This time a year ago, Iranians were at the dawn of what appeared to be a major international rapprochement, with high hopes for new commerce and an era of peace with the region, as the P5+1 nuclear deal went into effect, and money freed from frozen accounts began to trickle in, looking for investment in modernization.
Now, those same Iranians are openly fearing imminent US attack, or at the very least a return to the economic isolation of recent decades, following President Trump’s threats against the nation, and his promise not to “be kind” to Iran as President Obama had been.
Locals who had hoped to travel to the United States are now uniformly banned by President Trump’s executive order, with no sanctions imposed today, and administration officials continuing to insist that military action has not been taken off the table.
The new round of threats against Iran began with a weekend missile test by Iran, but have continued to pick up steam seemingly on their own, as Iran hasn’t done anything new since the test, and US officials have gone from saying it “might” violate a UN ban to saying it was a threat to the whole world, to imposing new sanctions, to threatening even more sanctions, and even talking up military action, all in the span of just a few days.
Putting aside the issue of whether Iran had every right to conduct this test and that this test was technically not in violation of any UN resolutions or the nuclear deal….as I understand?
I am a staunch supporter of the nuclear deal and a detente and reapproachment with Iran. However, it is not enough to simply say they did not violate anything and they have a right to develop a self defense……..which they do…..like everybody else….
What were they thinking and what did they think the reaction would be? Why at such an early point in the Trump presidency would they ‘test’ Trump’s machismo?
It really baffles me and makes no sense other than to feed right into the warmongers agenda. Now the neo-cons are jumping up and down yelled “you see, you see?”
Let’s assume for the moment that Iran is indeed the “Monster” that Israel and the Neo-Cons portray them as being. Just from a strategic point of view, why would they play their hand so stupidly. Assuming the new-con argument that they are truly evil, there is big difference between evil and stupid vs. evil and cunning. Perhaps they are (understandably) paranoid but stupid?
Sometimes I think Iran can be its own worst enemy.
” Why at such an early point in the Trump presidency would they ‘test’ Trump’s machismo?”
These are possibilities, the first two being the most likely
– Internal politics- solidifying the hardliners ‘ position by pointing to American aggression (the Iraq war squelched the moderates quite handily)
-Not to look weak & a push-over, both to the US and the Saudis
– Iranian pride
– Perhaps they think Russia would be able to influence Trump to not take things too far
“Sometimes I think Iran can be its own worst enemy”
The Iranian people generally really like Americans. Demographic shifts would eventually take care of their Mullah problem, but we seem to be doing everything to stop that.
“The Iranian people generally really like Americans. Demographic shifts would eventually take care of their Mullah problem, but we seem to be doing everything to stop that.”
If the US government lifted sanctions and invited the Iranian people to buy and sell freely with America, the mullahs wouldn’t last six months if they tried to stop it.
The US government has busted its ass to keep the mullahs in power for nearly four decades now.
This whole idea that countries ‘test the almighty U.S.’ is a meme. If a country we don’t like sneezes, we claim they are testing us.
Iran needs to improve the accuracy of its medium range ballistic missiles. They have a schedule and stick with it. It is inevitable that there is a President in office in the U.S. They did this shortly after the JCPOA was signed and have been doing it on a regular basis as well.
We are the most egocentric country on earth. We believe that everyone wakes up and thinks ‘Ah, how can I ruin America’s day?’ when all they are trying to do is to look out for their own interests.
Apple could probably turn as much or more profits in a year of legitimate business in Iran than Lockheed could in that same time period of a war.
It’s all about where the priorities lie. Boeing is not happy about losing the monster aircraft orders to the whims of a bunch of grandstanding bullshit artists. Talk about jobs. There’s your “jobs” right there.