Trump, Hegseth & Co have been claiming overhelming victory since pretty much Day 1 of the US-Israeli war against Iran. I've lost count of the number of times both guys have claimed to have "obliterated" Iran's offensive and defensive capabilities, despite the fact that they continue, even now, bombing US allies and bases and even shooting down American aircraft.
Now Pakistan and China has come to their rescue by negotiating a two week ceasefire, giving Trump a much-needed way out after his wild, genocidal talk about "a whole civilization will die tonight". What little credibility Trump had is now shot, and his popularity at home has tanked even further.
So, this is perhaps not a bad juncture to stand back and assess exactly what Trump has achieved in Iran, and at what cost. Of course, the BBC has done my work for me.
America's goals on Iran have been a constantly moving target, depending who is talking, when, and the spin they want to impose. But preventing Iran for developing nuclear weapons was always near the top of the list. Thing is, Iran has hardly any nuclear weapon development anyway, and what agreements and negotiations there were have all been derailed by Trump himself and his bull-in-a-china-shop approach. Art of the deal, my ass!
It is thought that Iran probably still has enriched uranium salted away, even after five weeks of war and the unilateral strikes in nuclear facilities last June, and most diplomats believe that it is just not possible to stop Iran's nuclear ambutions by brute force alone. And Iran remains just as defiant - perhaps even more so - about its independence and automomy as ever.
Regime change was one of the early American goals, although that aspect has been back-pedalled more recently. Remember "keep protesting, help is on the way"? By taking out Ayatollah Ali Khomeini, all they succeeded in doing is paving the way for an equally radical and much youmger Mojtaba Khomeini. The regime, as such, remains very much in place.
Trump and Hegseth have also repeatedly.clzimed to have destroyed ("obliterated!") Iran's conventional arsenal - missiles, launchers, drones, arms factories amd navies. However, leaked intelligence assessments suggest that only about half of Iran's pre-war arsenal has actually been destroyed. Certainly, Iran seems to have continued its bombing and drone attacks on US allies and bases in the Gulf, and it has shot down at last two supposedly-unbeatable American fighter jets in his last week alone.
Meanwhile, the war has been costing the USA more than a billion dollars a day, a price most Americans are probably blissfully unaware of. All those Tomahawk missiles don't come cheap. 13 US service member have died and hundreds more injured, which is peanuts compared to the huge Iranian casualties, buy more than many Americans, including anyi-interventionist MAGA voters, would be comfortable with for an unnecessary wat of this kind.
And the damage to the country's reputation, and Trump's own brand? Incalculable.
No comments:
Post a Comment