In other words, POTUS wants WWIII. With China, Russia,etc. and wants the United States alone getting hammered by the rest of the world including Saudi Arabia and Israel. Yes, the leader of Iran was right in his comment about POTUS's mind.
6
I doubt Trump threatened “obliteration” because his vocabulary is limited to two syllable words.
5
Our bellicose behavior toward Iran is simply marginalizing the reasonable elements of Iranian society, making the harshest leaders seem the only way to defend Iran against our constant attacks...we are forcing their regime into greater reliance on the zealots.
We are breaking their society, instead of working to support the Iranians who don’t want the ayatollahs to rule with an iron hand. Unwise policy to say the least.
6
Every time I think Trump has hit his personal worst when it come to irony and hypocrisy, he ups the ante.
He accused Obama of being weak and indecisive in Syria for not retaliating against Assad for using chemical weapons on his own people. You know, the crossing Obama's artificial redline thing.
It should be noted that then Secretary of State, John Kerry was able to negotiate an agreement that provided for the destruction of Assad's chemical weapon capability.
Now Trump calls off an attack on Iran in progress after having approved it. Then he publicly lies about a thought process that seemed almost whimsical.
Now to irony. Trump is threatening to obliterate Iran who does not now have a nuclear weapon. He's doing this after unilaterally pulling out of a treaty that would have prevented them from acquiring a nuclear weapon in the near future.
On the other hand, Trump's writing love-letters to Kim Jong Un, the lunatic dictator of North Korea who has a quiver full of nukes and is constantly threatening to attack someone.
Go figure.
3
President Trump continues to break new ground and confound his critics. His latest effort is to create sympathy world-wide for Iran. Not an easy task but one that comes naturally to a stable genius.
5
One wonders if the Republicans feel that that tax cut was really worth all of this.
6
This afternoon in an interview on BBC, Jane Harmon summed up the total of Trumps entanglements and methodology. One step forward and two back, a replay of harsh words with Kim, loss of our European allies and humiliating rhetoric. Humiliation never succeeds. You can't back someone into a corner with no where to go if you genuinely want a solution that folks can live with. One can do this in the real estate business but Trump is dangerous at this level egged on by his Hawk Pals.
6
There needs to be a regime change alright. In Washington.
10
Unless I am missing something, "sanctions" are an economic attack and might, very indirectly, cause loss of life. Shooting down a drone seems similar - primarily an economic attack with a small chance of a loss of life.
No one is going to support using massive lethal force to avenge a robot, and this is probably as obvious to Iran as it is to anyone else. If the drone's mission is important, outfit a manned aircraft to do it from international airspace. It would be very surprising if Iran shot at a manned plane, as no bluster is necessary to communicate the consequences for doing so.
In such a scenario, Iran does get to impose a cost - the USA has to use a more expensive platform to do the same things it was doing before - but this seems like trivia in the grand scheme. It is a way to set a clear tripwire while denying Iran a climactic showdown or the appearance that it caused an American retreat.
@Alan: Iran has publicly stated that it did not shoot at a US P-8 anti-submarine aircraft it had also detected in the vicinity of the drone it struck.
1
@Alan: Iran is under blockade or state of siege by all traditional scale independent usages of martial language.
1
@Alan: In the timeless scale independent lexicon of warfare, Iran is under siege by the US.
1
“Today, the Americans have become desperate and confused,” Mr. Rouhani said in a televised address. “This has made them take unusual measures and talk nonsense.”
I wish Rouhani would say "Today, the Trump Administration has become desperate and confused." He should know that most of us "Americans" don't support him and his administration.
It really takes a mad man to make an authoritarian theocracy look good.
6
The President of the United States threatened to “obliterate” Iran, a country notorious for posturing, because he was insulted.
Read that again.
Trump removed us from the Iran Nuclear Deal - to international scorn -without replacing it with his promised “totally different deal.” While claiming to pursue a diplomatic solution, his actions have instigated and inflamed conflict.
Whether or not Trump sees war as job security and a literal ‘get out of jail free card’ is difficult to determine. As seen with the Mueller Investigation, proving intent is a problem, especially when dealing with the myriad lies of an uncooperative subject.
It is alarming that many Americans agree with Rouhani that the White House has a “mental handicap.”
Our country is in crisis when trust has been so eroded that American’s are not sure who to believe: The repressive Iranian regime or Trump, McConnell & friends.
2
You can expect Trump's better Iran nuclear deal to come right about the same time as his better, cheaper Obamacare. Who knew international diplomacy could be so complicated?
Jared has completely failed at coming up with a solution for the Palestinians, Trump will totally fail at improving either the situation in Iran or healthcare. When does the winning actually start?
5
Our actions since World War II against Iran are criminal. The transgressions committed towards the United States and its allies by Iran is small change when compared to what the United States has done to Iran. No objective international body would render a decision in our favor if we look at all the events that have occurred between the two countries since WWII. Reasons may differ from time to time but generally its about making sure Israel has the biggest stick in the neighbor and/or addressing any concerns voiced Saudi Arabia.
5
We can't afford another war, especially with the pittance of taxes paid by 1% of us.
1
I don't know if Trump will "obliterate" Iran -- or just calm down and pretend he never said that. But I did notice -- crash -- that he obliterated the stock market's gains again today. And along with it, he's obliterating my retirement nest egg. Again.
I wonder how members of the Trump cult are dealing with this? Maybe they haven't saved anything for retirement, so it's not an issue? Maybe they think the economy and job market bubble will go on forever, and they can keep working till they drop?
Trump's "obliteration" impulses are probably the number one reason that he should be impeached and removed from office. Or at least get that nuclear button away from his twittery little hands. This chaos serves none of us.
4
Is Trump threatening 'obliteration' or did he promise 'proportionate response'? Isn't there a difference? Which is it? Mother Teresa said, "If you want to make peace, you don't talk to your friends. You talk to your enemies." Chalk it up as advice not taken.
3
Where are the millions in the streets? Are we so self-satisfied, so anesthetized by our routines that we can't hold protest signs? Heading to the art supply store, gonna stand on a street corner. Join me one by one till we make a difference.
4
Trump doesn't realize Iran can make an oil deal with Russia to defend itself? Does he really think that cruise missiles can't find his 5 year old blackberry while he rage tweets on the toilet ?
1
please someone wake me up from the nightmare called trump. congress? you’re our only hope.
3
@Julie When it comes to Iran the problem is much bigger than Trump. Don't give our security apparatus a free pass by pinning this all on Trump.
1
Rouhani says the white house is mentally handicapped. The self proclaimed stable genius is unfit to lead the United States.or deal with the rest of the world. Let us cut to the chase and use article 25 to remove Trump and his sycophantic henchman Pence. there is no time to use impeachment. Trump is a threat to us all. A man who cancels a raid because of the possible deaths of 150 Iranians and then threatens an entire nation with obliteration cannot remain in office.
3
Interesting quote from Bolton in the 7th paragraph, as he himself is a huge “source of belligerence and aggression”. That's his legacy.
4
A few Trump hotels and golf courses in Iran will calm everyone down.
5
That is a "red line", just like our previous President laid down. And equally stupid.
Now all Iran has to do is take out another drone or run into a ship and the President will have to take out Tehran or look weak.
Trump is going to confuse his self inflicted crisis and airlift millions of toothbrushes to Iran.
3
Kim Jong-un had nuclear weapons as a bargaining chip for negotiations; Iran's regime has nothing. It sees Trump’s economic embargo as the first step to invasion and regime change, as the embargo imposed on Iraq under Saddam was. Iran is not going to negotiate conditions of surrender; it’s going to use limited military strikes to send Trump a message he has to ease the embargo and soften his demands to bring them to the table. If Trump launches counter-strikes, he is inevitably going to find himself in a war he didn’t want.
3
Although Iran has never been behind a terrorist attack on US soil I expect they are planning them now. Thing is that once Trump actually attacks Iran any loss of US civilians through such operations won't be terrorism they will simply be warfare.
1
Trump wanders as an extreme present hedonist where grudges trace back millennia. What can go wrong?
3
In Trump's bizarro world it's obliteration or nothing. It's not okay to take 30 Iranian lives in a retaliatory raid but it is okay to obliterate them entirely. As always, for Trump it's all about Trump. And Trump's re-election.
Trump's instinct tells him that his base would not want him to renege on his promise to avoid stupid wars but, at the same time, his instinct tells him that his base will accept the obliteration of Iranian babies.
Sanctions are just going to tick the Iranians off, harden their resolve, and drive them toward actions that benefit no one (except, perhaps, the Saudis). Are things better now after Trump tore up the treaty?
And just what is going on between the Trump organization and the Israeli hard-right plus the Saudis? We may have to wait to find out... But we will eventually.
3
Mr. Trump and his administration have taken this country and the world hostage. Their bombastic threats and manipulations will be one day correctly recognized as overplaying their hand. For now they are drunk on their power. In the fairy tales this never ended well.
7
why would anyone negotiate with trump. Trump's word is worth nothing and is usually incoherent.
just put his name on a tall building or golf course and trump will give you a federal grant to build it. put Trump's name on every military target and pay trump roalties and trump will never attack it or you.
3
Benjamin Franklin’s wisdom: "Tart words make no friends; a spoonful of honey will catch more flies than a gallon of vinegar".
We are seeing the kind of “fire and fury” rhetoric from Iran’s side. The language on both sides could easily be misunderstood, and the outcome could be miscalculation or the kind of accidental entry into conflict.
Apart from blocking – probably – billions in Iranian assets as part of the new round of sanctions, the US will blacklist Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.
Steve Mnuchin told reporters that Zarif would be added to an economic sanctions list “later this week,” along with the supreme leader and other top military commanders from Iran’s Revolutionary Guards. It could complicate Zarif’s shuttle diplomacy overseas.
In January 2018, as part of sanctions against Russia, the US published a list of people in the government, along with 96 oligarchs, who were informally blacklisted in the global financial system. Putin said he felt "slighted" that his name wasn't there.
Does it make sense that sanctions are being imposed arbitrarily?
2
I believe that Trump truly doesn't want war but it will soon be out of his hand. Pompeo and Bolton and lined up things in such a way that a confrontation is almost inevitable. They were disappointed with halting of the military action last week but now a diplomatic solution seems even less likely. What happens if the Iranian (maybe by mistake) target and destroy a manned aircraft of helicopter? What if US forces down a passenger jet by error? What if a US aviator gets captured by Iranian forces because of a technical difficulties? Besides all these there are also people on the Iranian side who actually want to pull US into an armed conflict. In my view Trump is rapidly loosing control of the situation and that is what the hawks in his administration are hoping for.
3
“Today, the Americans have become desperate and confused,” Mr. Rouhani said.
Actually, the majority of Americans are desperate to be rid of this President and are confused by the devotion of his fans.
Rouhani, be sure to thank your buddy Putin for the situation.
13
Echoes of North Korea histrionics from the Trump school of playground diplomacy. Little wonder nobody takes us seriously.
3
Trump was asked if he has an "exit plan" for Iran, and Trump seemed nonplussed in his rambling non-answer. But he actually does have an exit plan: obliteration. That is, total obliteration, like it has never been before. as Trump is wont to say.
3
For some reason I think that for the first time in our history, there will be a mass protest by the US citizens against the actions of its leader. It is quite likely that Hassan Rouhani is more popular in the US than is Donald Trump.
9
I've seen more intelligent and mature discussions between 4 year old children than the ones Trump has with foreign leaders.
8
Instead of threatening obliteration, a televised dance off between Donald Trump and President Hassan Rouhani would get more likes in a tweet!
