Then another win can go in the book.
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Pretty sure this isn’t “a return”, just a continuation. There was a pause, for what, a couple days?
For those who wonder how long this can go on, I am reminded that Iran was in a war of attrition with Iraq for 8 years, and when it finally ended it was like two punch drunk overweight, out of shape boxers hugging each other in the center of the ring. Nobody won.
Sounds familiar.
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Iran has already won, they are just running up the score at this point. Let’s recap from when the MoU was signed to today:
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The US has promised to pay Iran $300 billion in reparations.
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We agreed to unfreeze their assets. Now they are saying that they won’t even begin talking until they get some money in their hands.
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We gave them control over the Strait, an astonishing reversal of 210 years of US foreign policy.
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But they decided they didn’t want to wait the 60 days of free passage the MoU called for, and started attacking ships transiting through the Omani passage. Why? They know the US won’t do anything about it. Seizing control now just gives them more leverage and generates more money from tolls.
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And the whole reason behind this is the nuclear program. Iran now says they won’t even begin to start talking about this until everything else is settled. They get everything, then they talk.
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In the meantime, price of oil is up. That’s bad for us and good for them.
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Iran is now settling oil transactions in yuan. Moving away from dollar denominated transactions has been a dream of their for decades.
Sure, they have to accept the loss of an occasional elementary school, but look at what they are getting in return? And the bombing just rallies the public around the regime.
Interesting article in the Christian Science Monitor. They followed up on reporting they did during the uprisings in January. The hopeful mood of reform is now gone.
“The initial hopes I had in the regime’s collapse are completely gone. These guys always find a last-minute off-ramp to survive,” says a butcher in Tehran whose debts have grown and says he has little hope for economic change.
“I have never felt this desperate,” says the young father. “I don’t really mean to be such a pessimist, but you know right now, with the regime’s compromise with the U.S., I feel like they have got insurance coverage for decades to come.
“Yes, I have put my earlier hopes right back into the box.”
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Perpetual never ending war.
start once a timetable was agreed to.
They’re seemingly the only ones who think so, however, as not only has Israel repeatedly insisted they intend to stay in Lebanon (among other occupied places), but Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz felt the need to issue a statement in the wake of Trump’s comments to disavow them, insisting Israel doesn’t need anyone else’s permission to occupy Lebanon.
“We didn’t ask for anyone’s approval to enter Lebanon and we don’t need approval to stay in Lebanon.
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