade hurts the US economy at the same time it is clearly crippling Iran.
Together, these hard facts make up the sides of a steel box in which the Trump administration, completely through its own actions, finds itself trapped. The repeated policy changes in recent days represent him flailing around inside this trap, pinging off the walls and looking for an exit other than humiliation or a forever war.
Tuesday was Project Freedom, styled as a grand “humanitarian gesture” to allow trapped ships and their crews to escape the Gulf, but which was also aimed at weakening Iran’s chokehold on the strait of Hormuz.
By the early hours of Wednesday we were back to peace. Trump said that “Great Progress has been made toward a Complete and Final Agreement” so Project Freedom would be paused to give negotiations a chance.
All three approaches on three consecutive days do at least have something in common. They are all attempts to wrestle with the same set of hard facts: the regime in Iran is NOT going to collapse or surrender the right to enrich uranium no matter how many bombs are dropped on it. Tehran has shown its capacity to close the strait of Hormuz, and a total blockade hurts the US economy at the same time it is clearly crippling Iran.
Together, these hard facts make up the sides of a steel box in which the Trump administration, completely through its own actions, finds itself trapped. The repeated policy changes in recent days represent him flailing around inside this trap, pinging off the walls and looking for an exit other than humiliation or a forever war.