1
So Mr. Pompeo, insulting one’s political opponents is “immature and childlike”. I completely agree. Would you mind sharing our opinion with your boss?
4
What does Trump think this will accomplish? What is our end game? The Iranians fought the Iraqi's for eight bloody years. They can tolerate a bombing campaign while they disrupt the flow of oil until the US runs out of bombs or is pressured to stop by other nations. Meanwhile, their proxies in the region will be harassing US, Israeli, and Saudi interests across the entire region. The end result will be that the US looks foolish. Trump is about to learn that US power has limits.
1
All this president seems to know how to do is to create one crisis out of another. Sanction this bully. He is not my President.
10
I never thought possible that the President of the United States would be acting like an extremist from the Middle East - until the deplorables gave us Trump.
Every single one of these "non-capitulators" need to go sign up for military duty. NOW.
7
We needed a diplomat and got a dishonest salesman. The George W. Bush administration completely destabilized the Middle East and now the "deal maker" decides to rip up a well thought out negotiation and then poke the hornet's nest...... for what purpose? He started this ball rolling because Bolton, Pompeo & Graham are itching for a war which they will not have to fight and will only serve to strengthen the resolve of groups like ISIS to strike at us any way they can. When is congress going to remind Trump that they are not there just to rubber stamp his idiotic ideas and explain to him how our government really works. He has decided he is king, the world his new toy and our military his little tin soldiers.
6
The President does like to get into wars of words. Obliteration vs Death to America. Sounds like a World Wrestling match, except this is not a game. The throwing down of gauntlets, red lines and military readiness makes the possibilities of unintended consequences that lead to wider conflicts all that much more imminent. Hardliners on both sides see an opening. The arguments of who is right and who is wrong could be lost in the fog of war. The Us vs Them philosophy that the President has used at home and abroad doesn't seem like a path to peace and reconciliation.
3
Until we update our Constitution—removing the Electoral College and mandating elections be run through ranked choice methods, we will continue to be subjected to people like Trump running the country. We can either rewrite it now and avoid disaster, or it will be rewritten out of necessity, AFTER the disaster.
9
A fair minded and thoughtful student of history would find any attempt to make sense out of the erratic behavior of the Trump administration completely meaningless. The reason why? It's totally devoid of... meaning.
Malice? Yes. Insanity? Yes. Incompetence? Yes. Sense (as in a longer term, clear and meaningful perspective with objectives intended to advance the interests of the American corporate elite)? No. This is the gonzo brigade - a rightwing riff on Animal House where the house just happens to be the White House and Trump is doing his daily take on John Belushi's imitation of Mussolini.
I understand that Pompeo was at the top of his graduating class at West Point. That certainly doesn't say much for either the intellect of West Point graduates or the quality of their instruction. I wouldn't hire him to clean restrooms, let alone make him the Secretary of State.
Bolton? Trump? Graham? Mike Pence? and the rest of the sub par also-rans? This administration is a death ship of dullards guiding the United States down the path of disgraceful annihilation. The World looks on and doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.
America - do you duty to humanity. Put these fools out to pasture ASAP. How about a remote ranch somewhere in the wilderness of Idaho where they can take their pre-adolescent aggression out on each other while they roast weenies and marshmallows? That would be a real win-win for the country. Make America great again. Send Donald off to camp. Permanently.
22
Unfortunately for the entire world, it turns out that President Rouhani is quite correct when he refers to the White House as "mentally handicapped." The feckless foolish Trump does not understand that any attempt at "obliteration" in the 21st century is not going to go well for anyone.
11
The IRGC was established in 1979 as a deliberately ideological force that would protect the Islamic Republic more reliably than the Iranian army, which was historically loyal to the Shah. (See Red Army vs Whites in USSR during interwar years and the use of commissars and purges).
Article 150 of Iranian Constitution and a 1979 statute
define the IRGC in terms of 3 imperatives.
(1) Defend Iran against foreign attacks and agents (See NKVD/SMERSH);
(2) Fight counterrevolutionary forces disrupting internal security, gather intelligence on threats to the regime and execute judicial decisions (See NKVD/SMERSH); &
(3) support global “liberation” movements (i.e., engage with, train, finance and arm non-state terror and revolutionary groups to sew warfare and instability across the region (See NKVD/KGB/GRU)
Rhodes, Rice, Kerry & Obama were so delusional, they thought the JCPOA, which channeled billions of dollars directly to the IRGC and QUDS forces, would create regional stability.
Of course everyone knows where the Iranians have their missiles pointed—straight at Israel. So Trump may wound Iran by his absurd attack but Iran will obliterate Israel. Wake up People!! See where this unhinged President is taking us and DO SOMETHING.
1
@Rachel Rose: Israel has a nuclear deterrent. It doesn't need the US to retaliate to an Iranian attack with nuclear weapons.
3
George Conway was absolutely spot on when he said this guy was "mentally unwell". That may actually be an understatement. Other than Reagan's dementia, I wonder if we've ever had a president before with a serious mental illness.
5
There he goes again, shrieking like the junior-high-grade mean girl he has become. Whatever his illness is, it's progressing.
5
Dear Mr. Rouhani,
I hate to break it to you but our president is always desperate and confused.
3
This administration's decision to withdraw from the 2015 agreement with Iran was and is foolish and dangerous.
We are not going to succeed in intimidating Iran into doing what we want that country to do. Nor does this country have the political or economic means to launch a conflict with Iran. The American public would not stand for it.
Given that, why does our President think it wise to threaten Iran so often and so theatrically?
It seems to me that, if this country's leader is going to make noises about military action overseas - something he should not do except in very unusual circumstances - then we have to be prepared to carry out those threats.
But if the threats are carried out, we'd be in a war even more stupid than the one in Iraq.
Trump is a chaos generator.
4
President Rouhani called the White House “mentally handicapped” in a televised address on Tuesday. He would have elaborated further on Trump's mental state, which I'm sure would have offered Trump-deranged Democrats no end of stress-relieving entertainment; but Rou was called away at the last minute because he's busy helping organize Iran's annual Holocaust Cartoon Contest in which the winner is the person judged to be most imaginative in deriding and denying the Holocaust. And the deadline is approaching. Where does that man find the time?
The Trump company seems to have met its match in terms of dumb, aggressive, short-sighted behavior in both North Korea and Iran. Unless, of course, all parties simply want to have a fight. After all, killing a few thousand or a few million doesn't hurt the leadership at all.
1
Trump is bluffing and it’s very dangerous. He’s proven himself a liar too many times.
5
No offense to the readers but Trump is ten thousand miles away from bombing Iran. He does not want to have any US Military casualties arriving Andrews Air Force Base in coffins draped with colors. He was a coward during Vietnam and cannot endure the outrage of families having sons and daughters killed in a provoked conflict without rhyme or reason. No other Western Country would join in the effort. And worse, if Tehran is bombed, there is 100% probability that Europeans living there will be killed. This is the largest, stupidest Trump bluff ever. To do a precision strike, patty cake style, will not work with Iran because they will unleash a torrent of weapons aimed directly toward US Military targets that are all over the middle east and the statistical likelihood of doing serious damage is high but without civilian harm. So, there is 0% probability that a tit-for-tat, yoyo war is possible. Trump does not want to carpet bomb a civilian population and unfortunately, that would be required to bring Iran to heel (occupation). Additionally, occupation will never work either because the Iranian population could never be cowered or pacified. So again, this pustulate will not be lanced and Trump is shouting down an open manhole to no one.
2
Ironically, while Trump wants to destroy Iran (for signing a deal with a black man), he loves Saudi Arabia and wants to sell them arms and nuclear technology. Saudi Arabians a very bad actor.
4
@Jean Travis: It Trump doesn't sell the Saudis weapons, the Russians will.
trump employing exaggerated bombastic rhetoric regarding foreign adversaries mirroring Cold War era fake, escapist, contrived good vs evil campy performing overgrown behemoths entertaining Friday night Roland Barthes(ian) wrestling spectacle heartyWorld War 2 ex GI's munching tv dinners relished consuming
2
Voters Promise 'Obliteration' of Trump and Supporters.
5
Trump threatens to obliterate ethics, truth & democracy...wait...it already happened.
3
Humor me:
- If #AmericaFirst.. why the globe should go hand and hand with the US.. especially when the #US who walked away from the nuclear deal that was signed by 6 other important nations!
- Why the new agreement will be honored if the US have broken the 1st one?
- Why you seek negotiation without preconditions.. at the same time.. you've already placed crippling sanctions plus and most importantly.. you have demanded your famous 12 conditions?
5
Iran is a brutal country that denies the rights of women, LBGTQ, non-Muslims, and others. Their stated goals have been "death to America." Any policy that fosters their advancement towards a theocratic monarchy is utterly insane.
@Edward: Religious skepticism is sweeping the world. Iran needs to laugh with the rest of us at people who project their own personalities onto the whole universe.
So you are saying by no means should Iran be allowed to become Saudi Arabia? I couldn't agree more.
1
After seeing the brilliant film “Vice” which lays out the theory that Cheney knew he was going to create the war with Iraq long before the fake wmds, I am wondering if the same thing is happening here. This Iran crises feels very conjured to me, if the treaty were still in place none of this would be happening. Who profits from this war?
3
Two congressional actions are urgently required: 1) Repeal all presidential Authorized Use of Military Force actions taken since 9/11. 2) Vote to sustain the repeal following Trump's veto.
Take a break from fund raising and off your duffs for once, congress! Start by (re) reading Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11 of our Constitution.
4
This ongoing tit for tat between Iran and Trump reminds us that World War I was unleashed by heads of state who were unwilling to back off their political stances and instead stumbled into a war that killed 20 million people.
What would have happened to our country if Trump had been president when the Cuban missile crisis was unfolding?
3
In spite of his Western education, President Rouhani still has trouble with a key concept Americans themselves have only recently mastered: that only Trump gets to be "ignorant and insulting", Everyone else is expected to seek his favor, hat in hand.
Trump still has trouble with the concept that anyone with an ounce of pride is going to bristle at being threatened and insulted, especially by a rogue serial philanderer intoxicated by his own power, with only marginal support in his own country.
I just can't wait for semi-trucks passing through my town standing on their air horns again, in response to some lone "patriot" on the sidewalk with a "HONK IF YOU SUPPORT THE TROOPS!" sign, like in the good old days of W and the Iraq invasion.
Ah, those were the days, eh?
2
obliteration.
that's a new one from the president.
if iran decides to shoot down another unmanned aerial vehicle, or potentially something even more serious, it could be a little tough to walk things back from obliteration.
the president was just on television and was asked what sort of exit strategy did he have in the event things in iran esclated. his response - "i won't need an exit strategy."
and he followed with - "i have a lot of friends who are iranian."
are you kidding me? that's the phraseology he adopts?
this is not the sort of person to sit in the oval office. this is not the sort of man who should sit in the corner in kindergarten. this is the sort of man who should be in a facility for people with his mental problems. congress needs to act now. a lot of people are going to get killed - and a lot of them are going to be americans.
6
Trump would appear much more presidential if he would stop trying to express his thoughts with words, and just sit still.
4
We are talking about human beings when we talk about "obliterating" a country. Both the US and Iran have deeply unpopular leadership under which very few benefit and most strive to lead some semblance of a safe and normal life.
With or without baseless threats the Trump administration (as such) has demonstrated they will not negotiate in good faith with any party either domestic or internationally. Although the pact with Iran was imperfect, it was the most workable and beneficial framework put in place. Unfortunately, Trump and those left in the vacuum he has left in his administration view diplomacy as a zero sum game. They should not be surprised that when you walk away from something you get nothing. Except more, and more committed, adversaries.
