The Boy Who Cried Win
We have a deal! Well, actually, we have a memorandum of understanding. And not everyone seems to have gotten the memo about how we should be understanding it. We won’t know what devil is in the details of the peace agreement with Iran until those details are ultimately ironed out over the coming weeks and months. But it sure doesn’t look like unconditional surrender. It’s also not looking better than the deal Obama negotiated with Iran (the nuclear issues are still subject to negotiation). In terms of lives, dollars, and reputation, Trump’s tearing up of the old Iran agreement could go down as the most expensive tantrum in American history. And I’m not using my own scorecard, I’m using Trump’s. “Mr. Trump said the United States intended to ‘annihilate’ Iran’s military capabilities, abolish its nuclear ambitions, topple its theocratic leadership and liberate its people, whom he encouraged to take over their government when the fighting had stopped. Just one week after the strikes started, he said Iran’s only path to a deal was an ‘unconditional surrender.'” NYT (Gift Article): Trump Winds Down the War He Started With Goals Unmet. Meanwhile, the region and the Iranian people (who were promised “help is on the way”) are left to deal with a more emboldened, more extreme, more entrenched, and less sanctioned regime.
+ “The United States has perhaps done worse than gaining nothing. Iran, while temporarily weakened, is now an even more powerful political actor: The regime in Tehran stood up to a massive U.S. onslaught, survived, and then inflicted pain on various states in the Gulf as punishment for going along with Trump’s war. The Israelis, for their part, have been left out in the cold.” Tom Nichols in The Atlantic (Gift Article): Trump Celebrates While America Capitulates.
+ “Initial details suggest that the agreement does nothing to curb Iran’s ballistic missile arsenal, or its funding of regional proxies like Hezbollah in Lebanon or the Houthis in Yemen, who have attacked Israel with their own arsenals. It could help Iran bolster those proxies by easing sanctions, which would allow billions of dollars to flow into its bank accounts. The deal’s terms when it comes to constraining Iran’s nuclear program — of greatest importance to Israel, and the greatest priority of Mr. Netanyahu’s career — remain undisclosed or still to be negotiated … Worse still for Mr. Netanyahu, who faces re-election in a few months and is behind in the polls, President Trump, the Israeli leader’s most valuable political asset, has publicly rebuked him multiple times in recent weeks.” NYT (Gift Article): Israel Counts the Ways That Netanyahu’s Iran Strategy Failed.
+ “Ships are starting to move, many loaded up with Oil, out of the Strait of Hormuz. They are going along the Southern ‘Highway,’ which is totally safe, secure, and pristine. There are other areas of travel, also!!!” So said Trump about the re-opening of the Strait, officially happening on Friday. Historians will note that the Strait was open before the war. Here’s the latest from The Guardian.
