The U.S. military establishment may be “locked and loaded” and ready to send Iran into the modern Dark Ages, but the man in charge ain’t gonna let it happen. President Donald Trump, though he threatens big, is hellbent on some sort of diplomatic solution to his assault on Iran that began back in — what? — February.
That was evidenced when Trump and Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu, according to the Wall Street Journal, got into a verbal 10-rounder on the phone Tuesday night. Bibi, natch, wants Iran to be turned into a desert, but Trump still eyes adding another peace deal to the nine (or is it eight?) that he claims to have personally facilitated since taking office.
Now, a little retrospective: While campaigning for president, Trump promised to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict in 24 hours, but that puppy is still barking. Iran is a conflict of his own making, some would say with a strong push from Netanyahu, but it too is proving difficult to bring an end to.
While negotiations between the U.S. and Iran appear to be going nowhere, with both sides unwilling to budge from their starting positions, and with Trump still threatening bombs away if Iran doesn’t agree to his terms, Trump has repeatedly found a way to call off his threatened Dark Ages strike.
At this point, the best Trump might get is an agreement to open the Strait of Hormuz while negotiations continue, but the Islamic Republic keeps insisting it will control the strait and charge fees for vessels to go through as reparations for the damages that the U.S. and Israel inflicted on the nation.
“The only question is: Do we go and finish it up, [or] are they going to be signing a document? Let’s see what happens,” Trump said today while speaking at the U.S. Coast Guard Academy graduation.