4
I am losing track of all the regions, nations, tribes, individuals, Trump is going to obliterate.
How does he keep track?
Does he have a little black "obliteration" notebook? Does he use some sort of "obliteration" mnemonic device?
One certainly hopes he doesn't forget someone on the list.
Once he were ever to make a commitment and fail to live up to it, he would lose all credibility.
(Maybe he uses his knuckles as an "obliteration" mnemonic device, but surely he must be running out of knuckles...)
1
Shouldn't the NYT make clear that the President makes his threats of war with the backing of the Congress (and, thus, with the support of the American people) and will continue to do so until Republicans agree to support efforts by their Democratic colleagues to modify or to clarify the war powers now claimed by the President and to rein in the President.
1
THIS is why we can't have nice things.
Congratulations, GOP. 2020.
1
And why does this all look so familiar with two head-strong absolute rulers going at each other with threats of nuclear retaliation?
It's because we saw all it not too long ago with Donald Trump and "Rocket Man" before they presumably fell in love.
However with John Bolton and Mike Pompeo in the picture, along with Benjamin Netanyahu who's been energized lately by Jared Kushner's plan to make life for the Palestinians even more insufferable than it already is -- there's every reason to understand why the Iranians don't believe a word coming out of the White House.
If anything, that much was made clear when Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear agreement.
2
Congress is going on RECESS? Hey, we'll vote after a few beers and burgers!
1
trump now tweets: "I meant to say alliteration, not that other thing."
1
Iran is a lot like North Korea, as they provoke the USA, for years I have seen footage on NZ television where they keep chanting death to American dogs.
Just this week, I saw news footage where the Iran government in their official parliament or senate building, chanting death to America. Honestly you would never see USA representatives in their official government chambers chanting death to Iran. The whole parliament government representatives where chanting death to America. Lots of graffiti in their nation also showing hanging of USA citizens and burning of the USA flag. What the citizens say and what they do are two different things.
They're provoking USA into a war then they'll blame the USA, by challenging boundaries.
1
Can someone please explain to me again why the Bush cabal was so insistent on removing Saddam in Iraq ? Iran and Iraq were at war for 10 years and both countries seemed to hold each other in check.
"he tried to kill my daddy" and the supposed WMD's were used as justification for invading a sovereign nation.
Bush was able to enlist some European allies for that "fools errand".
After 2.5 years of Trump I find it hard to believe any other nation would want to get involved in "This fool's errand".
Vote 2020 !
2
Yep, that's they way to negotiate. Tell Iran one day that you want to talk and the next threaten obliteration. I'm old enough to remember when they said the Vietnam conflict would be over in 60 days once the US got involved. It appears the foolish hawks back then have been replaced with new foolish hawks. Unfortunately the outcome may be the same.
4
It seems our molester-in-chief and his enables want to take us back to the 1940’s when the Shah of Iran ruled as undemocratically as imaginable. Spoiler alert: the Iranian people won’t go there. Trump should reinstate our participation in the nuclear containment deal he scuttled and start from there.
1
Democrats need to get off the sidelines and start impeachment procedures immediately. A failed business man whose last job was a reality tv host bullying contestants is dragging us into a unnecessary unlawful war and deaths on both sides. This is a nightmare from this madman.
2
Rouhani is correct. Our boy is “full of lies” and I expect CONGRESS and military leaders to reign him in before he unleashes Armageddon.
1
2020 can't come soon enough. Daily, Mr. Trump embodies dishonesty in his words and actions. Donald Trump does not understand or comprehend the meaning or power of the words "nice" or "compassion". His behavior and Twitter feeds radiate with ignorance, belligerence and insults. Immature and Childlike? That aptly describes our current President. His intellectual and emotional immaturity render him unfit to serve as President of the United States. The orange haired monster currently occupying the Oval Office has got to go.
1
Mr. Pompeo said. “But know that the United States will remain steadfast in undertaking the actions that the president laid out in this strategy to create stability throughout the Middle East...”
How long has "stability" in the Middle East been the purported goal? 50 years? Time to face facts: the last thing any country that is a major weapons dealer wants is stability in the Middle East.
13
@Steve Williams: Everything that indicates the Earth is more than 6000 years old is illusion to Pompeo.
3
"Obliteration"—
Sounds like a "burn Paris" or a "scorched earth".
Congress wouldn't let such reckless idiocy come out of the mouth of a US president and commander-in-chief, would they?
18
A five-syllable word? He didn't write that. Not without help.
2
@srwdm If Congress allowed the Obama administration to drop over 100,000 bombs & drones in 8 yrs then I'm sure they can allow a few provocative comments from the President to go unhindered.
Two governments, both alike in dignity (i.e., neither has democratic legitimacy) in the Persian Gulf, where we lay our scene; from ancient grudge break to new mutiny, where civil blood makes civil hands unclean. The idiocy and tragedy of it all is Shakespearian.
5
@kojak
The key phrase is "democratic legitimacy". In a democracy, government leadership is determined by a majority of the people. In our federal system, political power is skewed to favor rural states so that the executive is elected by a minority of voters. Not to mention foreign interference and the FBI's heavy hand on the scales. All-in-all, this particular administration lacks democratic legitimacy, and it has no mandate from the people. There are plenty of functioning, stable democracies in the world; it's about time the USA joined the club and became one itself.
2
Trump is definitely living up to Hassan Rouhani's generous assessment of his intellect.
22
@Jim
On the contrary, Rouhani sounds like a bratty child, just like Trump's critics. One wonders where he got the idea that mimicking them was a good idea.
Trump has the emotional maturity level of a child. By indicating he would retaliate if Iran attacked anything American give Iran and their proxies to strike against our Allies. Trump is incompetent!
12
As we in Texas say, "All hat and no cattle."
12
As the President threatens a holocaust, what is the reaction of the Democrats?
If they are saying anything, it is going unreported.
Does AOC endorse "obliteration" of Iran?
Does Joe Biden?
Does Nancy Pelosi?
Does Chuck Schumer?
These Democrats are asking me to support them.
It is really offensive and borderline insane for them to do so while remaining silent on issues of war and peace.
9
Yet another Trump threat of obliteration.
(*YAWN*).
5
Iran is next to Russia.
Iran is a Russian ally.
Trump, Bolton or no Bolton, is NOT going to attack Iran. Because if he does he knows he'll be on Putins shyte list.
8
It must be the summer air. I remember Don the Con referencing 'fire and fury' with regard to North Korea......and what happened there?
The 'Summit with Iran' is a soon to be seen reality television show coming to a network near you!
5
I thought Trump was "against disproportionate use of force " and was working on a plan to make Iran great again. What happened ?
4
When a leader with nuclear weapons threatens to 'obliterate' an enemy, he is threatening to use nuclear weapons.
And Trump wants to know why Iran would like to possess a nuclear deterrent?
If we want to end the cycle of nuclear proliferation, putting an end to talk hinting at the use of these weapons would be a good start.
Ending all talk of externally-driven regime change would an excellent next step.
13
@Matthew Carnicelli: Physics should be better work than making ever more exotic weapons for the psychotic.
It has become agonizingly apparent that Trump is in the throes of cognitive decline and incipient dementia. He is becoming increasingly irrational, impulsive, and unpredictable, prone to sudden mood shifts and self-contradictory statements and actions.
As dementia patients do, he constantly relives the past, railing against Clinton and Obama and obsessed with the size of his Inaugural crowd, as though it were still 2017.
In the current international context he presents a clear and present danger to the safety and security of the USA.
Time for the 25th Amendment
15
I suppose it is impolite to point out that the Japanese attacked the US in 1941 because of an oil embargo.
Where all this is going and why is the question of the day. It is either a master plan or utter chaos.
I vote for utter chaos.
2
@Plennie Wingo
If the master plan is diabolical, then it is and will bring utter chaos.
1
“Today, the Americans have become desperate and confused,” Mr. Rouhani said, speaking in a televised address. “This has made them take unusual measures and talk nonsense.” By 'Today' does he mean Nov 2015?
3
Why do the GOP politicians in DC sit quietly while Trump leads us into war? Is there really no line in the sand he cannot cross or is Trump now the new GOP God? All of the GOP is complicit in war crimes if Trump is allowed to proceed. Democrats must come out to vote in 2020 to stop this madness.
6
It's madness to keep calling them a GRAND OLD PARTY over and over and over. The way you did just now.
Are they paying you? Have something on you?
No?
Then knock it off!
1
Millions of Americans -- if not billions in Asia -- probably feel that the only one who needs to be "obliterated" is the incompetent and amoral Donald Trump in the 2020 election.
8
Iran would be extremely well advised not to push the envelop in threatening the West with its nuclear armaments program,
and in its continuing world wide terrorism.
It is hard to think of an American adversary for whom it did not end very badly at the end of the day.
It's a sad moment for this country when the leadership of Iran has more credibility than our executive branch.
9
Teddy Roosevelt's famous dictum on his style of diplomacy did end with "... Carry a big stick". It is the first part of TR's statement that Trump plainly does not understand. "Speak softly ..." was why the bellicose Roosevelt was awarded the Nobel peace prize for helping settle the Russo-Japanese war.
3
It helps, of course, to have a big stick in the first place, if you know what I mean and I think you do.
1
Pay close attention to moves by Bolton and Trump over the next few days... in retrospect will be seen as clear examples of war crimes and the turning point when his hopes for 2020 re-election were obliterated.
4
Picture: President Trump with Pompeo and Bolton, in front children obviously having been living for days and days in much the same kind of conditions that feedlot animals live in.
I am sure the Iranians understand perfectly what President Trump and the Republican Party mean by “nice and compassion.”
2
It was extremely foolish and short sighted for the Trump administration to scrap the Iran Nuclear Deal. Why not preserve the deal and build on it? The way Trump campaigned on that issue made clear that he didn't have a clue about how hard fought and important that deal was (andbstill doesn't). Under Obama we were moving forward with Iran. Under this administration, we are quickly moving backwards, and to the bottom.
178
Republicans a a group universally disparaged the Iran nuclear deal, even before it was finalized. at the time, it seemed this was because it was a effort of the Obama administration and the party's policy was to try to prevent Obama from accomplishing anything as part of their overall political strategy. superficially that may have been true, but now it seems more likely it was a coverup for the unpopular position they have been pulling for all along: siding with our murderous allies in the Middle East and getting dragged into another land war in the region, a war Americans do not want, a conflict of regional power and ancient religious animosity. plus Bolton and his Freedom Caucus pals have never gotten over the Iranians holding Americn hostages at or embassy in 1979. behind that noise are defense contractors looking for a big profit opportunity, Trump weighing the benefits of running as a wartime president, and Trump and others being subject to the blamdishments of Middle Eastern potenates' imvestment dollars. like the Iranian people, Americans are just pawns in this game.
28
@Pottree All good points. Of course the R's and the Trump crowd want to deny Obama his accomplishments unfortunately for the US. Add to everything you mentioned, the push from the Israeli right wing establishment to demonize and destroy Iran at all costs.
21
@Pottree
I really thought this all about bringing that Christian Armageddon to fruition. Am I wrong?
7
As I remember it the definition of idiocy is doing the same thing over and over again believing the outcome will change.
It has now been over thirty years ago since sanctions were imposed on Iran and nothing changed. Obama did the smarter thing which was the opposite. It made the Iranians to at least start opening up and negotiating which defused any pertained threats.
