ABNA24 - In the last hours of Monday, a message published by the US President Donald Trump surprised all. He in a TruthSocial post said that he had a plan to resume Iran war, but he delayed the attacks for now, claiming that his decision was driven by calls from Emirati, Qatari, and Saudi leaders who asked him to avoid further escalation.
This claim by Trump came as a few hours later Wall Street Journal reported that several Persian Gulf leaders said they were not aware of any imminent American attack on Iran.
Deception or attack call-off?
Despite Trump’s comments about calling off an attack on Iran, the New York Times reported after his remarks, citing US government officials, that Donald Trump’s decision to delay military action against Iran could be a ruse, and that he might still proceed with strikes.
On Tuesday, however, there was no sign of a renewed US attack on Iran. Meanwhile, American political theorist John Mearsheimer stated that resuming bombings would yield no results.
“Trump is desperately looking for a way out of this crisis but hasn’t found one yet,” Mearsheimer said, adding: “He probably hoped China would pressure Iran into reaching a deal, but there’s been no progress on that front. He talked again today about resuming bombings, but even he knows that more bombing isn’t the solution. The only way to end the war is an agreement with Iran.”
On the other hand, the US news outlet Axios reported that an American source close to Trump said several pro-war advocates on Iran who have spoken with the president since his Monday announcement have come away with the impression that “he’s in the mood to pressure [the Iranians] to move in negotiations.”
The report adds that many other American officials were taken aback by Trump’s Monday announcement and admit they are confused about which direction Trump is heading. Some believe that if no diplomatic progress is made, he might once again postpone any decision.
Iran not backing down
Many believe that in his new attacks, Trump has no specific goals. He claimed to call off the new attack because Iran has shown so far that Tehran is no bending the knees in the face of the threats. Haaretz reported that Iran is disregarding the Trump’s deadlines, creating new realities in the Persian Gulf. Iran, the Israeli newspaper adds, expands its land transportation beside heavily charging ships for their navigation from the Strait of Hormuz and this is creating a breathing room for Tehran much more than was expected by the West.
Times of Israel in a report wrote that despite weeks of American and Israeli attacks and repeated Trump threats, Iran is still hard in its stance and has only proposed possibility of accepting temporary halt to its uranium enrichment. On the other side, Trump more than ever only focuses on preventing Iran from building nuclear weapons, putting missile and regional lies case on the back burner.
Trump’s biggest defeat
For the 12th time, Trump threatens to attack Iran, but backs down at the last minute, as if the US president suddenly grows wary of Iran’s retaliatory response and refrains from launching another strike. Axios has reported that since the start of the war, Trump has extended deadlines and postponed planned attacks on Iran at least 12 times.
Foreign Policy magazine, meanwhile, has written that the Iran crisis could become Trump’s biggest failure. According to the report, Trump had hoped to convince Chinese leader Xi Jinping to mediate a peace deal between Washington and Tehran, but like so many other things, that never happened for Trump.
According to Foreign Policy report, Iran still has access to 70 percent of its missile stockpiles it held before war and also has operational access to over 90 percent of its missile launch sites along the Strait of Hormuz. This means that Tehran can disrupt this most vital energy chokepoint as long as it wishes. Global food crisis and shortages of helium-dependent semiconductors are already factored into economists’ forecasts for next year. The longer this crisis drags on, the higher the costs will climb.
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