After Trump warns that “We have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now,” The New York Times’ national security correspondent analyzed the reason why “Trump is going after Iran.”
Tehran – IranView24
Trump issued a direct threat to the Iranians: “we have a lot of very big, very powerful ships sailing to Iran right now,” and that they would move “with speed and violence,” if Iran didn’t come to the negotiating table.
Having placed a major military force in the waters near Iran, the U.S. president has also started another ticking clock, where he has to choose between backing down and actually using force again against the Islamic Republic.
Trump has been at odds with Iran since his first term. “The United States were withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal,” Trump said, and then in January of 2020 he killed General Soleimani.
But what the president had never done was a strike Iran itself. That came for the first time when the United States attacked three major nuclear sites last June. Then he said, “Iran, the bully of the Middle East, must now make peace. If they do not, future attacks would be greater and a lot easier.”
Following the incidents occurred in Iran, Trump believed that the Islamic Republic could be ready to crack. Although the administration has not publicly detailed it’s exact demands on Iran, many of the details have begun to leak out.
One of them is that Iran gave up all enrichment of uranium. The second big demand focuses on Iran’s ballistic missiles. It would limit their range to about 500 kilometers, meaning they could not hit Israel.
The Iranians have made clear they will give in on neither of those. In response to Trump’s threats, the Iranian officials noted that they respond decisively, with all of their strength and comprehensively.
Donald Trump has not described what his goals here are. Are they simply taking out the nuclear program which, of course, he’s already struck a major blow against? Is it regime change, though the president is not admitted to that at any point? Is it backing up the protesters? Remember, he promised that he was coming to help them, but so far, has not.
What is clear, if the negotiations collapse, he could find himself in a situation where he has to choose between backing down and using force again, for the second time in eight months, against the Islamic Republic.