The two oil tankers that were attacked were neither American ships, nor had it any oil to the US or any American sailors aboard. The drone that was shot down was unmanned and most likely in Iranian airspace (why else would it be flying there?)
I'm no fan of Hassan Rouhani and neither should anyone we be in order to do the right thing and stop the madness.
150
@Steen I think the definition was of 'fanaticism' and not of 'idiocy' but either one will do.
5
I don’t understand this.
The Iranians — everybody agrees on this — followed the treaty even when Trump pulled us out. They kept following it. Then Bolton and Pompeo wanted Iran... to do what exactly? They were following the treatise mentioned in the deal that the Obama administration and the Europeans signed with Iran. They were not breaking it. Everybody agrees on this.
So now, Trump and Co. walked out of the deal, then told Iran it must cuff itself and present itself for questioning, and then they enforced oil sales sanctions on them, and then told them they must set their sovereignty on fire.
Is that really what Trump and Co. want? What exactly do they think is going to happen? They Iranians are going to say ‘yes master’ and ‘as you please master’?
Has anyone even asked what the Iranian people want? The ones this regime, and all previous regimes, have wanted to liberate from the tyrannical, oppressive, dogmatic Ayatollahs? The answer is they want Americans to lift the sanctions so they can start prospering economically so that one day, they can bring their democracy that they themselves crave without needing the likes of Trump and Co. to bomb over them.
If a war breaks out, make no mistake, the international comity will blame the United States of America. Because it is the United States which has forced Iran into a corner even when there was no need to do so.
360
@H. Malik
I think there's a good chance most Americans would blame our government for a war at this point too. Our interventionism has caused plenty of domestic casualties and economic damage. There is little popular support for a massive war with Iran. Trump was elected in part because he promised to disentangle the US from these sorts of Gordian Knots.
37
@H. Malik
You are right but unfortunately they still need us. If America attacked Iran at this point I'm pretty sure it's against some international laws but you'll probably find silence on that. Same with the United Nations who should be creating a fuss over human rights abuses on our border but have been quiet.
4
@Dan, I agree. If you oppose a government and it’s oppressive, why severely punish the oppressed populace there? Trump is doing this in Central America, Cuba, and now Iran. He is putting the majority of Americans on the side of Iran, for God’s sake! Simply on the basis of elementary morality! Aren’t Trump’s supporters fed up yet? Is this the world they want? Where “strength” means severely abusing the most vulnerable? Are they so resentful that they choose sadism?
14
It is indicative of 45's deficiencies in critical thinking and empathy that he alienates our allies, then tries to shake them down to help pay for and cooperate with USA-led enforcement of sanctions imposed willynilly to cripple a country that had been cooperating with an existing prior agreement. In fact, I would call it extortion, a protection racket. The threat to obliterate an entire country for not promising to give up the desire to have nuclear weapons (when so many other countries do have them, and we are pushing them on Saudi Arabia) is not equitable or logical. It does appear that this administration wants war and will keep upping the ante until it happens.
8
How far over the boundary of insanity do we have to go before we fire and arrest mob-boss/president, or loose in a war against most of the other countries on the planet.
15
@Gary How ironic that you mention the issue of sanity.
What boundary are you talking about, which boundary has Trump supposed to have crossed? Was it the boundary of saying a definite NO to bombing Iran? Is it because he overruled his advisers & stopped the attack on Iran?
You think its insane for a president to say 'NO' to people who are demanding military action against Iran?
Any chance you can explain how refusing to allow the attack to go ahead is 'insanity'?
We are at war with Iran right now. A blockade is an act of war and it is hard to see how the economic sanctions we have imposed do not constitute a blockade. Trump is a coward, thankfully, and the Iranians know Trump simply doesn't have the capacity or fortitude to carry out any of his silly adolescent threats. Once again, our great negotiator president will be manhandled by autocrats of countries with a tiny fraction of our economic and military resources.
10
@Horace: China's New Silk Road is projected to pass through Iran.
https://www.thenewsilkroadproject.com/the-new-silk-road
2
How many Iranians and Iraqis were on the planes on 9/11? Zero.
24
@John
There were 290 people on the Iranian air liner that was flying its standard flight and path over Iranian waters that the USS Vincennes shot down. For a while the US lied and denied about it but eventually paid money to the victims families.
WHY , WHY , is the usual first comment by US citizens start with making war ? The stupid country is full of Boltons and Pompeos.
1
Forget impeachment. It takes too long. These are not the words of a rational person, let alone a President of the United States. The 25th Amendent needs to be envoked now before this madman commits mass murder "like you've never seen before."
16
You can't change the Trump/Republican cult. The cult wants this to lead to war. The cult controls the Supreme court, no longer supreme. Did they take a course taught by Keith Raniere?
4
@Ellen F. Dobson Do you see any coherent opposition, or opposition of any kind, from the other side of the aisle?
What is the Pelosi/Democrat cult offering us as an alternative to the Trump/Republican one?
2
@Alain James
I guess the alternative is rule of law, respect for the Constitution, not trash-talking and slandering people who have put their lives on the line for this country.
2
Diplomatic efforts will never be successful as long as Trump is President.
No one can trust Trump's word, no one on our planet. Our allies and foes alike know he is a slippery liar. Even his own staff and appointees know he can never be trusted to keep his word, ever.
I know the Trump base think he's cute sticking his finger in everyone's eyes, but he has zero credibility as we march towards a shooting war in the Middle East.
13
Sounds like he took a page out of Kim’s playbook: Fire and Fury.
5
Anti Trump crowd, please: do not portray a benign picture of Iran. There is no sheep here.
1
No one is saying the Iranian regime is benign. What's being said is that Trump is an erratic liar with no sense of discretion. Constantly, his words and actions distance our allies and inflame our enemies. His rash behavior (like pulling out of the treaty) and undisciplined speech have led to the Iranians looking to all as the more rational party with the most integrity. Don't lay this at the feet of Trump's critics. This is all on Trump.
2
@sebastian
No one thinks that Iran is a benign sheep, but we do think it was unnecessary and idiotic for the Trump authoritarians to withdraw from the nuclear agreement and then impose sanctions on Iran. Trump did his usual bullying to get a better deal, and it’s not quite that easy.
2
Another one from Trump's dictator's playbook. Remember Krushchev's threat, "We will bury you?" Nobody believes this blowhard anymore. Trump's reputation in New York City is now a matter of international derision.
Serious, fraught, subtle negotiations are required. But narcissistic arrogant leaders like Trump, Netanyahu and the rest could not care less.
When will this nightmare of ours end?
10
Krushchev meant something less bellicose: We will survive you. But to be fair, it wasn't a good time for translators in general. Remember JFK's "I am a jelly doughnut" speech?
We are looking at a 21st Century Caligula. We keep him near the nuclear keys at our peril.
11
Well, now the Iranians can follow the North Korean blueprint. Trump has taken their bait and responded with his typical infantile stupidity. Now all they have to do is sign a meaningless denuclearization document that they have no intention of honoring and Trump will not only fall in love with the Ayatollah, he'll remove the American Military presence while they develop an actual nuclear weapon without any western interference. Another win for Trumpian "policy."
8
We must demand regime change.
Fortunately, unless our system of government gets further undermined, we'll have an opportunity to peacefully accomplish this in 2020.
11
Trumps one and only "negotiating" tactic is to bludgeon his opponents into submission. Works with small contractors, not so much with other countries, especially those who correctly recognize him as a complete idiot and are quite happy to call his bluff.
Trump is out of options and we are certainly not going to support a "president" who threatens "total obliteration" in OUR name when he is the one who backed out of what is seen by the rest of the world and normal Americans as a reasonable treaty.
9
More fire and fury....
2
I wonder if "obliteration" will kill more than 150 people?
8
Trump is threatening Iran and Iran is trashing Trump. It reminds me when Trump trashed North Korea’s Kim Jong by calling him “little rocket man” and of course, Kim insulted Trump back. Then Trump and Kim started their “Bromance”: Summits, Photo Ops yada yada yada.
I betcha that very soon Trump and Rouhani will start their “Bromance”: Iran-USA summits, Photo Ops etc. etc. Trump will declare victory and will characterize himself as the “Greatest Deal Maker” in the world possibly in his next hootenanny like re-election rally. Trump will also blame Obama for the current problems with Iran. This is Trump’s age old and time tested Schtick. Eye roll!
May be there will also be some speculation about Trump being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. And I hate to say this - may be Jared and Ivanka will go to Tehran as Trump’s emissaries. Also Don Jr. will explore the possibilities of building “Trump Towers” in Tehran. Drumroll please lol
Another day in the ongoing “Presidential Reality TV show”. Also can’t wait for Mitch McConnell and Lindsay Graham to praise Trump’s exemplary statesmanship.
Oy Vey!
8
Years ago a veterinarian friend of mine asked me if I knew why dogs barked? After being unable to answer his question, he told me they bark because they're scared. After reading all of Fat Donald's inane remarks since he once again failed to back up his "tough guy" words with deeds, I've concluded that Fat Donald is nothing more than a barking dog.
11
@Michael
Yea, while referring to someone in any way as a "dog" may be a grave insult throughout the Islamic world, it's just a laugh-off here.
“Iran leadership doesn’t understand the words ‘nice’ or ‘compassion,’ they never have”. Mr Trump continued.
Another amazing projection from the nice, compassionate crazy-man that separates families and locks their children up in cages.
9
Threatening obliteration to achieve a goal is the definition of terrorism. Trump is a terrorist acting in our name. He must be isolated from power if not removed.
9
Trump is stirring the pot for war with Iran and will use it for his reelection.
Has ANY sitting president NOT been reelected when the country is at war?
War is BIG $$$ business for so many of Trumps donors.
Remember Halliburton ?
6
It’s funny that it takes an Iranian to point at the core problem of all this: the White House is suffering from a “Mental Handicap”. Thank you Dr. Rouhani for your thorough examination of our mentally unstable (some would call it mentally challenged) patient.
9
>>President Hassan Rouhani of Iran said on Tuesday that the White House has a “mental handicap” <<
I never thought I would agree wih Rouhani about anything, but I think he is correct about the White House's mental handicap.
I just hope all of Trumps threats do not lead us into war anywhere. I have been opposed to impeachment but I am beginning to think we have to impeach to keep our country safe from war in several places.
6
But if Rouhani sends me a nice love letter, I won't obliterate them, at least next week, and maybe they'll become a great country like North Korea will, if only they obey me like a 2 two year old.
4
Didn't president flip-flop make the same threat against N Korea?
4
The Iranian president’s statement has been wrongly translated in Anglophone media, making it seem politically incorrect. Farsi speakers have pointed out that “mentally retarded” is a bad translation of what Rouhani said. It is unfortunate that this dubious translation appears in the first paragraph, skewing all that follows.
Sanctions kill. They deprive regular Iranians of medicine, food, livelihood and sometimes life. They contradict the US’s claims of being multilateral and democratic by coercing other countries not to buy Iranian oil. The sanctions themselves are acts of war. Pompeo and Bolton have strenuously tried to portray Iran as a threat to shipping in the Persian Gulf. I think this threat is largely manufactured, but it wouldn’t exist at all if Iran were allowed to sell its oil freely. Under such extreme sanctions Iran has no interest or stake in the system of trade. End sanctions America.
5
@Basant Tyagi
Well, those people being denied of medicines, foods, livelihoods have a choice.
They can choose to lock the clerics up in their mosques, where they belong and get their state affairs in order. The can choose to stop agitating in Southern Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon.
