As PJ Media's Catherine Saldago wrote about this morning, Donald Trump resumed bombing Iranian targets on Wednesday morning in response to Iranian attacks on shipping in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran responded with 85 attempted strikes on targets in Bahrain and Kuwait. It's unknown how many targets it actually hit or what kind of damage was inflicted.
“They’re scum. They’re sick people. They’re led by sick people, and they’re vicious, violent people,” Trump said on the sidelines of the NATO summit. “Far as I’m concerned, it’s just a waste of time dealing with them. They’re liars… there’s something wrong with them. They’re cuckoo. As far as I’m concerned, it’s over.”
So, the proposed 60-day ceasefire lasted all of three weeks. The reality is that it never went into effect. Iran violated the ceasefire within 48 hours of it being initiated, when it attacked Israel for Jerusalem's continued attacks on Hezbollah in Southern Lebanon.
While low-level skirmishes and proxy conflicts persisted, the entire framework completely unraveled in the last 24 hours. Following major Iranian drone and missile strikes on shipping vessels and U.S. military sites in the Persian Gulf, President Trump formally declared the MOU and the 60-day ceasefire "over."
Now, Trump faces a difficult choice. Should he head back to the negotiating table with Iran and see if anything can be done to stop what is going to be escalating attacks on Iran by the U.S. and further attacks by Iran on its neighbors?
Iran is daring Donald Trump to invade with U.S. troops. They have no incentive to stop fighting otherwise. We can continue to hit an ever-smaller number of strategic targets, such as bridges, airports, and other infrastructure, but that comes with diminishing returns. Destroying targets, like desalination plants along the Persian Gulf and Gulf of Oman that Iran relies on for drinking water, would be a violation of international law. Intentionally poisoning or destroying irrigation networks, crops, or civilian water treatment facilities to starve or dehydrate the population is also strictly prohibited by law.
Going after Iran's oil infrastructure in a big way would have our allies in Western Europe howling with outrage. Anything that interrupts the flow of oil for more than a few weeks would be unacceptable to nations that buy a significant amount of oil from Iran.
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I think it's clear by now that Trump and his advisors believed that Iran would fold after the first massive bombing campaign and the decapitation strikes on the leadership. When they didn't, there was no "Plan B" to fall back on. The U.S. kept bombing, but Iran knew it could withstand anything Israel and the U.S. threw at it.
Trump has no illusions anymore about Iran and what it may take to declare "victory."
“They can talk, but I think they’re wasting their time. They’re a bunch of lying guys,” Trump said. “They’re bad people, and frankly, I don’t want to waste my time with them. Now, I’ll let our wonderful negotiators keep talking if they want, but I don’t see it.”
In the U.S., Iran hawks criticized the tentative deal for relieving economic pressure on Tehran while leaving the trickiest subjects for later.
Subsequent negotiations had stalled. Talks began with days of delays before Vice President JD Vance flew to Switzerland to kick them off. But the two sides traded barbs, and sporadic strikes, from the get-go. And Trump expressed frustration on Wednesday that Iran’s public representation of what was being discussed differed from his understanding.
“We make a deal. Everyone’s agreed. No nuclear weapon. We make a deal. They go outside, joke to the press, they say we never even talked about it,” Trump said.
Iran’s leaders in recent days have appeared emboldened, with several senior officials appearing in public for the first time since the start of the war as part of the mourning rituals for Khamenei.
Iran never had any intention of holding to a ceasefire of any kind. It was a ploy to give them a breather before round two of the war resumed. A resumption of the blockade might convince Iran to return to the table, but only if the pressure is so intense that it has no alternative.
Once again, the president is left with few alternatives except hitting Iran with everything we've got.
Editor's Note: President Trump is leading America into the "Golden Age" as Democrats try desperately to stop it.
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