Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei gave a rare Friday sermon in Tehran, chiding President Trump for being a “clown” and suggesting he was just pretending to be a supporter of Iranian protesters. Trump has responded by warning he has to be “very careful with his words.“
Trump railed against Khamenei on Twitter, accusing him of “leading Iran toward ruin,” and saying that Iran deserves a government that will “Make Iran Great Again!”
Trump having a furious reaction on Twitter to a perceived public slight is par for the course, as he often launches into protracted tirades, again suggesting that Trump is liable to do anything on the slightest pretext.
Beyond that level of grand-standing, Trump is also undercutting his administration’s repeated insistence that they are not seeking to impose regime change on Iran by talking up the idea of a different government.
Speaking of words:
Trump Threatens To ‘Obliterate’ Iran For Calling Him A ‘Retard’
https://bipartisanreport.com/2019/06/25/trump-threatens-to-obliterate-iran-for-calling-him-a-retard/
The truth hurts, obviously.
And there is this:
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/478909-trump-tells-gop-donors-that-soleimani-was-saying-bad-things-before
“President Trump told Republican donors Friday evening that Qassem Soleimani, the top Iranian general who was killed in a drone strike this month, was “saying bad things” about the U.S. before his death.”
“How much of this shit do we have to listen to?” Trump was quoted saying. “How much are we going to listen to?”
Yes, truth hurts. Emperor strikes back — any pretext would do.
Now that the real threat has been eliminated, the tea pot can continue calling the kettle black.
Actually Iran’s theocracy is doing such a great job holding Iran down, its difficult to believe Trump or any of his advisers would want regime change, especially since they have no-one on the ground ready to step in.
Trump may be open to ‘leadership change’, which would be a political score without changing the theocracy equation. Although, changing to a more competent leader could cause problems.
Trump’s threats legitimize the Iran theocracy rather than threaten it, giving the Iranian theocracy a threat to point at while undermining reform. The same game was played in Iraq during Saddam Hussein’s rule; dissidents were encouraged to rise up – and be slaughtered with no help from the U.S. forthcoming.
The Iraq war was always unnecessary – except, Saddam was old (69 when executed) and the sanctions regime was predicated on Saddam, not a successor who could argue for relief by simply not being Saddam.
Iran sanctions, on the other hand, are tied directly to the theocratic revolutionary government and the alleged nuclear program, not a personality. These can be gamed indefinitely [as long as the Iranian system of governance does not change].
U.S. hawks never wanted the USSR to fall either roughly for the same reason; they were a pretext for aggression at home and abroad.