Iran is riding a historical delusion, jonesing for legitimacy, demanding respect, and fighting for hegmony throughout the region. They have to clear house first because the reputation of the Islamic Revolution precedes them and it's not good. It is holding the nation hostage. Holding them in a time warp. The revolution is over and it failed. Say goodbye to the clerics, hello to the 21st century, and move on. Just to be brutally honest.
we'll see how this tactic works out, I'm guessing bad
1
Iran’s president Rouhani, having labeled the White House of Donald Trump, as having a “mental handicap”, has been followed up by the man-child occupying the Oval Office, stating that Iran faces “obliteration” by Trump’s personal, most powerful, military force. Talk about being immature, childlike, and the ultimate school yard bully. There was a time that the Roman Empire also possessed the most powerful military force in the world. Remind me how that ended.
5
Jeb Bush said Trump would be a "chaos" President. Prediction proven but, scarily, I also think that it will soon be proven that chaos is not so good in a world engorged with weapons and wrath.
5
Where are the Catholics and evangelicals in all this? Why aren’t they calling the White House switch boards and demanding Trump shut up. By doing nothing turning their heads speaks volumes about their fake religions. Iran is a ally to Russia and Putin warned if we attack another ally we will pay for it. Lock all the Republicans up they are bullies and need time in the jail to calm down.
4
The president is angry that he can't use the Rocketman insult because it will make people think of the movie.
1
There's only one solution to this problem: impeachment. Funny how it's dropped off the radar, huh?
5
Twitter, I think it's about time you drop Trump's account for inciting (global) violence. I used to think, "sure, let Trump make a fool of himself, keep his tweets coming", but now I think he's totally insane and one wrong tweet could end the world.
5
There goes Mr. Trump again with his childish and immature brags. He has lost all credibility. He has brought down the stature of the presidency and the respectable image of this great nation to squalor levels. The best he can do now is to earnestly pursue diplomacy and shun belligerence.
5
I cant believe that I am agreeing with Iran.
6
Sandbox diplomacy.
3
Trump is mentally ill, we all know that. But it's a touchy subject when Iran points that out.
7
In the last days terrible times will come. For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, without love of good,…(Timothy 3:2)
Terrible times are here indeed for the ones who love peace. For wherever we look, we see war, destruction, greed. We see endless lovers of money boasting how rich and great they are. The arrogant and the abusive is adulated by the crowd, and the lovers of themselves proclaim they are the new normal, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseam...
3
Trump threatening Iran with overwhelming force: "In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration."
Huh? How can you "obliterate" a country in only "some areas"? That's like being half-pregnant.
But remember this is Trumpese, not English. What Trump is really saying is that we may attack certain buildings or installations in Iran and completely obliterate those buildings or installations. Big whoop.
3
Trump received another sexual assault accusation yesterday, only this one I believe is the first rape accusation.
Expect a day or two of outrageous distractions till the latest charges drop to the back of the news.
6
The Iranians have the President's number -- he is mentally unstable, and it is folly to "negotiate" with him. The country already had a painstaking negotiation with the United Nations permanent members to agree to the JCPOA, and Trump ignorantly pulled out of that deal before trying to understand how he could use it for further negotiations.
8
@kate
The Country is Obama and John Kerry since when? If Obama had walked away from his 'deal' would Iran had acted then the way they are acting now? If yes, how is that different from blackmail? Make this deal with me or I do bad things is blackmail you know?
Sounds like the two sides have all but dotted the i's and crossed the t's on a beautiful agreement. Nice work there Donnie.
4
When Trump is critical of Iran for lacking “nice” and “compassion,” and when Bolton is critical of Iran for “belligerence and aggression,” something is strikingly out-of-sync ... while at the same time sadly laughable. These two (along with Pompeo) seem naturally skilled in making any contentious situation worse. And worse than that, they seem to be proud of this ... tough guys, real men with a new and mean-spirited style of shocking diplomacy. Right! Very unfortunately the mouthing-off of these individuals shades the way Americans in general are more and more regarded in the world ... for being trustworthy, decent, just, etc. For example, consider what the politically moderate (and exceptionally bright and capable) President of Iran, Rouhani, said about Americans now being “desperate and confused,” apparently based on Trump’s recent pithy and hostile tweets. While I do not believe that’s the all-or-none case, Rouhani does have a collective argument in his favor ... in particular, elected leaders in a free society ought to reflect those who elected them, or allowed them to be elected and/or remain in office.
1
Doesn't this resemble the "fire and fury" that North Korea was threatened with? Could there be a love-fest to follow?
1
Comments suggesting that our overthrow of Iranian democracy in 1953 is old news that should no longer be factored in as part of the equation display levels of ignorance and misapprehension that beggar the imagination.
For those who doubt Santayana's chestnut about forgetting history, this should be an object lesson; particularly when dealing with civilizations which span thousands of years. For Iranians, CIA sabotage of their elections in '53 might well have occurred last week.
8
awesome
So much for diplomacy in the Trump administration. Rather than employing tactics all too common on playground between bullies and their victims, the Trump regime needs to tone down the threats and practice a more effective form of mediation with an antagonist.
1
So Rouhani says something that is demonstrably true and is countered with an" obliteration" speech.
Remove Trump from office. Restore reason to the White House.
2
Trump has so tainted the word "nice" that perhaps it should be retired from the English language.
4
If your representation of what they said today is right, that’s a bit immature and childlike,” Mr. Pompeo said. “
Childlike? Who is a child here? World understands who is child like. Mr Pompeo, think before you open your mouth.
9
When you tell someone you are going to obliterate their country, do you think a proud and ancient culture who has embraced modern weaponry is not going to plan your obliteration, as well? Here’s a clue: they are.
6
The administration and we as a nation deserve ridicule over this latest crisis that is but another sorry chapter brought on by our long term fealty to our lord and master Israel.
5
I never thought I would see the day when the leadership in Iran could engender sympathy around much of the world because of the arrogant stupidity of what passes for leadership in the United States these days. But it has come to pass.
12
I can only agree with President Rouhani's characterization of the current occupant of the WH.
11
Is anyone else bored and tired of our one trick pony do-nothing president?
12
It's simple, President Hassan Rouhani should write Trump a flowery love letter and he could be BFF like the North Korean dictator.
14
@Jacquie
Exactly! It couldn't be easier. Then we will have the best, most wonderful peace that ever existing in the history of the world.
7
If I was president Rouhani I would leverage that the Saudi’s and the Israeli’s would be my first bombing targets, I mean if it came to that.
2
There is no doubt we are the most powerful military force in the world but our weakest link would be the ability of Tel Aviv to take a shower of missiles from Iran should we chose to attack them.
3
“President Trump signed an executive order on Monday imposing sanctions that target Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.”
Now he can’t come and go shopping at mall of America!
6
So the US accuses Iran of being a source of belligerence and aggression across the Middle East.
Pot. Kettle. Black.
8
No surprise Iran, the Democrats and the Media are all on the same side with respect to Trump. Trump could credibly sanction the leftwing media as Iranian propaganda arms. With their love for Iran, Open Borders and Socialism, it's hard not to see Democrats and the media for what they are. Iran's insults are red meat for the NY Times and its readers, but honestly, who cares, their country is in collapse.
John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, separately accused Iran of being “a source of belligerence and aggression”....
If anyone in the world would know "belligerence" and "aggression" it is John Bolton. He is probably the most belligerent aggressive idiot in government there ever was. Our hiatus from his war-mongering was a great relief during the Obama administration, and it is truly annoying/frightening to have him back on the scene, this time with a president even dumber than G.W. Bush.
9
Rouhani is absolutely handling this the wrong way. He should be writing love letters to Trump flattering him, promising not to develop nuclear weapons, invite Trump to visit Iran and throw him a gigantic military parade. Serve him chocolate cake and juicy hamburgers. The Iranians haven't learned yet what the North Koreans know--that Trump is a sucker for complements and praise. These threats will get them nowhere.
8
Paper Tiger comes to mind.
4
I guess this is the epilogue to The Art of the Deal.
9
Bolton and Pompeo self-righteously talk about negotiations while Trumpy talks one more time about obliterating someone. Another stellar day for the Boobsey twins (Bolton and Mike) who somehow can't quite put it together that tough guy Trump created this whole mess by ignoring the European, Russian and Chinese recommendations about leaving alone all those agreements reached because of the Obama (bad word) administration and the work of a real diplomat, John Kerry. Meanwhile Trump's buddy Putin's folks are spreading the word - that drone in question was actually in Iranian airspace. So yet another day with no Secretary of Defense and a gutted State Department thanks to big Mike, and no real semblance of anything resembling a systematic foreign policy in the Middle East. Good friends Saudi Arabia and Israel cheer on the sidelines hoping Trump will light up the skies over Tehran. Can this administration spell forethought, diplomacy?
14
Trump does not speak for me nor for many other Americans.
17
“Iran leadership doesn’t understand the words ‘nice’ or ‘compassion,’ they never have,” Mr. Trump continued.
Donald Trump was joking, right?
12
@PeaceForAll Projecting, not joking, but yeah, close enough.
1
“If your representation of what they said today is right, that’s a bit immature and childlike,” Mr. Pompeo said.
Was he talking about Rouhani or Trump?
11
Let's hope this silly "war of words" doesn't push our Narcissist-in-Chief over the brink into a destructive and needless war. He had a clear opening after not retaliating for the downing of a U.S. drone to propose a deal to improve the Iran nuclear accord. Instead, he returned to his usual diplomatic role as bellicose bully,. We need statesmanship and deft leadership, but we're getting just playground name-calling again. No American can feel safe and secure with with a man with a major personality disorder (narcissism) that keeps him from acting in a mature rational manner. This is just another reason that Donald Trump is unfit to be Commander-in-Chief. Bullying, braggadocio and threatening "obliteration" and other insults is worthy of a child, We need a mentally stable leader and don't have one.
10
“Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force."
Well, now. That's proportionate, right?
14
Since neither side is afraid of the other what could go wrong?
4
Overwhelming Obliteration. Don Caesar Meets His Match...
Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration,” Mr. Trump wrote on Twitter, calling Mr. Rouhani’s comments “ignorant and insulting.”
4
@arun
What happened to "proportional"? Just because the Iranians insultingly suggested that the President was mentally unstable, he suggests obliteration.... wouldn't proportional mean saying "Yo mama tambien?"
2
So we're right back to "My bombs are bigger than your bombs" with the only difference being his target. Of course they're not HIS bombs at all. They belong to the tax payers. Unfortunately the folks that voted for him are either too poor to pay taxes or to rich to pay taxes. And with the help of the electoral college and Vladimir Putin we have somebody with the emotional maturity of a 4 year old behaving with our bombs just as you would expect a little kid would.
Somebody call Tucker Carlson his new favorite babysitter.
6
I thought we were broke! Plenty of money for war.
7
@Zejee there is always money for war! Meanwhile, infrastructure is crumbling, the national debt is skyrocketing, climate change is leading to major natural disasters requiring billions of dollars of emergency aid each year, Trump's tariffs and the gop tax plan are squeezing the middle class, and social security will be gone right when most Trump supporters will need it the most. We already have enough weaponry to destroy the entire planet several times over but we will always make an exception for the military and we will continue to give them a blank check with no oversight. War can be very profitable for a select few who benefit from it.
1
Mr. Trump is clearly a world leader in the disciplines of ignorance and insults, and, thus, is extending a rare complement to the leaders and nation of Iran. Is this an extended olive branch?
