According to a report from The Daily Beast, President Trump has given his most hawkish advisors free rein to squeeze Iran as much as possible in the final weeks of his administration. The story cites multiple anonymous US officials who say Trump’s only condition was that his aides do not risk starting “World War III.”
The report reads: “Trump has given some of his most hawkish administration officials, particularly his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, carte blanche to squeeze and punish the Islamic Republic as aggressively as they wish in the coming weeks.”
The officials say Trump has been more passive in overseeing Iran policy and point to Pompeo and Iran envoy Elliot Abrams as the two advisors heading the last-ditch effort to hammer the Islamic Republic. The officials say both Pompeo and Abrams are in favor of quietly backing covert actions carried out by other actors. One official said CIA Director Gina Haspel has been “intimately involved” in the administration’s clandestine strategy against Iran.
The Daily Beast report comes just days after Mohsen Fakhrizadeh, a top Iranian scientist, was killed in an attack that has been attributed to Israel. US officials confirmed with the Beast that Israel was behind the assassination.
According to the officials, Trump repeatedly said he wanted to avoid a confrontation with Iran that would get US troops killed. But the president said he was fine with letting Israel take the lead to target and kill Iranian officials. One official noted that the US often shares intelligence with Israel on “Iran-related matters,” but did not detail Washington’s involvement in Fakhrizadeh’s death.
In November, The New York Times reported that Trump reviewed options to attack an Iranian nuclear site at an Oval Office meeting but was talked out of pulling the trigger. Officials left the meeting assuming a direct military strike was off the table but said the president left other options open.
Besides killing Iranian officials and doing as much damage as possible to Iran’s economy, another aspect of this strategy is to sabotage Joe Biden’s plans to rejoin the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
Last week, Abrams said the Trump administration plans to slap new sanctions on Iran every week until Biden is inaugurated on January 20th. Abrams said it would be “foolish” for a Biden administration to lift sanctions. Israel and Gulf states like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Bahrain also hope Biden does not return to the JCPOA.
A year or three and one of Trumps foreign assets will meet its demise, a fire probably, an expensive one!
Lord forgive these sadistic sons of Satan for they know not what they do.
Sure they do.
The report reads: “Trump has given some of his most hawkish administration officials, particularly his top diplomat, Mike Pompeo, carte blanche to squeeze and punish the Islamic Republic as aggressively as they wish in the coming weeks.”
That’s a scary thought. What have we been doing previously if it wasn’t being belligerently aggressive?
If there is to be no war, then why do this?
And why now?
It is aimed at Biden, not Iran.
That’s the misdirection, it is to help Biden. It’s never what it seems.
For Trump winning meant a regime change in Iran. Because that has failed Iran must be made to pay somehow. Because that is Trump’s sadist worldview.
It is also a signal that Trump knows that he has lost the election. In general Trump has put on the screws but has waited rather patiently to monitor the effect before screwing more tightly. Now he is suddenly in a hurry in attempts to make history at the last moment.
The same is true for Trump’s current China policy which has “I lost the elections” written all over it.
Trump, among other things, is a petulant, angry man who cannot accept set-backs/defeats. Frankly, the Orange Ape is unhinged.
“Trump will disrupt the war party” – J Raimondo
There was that possibility. Back when. The dems brought several antiwar bills to congress. If trump had crossed the aisle and embraced them, he could have wrecked both parties, for the better. But, instead, he took the lazy, and profitable path (for him), which was becoming an RNC rubberstamp. Waste of blood, time and treasure.
I believe Rand Paul co-sponsored one or had one of his own. Trump didn’t even have to cross the aisle.
True, but gop antiwar activity is minimal to none. To actually disrupt the militant congress, trump needed to embrace dem attempts. Then, the Republicans would have divided amongst always trumpers and war. Same for dems, the never trumpers antiwar dems would have had a choice…party, or antiwar. All this with a populous in a high state of war weariness. Would have been beautiful. Perhaps this is what Raimondo had theorized.
After the January 2020 assassination of Quds commander Qasem Solemaini and Iran’s nuclear chieftain last week, one could be forgiven in proffering that an Iranian might be next. That’s not to say Iran President Hassan Rouhani’s life is in imminent danger, but a regime change policy has always filtered through Washington and Tel Aviv. I don’t think the neocons have that level of infiltration–yet.
Trump: No New Wars policy, only Acts of War