2
The Pentagon knows that no war can be won without troops on the ground. A war with Iran will not be as easy as Iraq. During the Iran Iraq war the Iranians used teenage boys as mine detectors. There was no shortage of volunteers with mothers encouraging their sons to volunteer. Ground combat with these people will be long and costly in lives. No treaty is perfect, but the one Trump threw in the trash can achieved many of the goals the world wanted. Bolton and Pompeo do not consider the American men and women who will die for what?????? History shows that countries can stumble into a war before they stopped to think about the consequences. World War 1 as an example.
6
@Maxman
Bolton famously refused to serve in Viet Nam because he didn't want to die in a rice paddy -- perhaps he and Sec. Pompeo should enlist and lead as officers if there is any military action against Iran.
1
So this is all the “winning” that we were promised? How so?
4
Rouhani's insults bring to mind the French knight's taunting of King Arthur in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail." Has it really come to this?
1
So, let's see if I have this right. 150 deaths for downing a drone is not a proportionate response. But claiming the obvious about the president's mental capacity, invites a threat of total obliteration. Stable genius, indeed.
7
Only one man could reduce the geopolitical complexity of U.S. foreign policy to an episode of the Jerry Springer show (hint- it's not Jerry Springer.)
3
“North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States,” Mr. Trump told reporters at his golf club in Bedminster, N.J., where he is spending much of the month on a working vacation. “They will be met with fire and fury like the world has never seen.”
Trump, August 9, 2017
"He wrote me beautiful letters, and they're great letters. And then we fell in love." Trump, Sept 19, 2018 on North Korean leader Kim.
So, let's look for the Rouhani bromance any moment.
Seriously, Trump has no filter, causing his to utter all manner of unhinged proclamations.
Everyone knows there will be no war with Iran.
Trump's outlandish outbursts do nothing but remind us that he is mentally ill.
4
"Fire and fury" has apparently segued into "obliteration" for the severely linguistically handicapped Fake President. Instead of intimidating the Iranian leadership, it is being entertained with every tweet of false bravado by our national embarrassment and having a hearty laugh at Trump's expense. The world well knows that he is a toothless paper tiger, and igniting a Middle East conflict would indisputably cost him and the Republican ticket the 2020 election. Keep jabbering away Donny. Keep humiliating yourself.
4
I’m sure it is just a coincidence that Bolton went to Jerusalem after nearly starting a war with Iran that that the present administration in Israel would strongly support....
4
So, Pesident Hassan Rouhani of Iran is called "ignorant and insulting" and lacking in compassion because he stands up to Trump whom he labels "mentally handicapped"? Odd. Numerous observers have used the same language to describe Trump's behavior? Pompeo adds "immature and childish," terms also frequently used to describe Trump. Iran and the USA engaged in a schoolyard dispute? Trump, Pompeo (and Bolton) are our competent negotiators? We are witnessing a theater of the absurd that can have, unfortunately, dire consequences for innumerable normal, sane people.
5
NO war with Iran. Trump fears looking weak to his base. "Obliterate" only has one meaning; total destruction. Any conflict could quickly spiral into a huge war. What if Iran loaded their nuclear material onto rockets to make "dirty bombs"? They do not need nuclear weapons. American bases surround their country. Twenty rockets; cheap rockets; could make all these bases useless; the equipment contaminated and personell in danger. Trump the bully is asking for war. NO war with Iran. Ray Sipe
3
I don't trust Trump or the US government. They lied about Vietnam and Iraq and now Iran. I fought in the trumped-up Vietnam War where buddies died violent deaths as well as thousands of innocent Vietnamese men, women, and children. So now Trump wants to obliterate Iran which means again thousands of innocent men, women, and children will die a violent death. Of course, Trump will blame Iran for not wanting to negotiate. But in the end, Trump is the one who pulled the trigger. He doesn't have a clue and will end up killing our sons and daughters in another lie.
5
Now President Trump is beginning to sound like Khrushchev (in late 50's early 60's) with the repeated threats of annihilation.
Mrs. Trump, je vous en prie, hide his mobile phone.
Unfortunately, President Trump does not inspire much confidence as a military leader. His battle resume so far is attacking weaker individuals and the politically powerless.
14
If Trump and the extremely hawkish and dangerous Bolton do blunder the US into
a needless war with Iran, I propose that his sons be drafted and required to serve in the war zone. That might give them some pause.
10
@Gene Eisman The big question would be whether they are physically capable of basic training.
@Luke Fisher. Excellent point! They’d last a few days, and then it would be OVAH for them, no question!
There's one thing hardly touched upon in evaluating the motives of the current White House occupant during the course of this self-inflicted crisis. He knows that if he starts yet a third trillion-dollar, unwinnable worse-than-useless war in the region, his prospects for reelection would become hopeless and that losing the safe haven of the White House would immediately expose him to an avalanche of lawsuits and criminal indictments.
5
“The most powerful military force in the world” has lost the last three wars: Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan.
So Iran should be a cake walk.
6
Post WWII the major governments of the world created the UN. We need another that has its own army. We do not really have time to found another UN. I am not able to be in Manhattan.
Antonio Guterres as the man at the top of the UN has not called for a war to eliminate Nuclear Weapons. If he did there would be created a Fund that would pay for the work required.
When not engaged in actions to eliminate or at the least reduce nuclear arsenals to 10, the Fund could be spending on changing energy sourcing.
The facts of human nature are what they are and there are people born to be soldiers. The Good Good War has its time.
Methane is melting now.
Had the US acted differently we would not need a more powerful UN to restrain it.
(The most recent Caspian Report is professional thinking of Shervan there is invaluable. About the war games.) -You Tube
Accusing Iran of a “continued pursuit of deliverable nuclear weapons” despite the deal reached in 2015, Mr. Bolton said that Mr. Trump now sought “real negotiations to completely and verifiably eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons program, its pursuit of ballistic missile delivery systems, its support for international terrorism and its other malign behavior worldwide.”
Yeah, right.
After you rip up an agreed deal that all the other 6 participants still support, you have no credibility asking for "real negotiations" for ANOTHER deal which you might also tear up on a whim.
But that is what Trump thinks is a "smart" way to negotiate.
He must have gotten his PhD in negotiation from Trump University.
10
The President has created this conflict with Iran.
First, he cancels a working nuclear pact with Iran for spurious reasons. Most likely this was done because Obama created it. Then he slaps sanctions on the Iranians. The Iranians retaliate by attacking shipping in the Gulf of Oman and shooting down a US sponsored drone. Now Trump has created a way to attack Iran due to Iran’s actions which are reactions to his tanking the nuclear proliferation agreement.
This chain of events is pure Trump.
10
It’s all just reality television to Donald Trump. A Western starring John Wayne. Wrestle-mania.
Until it isn’t, and real bodies are on the line. Trust me, nobody in the Trump, Kushner, DeVos, Ross, Carson, or Bannon families will be laying life and limb on the line. They’ll be playing golf, watching the show on FOX, and cheering loudly from the stands, popcorn and peanuts in hand.
7
Can we hurry up with that wall?
Since we have such little time, it will just go around Trump.
4
Looks like the Russians will finally have a big opening in Iran. Having a few bases there will surely be a deterrent to invaders. Not only that but it will also have the world's oil reserves within their site. Thanks Team Trump!
5
The one thing Trump fears and has fled and evaded all his life is responsibility. Ordering an attack on Iran would make him responsible for the aftermath. And it's evident, beneath the bully bluster, that he knows it. He might well do it in one of his regular fits of temper, but it would be against his "better" judgement. That's the mess of a fundamentally weak and unpredictable human being Trump voters have installed in the most responsible office in the world. Time they owned up to it.
8
Obliteration is more than two syllables - congrats to the stable genius for managing a feat most thought beyond his capability.
7
The only certainty is this:
Trump’s children will never die or be injured on the battlefield, nor will the children of his billionaire cronies.
7
It's Summer, the time for TV re-runs. I have a funny feeling I've seen this show before with Kim Jong Un as the contestant.
3
“Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with great and overwhelming force. In some areas, overwhelming will mean obliteration,”
Trump's threats against Iran are the same reasons why North Korea continues to test and stockpile their own missiles, thanks to Donald Trump.
4
All the bluster, bombast, brinksmanship, name-calling, tweet-storming, and foot-stomping; Is there a better argument for electing women into positions of authority and governance?
5
The whole world is beginning to suffer from a kind of trump fatigue.
He wears everyone out. Just look at how many of his original staff are still around.
A nuclear hyperpower like the US threatening 'obliteration' is pure insanity.
5
Following the supreme leader, foreign minister and the rest of Iranian population, it is the turn of Iranian dogs, cats and other pets next to be sanctioned. Persian cats are quite worried.
1
Bullying and threats will only solidify resistance.
What is the end game?
Guess Afghan and Iraq aren't enough. Trump, Bolton, Pompeo equals Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld!
Strange how little we learn.
DJT plus war will defeat him in 2020. We have enough of both!
1
I get the feeling that trump and Mr. Rouhani are in the back seat of the republican clown car saying "I'm not touching you, I'm not touching you" as Trevor Noah pointed out on his show.
Soon it will be "Mom, he's touching me", but as we have learned no one is in the front seat to control the brats.
trump still hasn't explained to the American public his need to war with Iran. Saying things isn't the same as having reasons to wage war. It's worse when he lies to us as a matter of course.
Even the Russians pointed out that the drone was in Iranian air space. what say you, Bolton, Pompeo? Where was that drone?
1
Frightening Overreaction. Stop. Stop. No war, no saber rattling. Stop stop stop. Find other ways to do this.
3
....but as we learned from the drone incident, Trump will not obliterate more than 150 Iranians at a time.
1
At this moment, the mullahs are backed up against the wall with no viable strategy to get out from under a crippled economy which is pushing the country to the brink of widespread civil instability that could trigger a civil war. If that happens, the mullahs might as well hang up their robes as I imagine the Iranian populace is fed up with a theocracy that delivers only suffering at home, and exports mayhem broad through all it's meddling and pot-stirring, at the expense of its own population.
Military action by the US would be , excuse the pun, god-sent. Nothing like the existential threat of The Great Satan on your doorstep to take peoples' minds off of their miserable domestic situation and transfer all of that anger to the US. Shooting down US drones and other actions of that ilk are provocations meant to bring on the desired military response.
Wherever Trump found the intestinal fortitude to moderate his response, I hope he finds more because left to their own devices with an economy circling the drain, the mullahs' days are numbered and we do best by letting that situation develop and resolve without sending in the military unless it is truly necessary. Given the warning signals, we and our allies in that region should be able to prepare pro-active defenses to keep Iran from trying to block the Strait of Hormuz for leverage.
1
@Peter
Iranians are fed up with their government? It can't possibly begin to compare with how so many of us feel about ours.
1
Why Trump did not take a page out of the Bush Administration playbook and say Iran has WMD and just invade, I am sure Bolton and Pompeo likes that, use all that money we made from the arms sale we made from the Saudis, and showcase what WMD we have to garner more sales so they won;t ever considered going to Russia and China for their WMDs, maybe throw in a re-election discount if purchase 20 billion or more....
1
Wow!
I believe the Iranian leader’s views are shared by a lot of Americans and others around the world.
What has Iran done to us?
4
I always have sympathies for underdogs, so I am with Iran and against the bully nation.
2
Even as a vocal Trump supporter the comment section, Trump knows a war is not popular. He has gimped Iran a lot; he needs to do nothing else but let the dog bark from its cage in the corner.
Iran is zero economic threat to the US. Their GDP has sank since the sanctions have been reapplied. Let them fall.
For years, the Ayatollahs and their army of Revolutionary Guards have been threatening to obliterate Israel, a sovereign nation. Sadly, the Iranian people...as well as the international community...remain hostage to their sinister agenda.
Whatever actions may be taken against this terrorist regime, I applaud them. And may the Iranian people soon be liberated.
2
Trump & Co are timing this latest show with Iran to divert attention from the Wednesday and Thursday eve Democratic Debates. No big surprise.
But playing around with such lethal toys does not do anyone good. Of course, Trump & Bolton need to ramp up for the 2020 election. Scary.
2
"...United States will remain steadfast in undertaking the actions that the president laid out in this strategy to create stability throughout the Middle East...." - Mike Pompeo
If the President would only behave in a manner that no longer creates instability, at home and abroad, we would all be better off.
1
This crisis is entirely of Trump's making. Everyone was better off with the Iran nuclear deal than without it. Trump didn’t have a better plan – only threats and brinksmanship. His singular motivation for tearing up the deal appears to be mindless destruction of anything President Obama accomplished. In the process he does permanent damage to the office of the Presidency by acting capriciously. By abruptly walking away from commitments made by our government he demonstrates that the United States cannot be trusted.
At this point I have more faith in the leaders of our European allies than our own government. I would like to see Europe proceed under the auspices of the Iran nuclear deal and disregard American sanctions. Our government is doing the wrong thing so I see no reason to expect blind loyalty from our allies.
7
And so American diplomacy has devolved into bullying on a social media platform. How far have we fallen.
10
It took a few years but our global adversaries have figured out that our current President "Speaks loudly and carries a small stick".
Bellicose threats of destruction of Trumps geopolitical enemies followed by mixed messages from his administration followed by an imaginary concession from that enemy allowing Trump to claim he once again stepped in and saved the day.
Reminds me of the pyromaniac firefighter who after setting a fire, rushes in, douses the flame and claims credit as the hero.
3
Trumps problem is that we don't trade with Iran so he can not impose tariffs which is the only other tactic he knows.
5
Is it safe to assume that "obliteration" will result in significantly less than 150 deaths?
4
As Trump's boasts about "fire and fury" inflicted on North Korea ended with Trump and Kim Jong Un as BFFs, this latest threat is read with amusement.
Trump has displayed his non-existent negotiating skills upon the world stage these two years and the world has caught on.
What we have a is an object lesson in how not to do diplomacy.
4
Trump plays the role of the tough guy in the corner, uttering the threats when he feels it is in the interests of the negotiations to do so, the negotiators offer the incentives to reach an agreement. The negotiators have the carrots, Trump is the stick.
The problem with this is the appearance it creates for the opposing leaders. If they agree they are seen, in their home countries and abroad, to bow to Trump pressure rather than to reach an agreement through negotiations. Trump demands that he be seen to win. This is an impediment to solutions.
1
Rex Tillerson was right. SO right.
8
I believe Trump got himself into this corner and will be the one who backs down to just shadowing ships through the gulf if President Rouhani would sit down and renegotiate a new deal. France, UK, Germany, China, Russia and the rest of the EU will lift whatever sanction they can and buy oil. If and when we have a new president maybe she can negotiate a better deal
1
Trump withdrew from the nuclear treaty. This frightening, dangerous situation is entirely of Trump's making. Bone spurs!
Senator Portman's office tells me this morning that the Trump has the power to send limited numbers of troops and that Congress, only, has the power to enact war. I reminded the young staff member of Vietnam and Iraq - undeclared war. So much for that!
Trump has no respect, takes no responsibilty for the presidency, the citizens of the United States and could care less about the rest of humanity.
4
What Bolton, Pompeo, Trump and Spence don't seem to realize that "obliteration" of parts or all of Iran is the kind of phantasy that can only originate in the madhouse we euphemistically call the White House.
Civilizations like Iran, India, and China have continued from long before Trump's forefathers had learned to climb trees of make fires. And they'll be around for a long, long time.
Trump and his associates are on the course of past criminal unprovoked attacks. The nuclear deal was working, tensions were decreased. Trump comes in and Armageddon faces the world. Sheldon Adelson, Netanyahu and Prince Mohammed are unhappy with Trump's dithering. Since the Congress has ceded the ability of Trump to attack any country at will, it seems that he has a free hand. Iran could not make a bomb within a near term time frame. As has been stated the Trump gambit is to force Iran to try to build a nuclear weapon then use that as provocation to attack. There is little public support for such a pointless exercise in international bullying.
1
“If your representation of what they said today is right, that’s a bit immature and childlike,” Mr. Pompeo said.
I am confused. Was he talking about the Iranians or the tweets?
5
The criticism of Trump by the media has gone way too far: it is now jeopardizing relations on an international stage emboldening a United States enemy. Obama brokered a deal that required trust and left non-compliance unaddressed....
@Marie Walsh
You do realize it was we who stopped complying ..
Trump’s version of international diplomacy is straight out of “Goodfellas”. The threats of obliteration makes the US look like a regime of thugs to the civilized world, and aside from Saudi Arabia and Israel, there are no other allies either in Europe or anywhere else prepared to join the US if this comes to war. Indeed Russia may decide that it is in its interests to ally itself with Iran.
I wonder what the chicken hawks in the White House would do if Russia claimed that an attack on Iran would be considered an attack on Russia.
1
Mr. Rouhani’s remarks are not caustic. They are a relevant reaction to the actual situation.
2
It's hard to imagine that a man like me who served two tours in the USMC, owns many guns, an avid hunter, who always voted R, is so utterly disgusted with Trump.
Quite frankly, he makes no sense, so for the first time in my life I agree with Rouhani versus my own commander in chief.
It's difficult for me to say these words, but any newbee second lieutenant knows you don't abandon your allies before you advance on the enemy.
I can accept Trump's shady past and even disbelieve the obstruction accusations, but when he puts servicemen and women in harm's way w/o any plan, that's too much for me.
Trump needs to be relieved of duty.
4
@former marine. How can you "accept" his horrible past and not believe the obstruction accusations of a team that investigated him for months? Are you that arrogant, that you think those things did not lead to the thing you DON'T like - putting service people in harm's way? What have you been expecting? Magic?
2
TODAY--
PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I have some hawks. Yeah, John Bolton is absolutely a hawk. If it was up to him, he’d take on the whole world at one time, OK? But that doesn’t matter, because I want both sides.
AMY GOODMAN: So, can you respond to this, Trita Parsi?
TRITA PARSI: I don’t know who the doves are. It’s one thing to say that he has hawks. He certainly has hawks. But who are the doves? And if he actually is interested in diplomacy, who are the advisers on his team that at any point in their life actually have supported diplomacy, who have advocated for diplomacy and who have any experience in how to actually conduct diplomacy with a country like Iran?
15
Time for Rouhani should impose sanctions against the U.S. And what does that mean. Natually economic sanctions is not an option, but Iran could certainly step up anti U.S. feeling among many countries in the Middle East. And Trump should be reminded oil ships passing out of the Persian Gulf and into the Gulf of Oman could become more risky as the U.S./Iran relations worsen because of Trump's psychopathic feelings. Trump is very good at revealing how deranged he is, how much he personally considers his hatred for others to be offensive to him, regardless of his responsibilities as president or duties to citizens of our country. Pitiful, but 2020 is getting closer, and closer, right?
18
The US is in more urgent need of regime change than Iran. The leader of Iran comes across more level headed than Trump, and Rouhani also did not pull out of a nuclear treaty that was working, at least for most part.
Trump needs to go !!!
133
@Tim Well said, Tim. I would add another choice phrase that the rest of the world (not just Iran) might consider sending to Trump & Co. on the whole debacle of reneging on the Iran Deal: "Stuff It!" See if that gets Trump's attention.
10
@Tim Are we ever in need of a regime change in the U.S.!!! This whole Iran thing was a fake national emergency so trump could sell 8 billion dollars in new weapons to his murdering friend in Saudi Arabia...... and circumventing Congress to do so. This man thinks he is a dictator
2
sadly predictable. arrogance, bellicosity, fecklessness, and a lack of regard for the safety of our armed forces, and, of the citizens of the middle east. there was a reason why members of past u.s. administrations intelligence and diplomatic corps signed a statement (warning) against electing this individual to become our commander in chief. hoping that a miracle transpires that can ratchet tensions down before he lifts the top off of 'pandora's box'.
32
What happens when the rest of the world decides they have had enough of Trump and his theatrics and then place sanctions on the US? Sanctions can work both ways.
68
@TM Some nuclear power could, with a few well placed gadgets, dump the US back into the 1850s. Sadly, that would kill off lots of Democrats, and make Trump's supporters (those that aren't out of shape) very very happy. (This would also ameliorate climate change.)
@TMyou have a comfortable chair to sit and wait an eternity?
It's a pretty sad state of affairs when Iran on the nuclear deal and the US democratic house caucus on immigration credibly site the same reason for an inability to deal with Trump's white House - they lie, you can't trust them. Sad, sad, sad.
35
Anger is typically one of if not the initial reaction to fear. This is what we are seeing in the Iranian official responses and it indicates "good US strategy". Iran is not far from a civil war which should keep them occupied for many years.
7
Trump’s clearly evident anger and threats of “obliteration” must also be a sign of underlying fear then, according to your logic.
The overarching key fact here is that the US unilaterally trashed an agreement that was negotiated and agreed to by a large number of EU nations, Russia and China, that Iran was in confirmed compliance with and that would prevent Iranian nukes for at least ten years and .....but it was not good enough for our arrogant and juvenile POTUS. He pokes Iran, our global allies and others in the eye by withdrawing and now asks for their support and co-operation in solving the problem he has created. On what planet does this logic work ? He’s seen as an inconsistent school yard bully, a liar and not a man of his word.
How about simmering down, stopping the saber rattling, staffing the State Dept. adequately and trying a little diplomacy? Congress will never authorize a war here. Any unauthorized lethal Executive action could well be the death of this presidency.
2
@Dixon Duval
Actually with Trump in charge here I'd say we're closer to a civil war than Iran.
2
@Dixon Duval
Don’t you think their bombastic response is both a taunt to our immature, unrestrained prez as well as a signal of solidarity to Iran’s hardliners? As a logical outcome of the US unilateral withdrawal from a hard-fought international agreement, this is hardly “good US strategy”.
It unethical to wish civil war on Iran’s population; hasn’t the mideast seen enough violence for you?
2
Suppose they should have declared trump a stable genius in order to ease tension.
17
@Elliot Podwill Even better, Mr. Rouhani should offer the Trump Organization beneficial terms on some property in Mazandaran. Under the table, of course.
1
I'm going to puke blood soon from reading the hypocrisy.
“If your representation of what they said today is right, that’s a bit immature and childlike,” Mr. Pompeo said. “But know that the United States will remain steadfast in undertaking the actions that the president laid out in this strategy to create stability throughout the Middle East, which includes the campaign we have, the economic campaign, the pressure campaign that we have on the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
Calling Iran immature and childlike and portraying the U.S. as steadfast with "strategy". Don't make me die laughing although at this point, it might be mercy.
66
What a visual statement-Pompeo sitting with prince MBS who dismembered kashoggi in Istanbul. When you only have a hammer you keep hitting nails that is all u can do.
Trump,Bolton and Pompeo- we will make Iran beg us to negotiate. No they are digging in n their heels.What do they expect to happen. One two three ok we solved this problem! It may backfire.
13
The irony of a member of the white house referring to another country's leader as "childlike and immature" is just staggering, and is certain to be lost on Trump.
59
I have a big problem with some of the comments taking the side of Iran. This country has exported terror in many different countries. Look at Syria and how many thousands of people have been slaughtered by Iranian proxies. Don't forget that these Iranian thugs support the Assad regime. Iran does not have clean hands. Trump and his band of posers are making things so much worse. They have sided with Saudi Arabia and Israel neither of whom are concerned with the best interests of the USA. Trump pulling out of the JCPOA was plainly stupid. If he didn't like it he should have stayed in and tried to re-negotiate. If he didn't like the Iranians exporting terror, that should have been addressed differently. John Bolton has accused Iran of interfering and having military assets in many different countries, just like us. The USA and Iran are mirroring each others behavior and it's really frightening. We do not hold the high ground and neither does Iran. It seems that both leaderships are playing a very deadly game and many could die. The arrogance and the hypocrisy of the USA is daunting. We think we can stop others from being just like us. Just how many counties have we invaded? No other country in the last 70 years has been involved in more military conflicts. We need an attitude adjustment. If losing Vietnam didn't teach us a lesson, what will it take? We can't do anything about Iran, but we can over here, I hope that it will be in time. 2020 can't come soon enough.
15
@Linda
good afternoon, please look up Mohammad Mosaddegh to maybe understand the seeds of hate that were sown by the CIA in 1953 by organsising a coup against a democratically elected leader that then installed the Shah Reza Khan, a murderous US puppet.
The religious fanatics overthrew him because of how truly awful he was and took an equally destructive force to bring down such a man with all his US backing...(shades of the Taliban when they were useful in fighting the russians...)
none of this remotely excuses the current iranian regime, just please be honest about the genesis of this particular middle east quagmire and what might be needed as a solution other than bellicose muttering from an incompetent leader who has the potential the pour gasoline on the dumpster fire of middle east relationships.
@Linda
Losing Vietnam was the best thing that happened to the US.
A prime sample of a war that was staged and organized by the Pentagon (where loser generals retire too) and almost destroyed our nation.
Trump our copy-cat in chief has outdone himself in the details of this fully fake operation by our military.
Why would any young American want to join the military, knowing that one crazy individual in the White House is playing Napoleon.
Remember his Russian adventure.
@Linda
People are siding with the truth and who's been the aggressor. Besides we've been here before, cough, cough, Iraq. As far as calling Iranians thugs, it takes one to know one, doesn't? American's have a way viewing themselves and the world around them "through a crooked mirror."
Oh my, President Hassan Rouhani has so much to learn about American political correctness. No one uses the MR term anymore. The correct terminology is now IDS, Intellectual Disability Severe. But before he can even use it he first has to complete a 34 page IEP - Individual Educational Plan - to corroborate it and address remediation. Sorry, Hassan, you want to fight America you do it on our terms.
I just wanted to say that the subtitle for the video is wrong and misleading.
around 0:14 s he says "If you are telling truth that you want to negotiate you wouldn't sanction foreign minister."
3
" John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, separately accused Iran of being “a source of belligerence and aggression” across the Middle East."
Says the guy who encouraged the US to go to war with Iraq and is responsible for the deaths of 100,000 Iraqis.
36
Trump’s policies are dominated by Bolton’s fantasy that bullying and brute force can win the day (see: Afghan & Iraqi disasters) or Kushner’s crude reliance on greed and financial incentives. Like all beginners, these approaches rely on dismissing complex history & wisdom. Naive arrogance prevails.
Neither North Korea. Iran, Venezuela, Syria, Mexico & Central America will succumb to such foolish threats.
12
Sanctions are effective when you have a rational President and a well seasoned negotiating team. That is not the case, unfortunately, in our nation at the moment.
To be sure, this will not end well.
34
Sanctions on Iran helped Obama make the original Iran nuclear deal. We shouldn't dismiss its effectiveness especially seeing how negatively they have affected the Iranian economy. The Iranians do have to eat, after all.
2
@Alan Klein
Then Trump pulled out of the deal. So what now? Impose sanctions to return to the deal we, Russia, the EU and China had already agreed on? Brilliant! Chaos to return to the status quo ante.
Sanctions will not result in "regime change." Increased sanctions will not bring Iran to the negotiating table. Iran isn't interested in negotiating with Trump. That missile launched when Trump negated the JCPOA.
1
@Alan Klein but what is the Trumpstrategy after sanctions?
@Alan Klein Sanctions helped Obama make the original Iran nuclear deal... which Trump reneged upon. Why on earth would Iran expect the U.S. to honor any new deal when we've spit upon the first one? And no, the Iranian people - men, women, and children, do not have to eat. They can starve to death, and neither leader is above letting that happen to advance his political goals. This is a tragedy, all round.
"The Trump administration tightened its sanctions six weeks ago in an effort to cut off all international sales of Iran’s oil, the lifeblood of its economy, setting off a steep escalation in tensions."
Bolton and Netanyahu want the war and they have figured out how to get it. Trump is basically a novice when it comes to Middle East history and politics; so he has been eating out of Bolton and Netanyahu's hands on Iran. The two have decided to strangulate Iran's economy by encouraging Trump to impose sanctions on anything that Iran produces.
Once Iranians are cornered, their choices are either total capitulation or lashing out. Bolton and Netanyahu know enough of Iranian culture to know that Iranians are not surrendering type. So, they are counting on Iranians to lash out. That gives them the pretext for starting an all out war on Iran. Obviously, neither of these two gentlemen care about thousands of US boys and Iranian civilians who will perish in such a war.
What is surprising here is that the Iranians, who know how to seize on opportunities, have not opted to talk to Trump. They could have accepted to meet with him in Tokyo and, after the meeting, declared that they are ready to stop all their nuclear/missile activities, provided that the US agree to implement its plan to denuclearize Korean peninsula for the Middle East. That will put Israel's nuclear arsenal on the negotiation table, which is fair since Israel has been part of this conflict from the start.
28
@Eddie B. Very good comments. Best wishes.
5
There was a deal to hold Iran off of nuclear weapons. Now that the USA threatens them again, they have every reason to restart building nuclear weapons, the sooner the better for them.
And then Saudi Arabia will feel threathened by an atomic Iran, and start building its own arsenal. The same goes for Turkey, that is in competition with both Saudi Arabia and Iran for local dominance. And once this is done, perhaps Egypt will think "why not me too?".
And for sure we will all feel a lot safer in this world with all these peacefull democratic nuclear powers in the same region.
Trump really is playing with matches around the powder keg.
11
Trump pulled the USA out of an agreed deal to curtail Iran's nuclear ambitions. Now he says he wants to negotiate. What about? How could Iran trust Trump's word?
Unable to make progress with Kim, Trump seemed to think Iran were a softer touch, but he appears to have no end game.
The Middle East and the world is a less safe place because of this. Trump is being egged on by the Saudi's and Israeli's, but it is the USA which the history books will condemn if this goes wrong.
16
John Bolton, Mr. Trump’s national security adviser, separately accused Iran of being “a source of belligerence and aggression”
The projection from this administration is just astounding.
28
@major The Donald routinely accuses others of doing what is he doing. Belligerence and aggression is what this administration is good at.
1
I await something dramatic from Iran in response. So far they've held back, but pushed hard enough, something will come.
For example, they might demand regime change in Saudi Arabia, and a new government for all the people of the Arabian Peninsula including what is now Yemen, and the severely repressed Shiite people who live on top of the "Saudi oil" inside Saudi Arabia, and perhaps in Bahrain too.
They might also announce that the entire region is closed to trade in oil and gas for the duration of hostilities, rather like the Germans "closed" the seas around Britain (and Britain did the same to Germany). Just the announcement would rocket up oil prices, tanker fees, and insurance rates.
They could in fact enforce such a closure, to enough of an extent to cripple the world economy, no matter how much the US might technically "keep it open."
Then what? A huge and long war, or fire Bolton?
8
It's difficult to give comment on a problem so obvious in its solution (and cause) as this one: an agreement satisfactory to all side is abrogated by known incendiaries, who then complain of supposed infractions, with no proof, no evidence.
This is a freak administration. I can think of no other term to describe the circumstance from which it arose, nor the nature of its leaders and proponents.
To play the trump game and complain daily of his actions does little or no good. Best to focus on the requirements of the country and inform the electorate how to achieve them in the next election.
9
Our amazing deal maker in chief has to realize he is not in lower Manhattan or anywhere else in the US making a real estate deal. His lack of knowledge of diplomacy is mind blowing. And the people who advise him seem less informed than he is if that is even possible. Thoughtful advice is needed, and it is doubtful this administration will get it from the "Skeleton Crew" he has at the moment.
8
It’s a strange and disorienting moment for this American when the leaders of Iran and North Korea are (maybe) more trustworthy about international events than the WH.
I’d be inclined to trust Rouhani and the Iranians, and now apparently the Russians on the location of the drone over the worthless word of Trump. At least Rouhani and the Russians say true things once in a while: that Trump ‘lies all the time.’
Truth. He does.
24
If Russia asserts that the drone was in Iranian airspace, as this article reports, then that surely is good enough for Mr. Trump, who has a history and tendency of agreeing with statements of defense from Mr.Putin. And it he situation were reversed, wouldn't an Iranian drone over US airspace have caused the US to shoot it down?
Why is Iran the bad guy in this episode? What am I missing?
10
@Casey You are missing being misled by Trump's lies. That's why this situation looks as insane as it really is to you.
@Casey You are missing being misled by Trump's lies. That's why this situation looks as insane as it really is to you.
As I watch these events unfold toward tragedy it is clear that Iranian-US relations ares still stuck in 1979.
That year the Iranian revolution ousted America's long time ally, the Shah and installed an Islamic Council as the leading power in its new constitutional framework.
More importantly, Iran seized American hostages, in clear violation of international law and diplomatic protocol and kept them in prisoned for over a year.
The Iranian's believed they were justified because of the Shah's crimes, including the massacre of thousands of innocent demonstrators.
The United States knew it was stoking a tinderbox when they initially harbored the Shah, but once the hostages were taken relations moved to a level of hostility that have not changed in 40 years.
But they must change or both nations risk war and the chaos and senseless loss of life that all wars create.
In 1980 there were 'back channel' efforts to communicate with the Iranians to lesson the tension and hopefully get the release fo the hostages. I know this because I was part of that effort.
We need a similar effort today, before it's too late. I can think of no one better suited to this purpose than former President Carter.
If his health permits, President Carter could open a dialogue with Iran demonstrating that even old enemies can find some resolution to their hostility and seek the common ground of peace.
So far everyone in Washington is only talking about war. We can and must find another way.
6
@Drspock, Thank you for placing this in historical context. We have met the enemy, and he is us.
...and, rightly so. Our country deserves to be disparaged, at this time in history.
5
Chapter 2 - After an exchange of passionate letters, Trump "falls in love" with Rouhani. How many of these airport romance novels do we need?
14
The relationship between Iran and the U.s. needs to be reconfigured by intelligent adults who can work together and solve the problems created by both sides. There are no intelligent adults in The Trump administration, based on the rhetoric coming from the so-called leaders of Trump's foreign policy teams. Unfortunately we will have to wait until 2021 and hope that one side doesn't detonate a new conflagration in the Middle-East. Perhaps the Democratic candidate who will replace Trump can reset the dialog between the two countries. Neither Trump nor Pompeo and Bolton are capable of creative foreign policy that is also effective.
36
@RLW: This situation is a regional religious war in the making. There is little love lost between fundamentalist Jews, Christians, Shiites, and Sunnis, all growing populations to compete for it.
@RLW When was the last time there were intelligent adults in the Iranian regime?
@RLW. Have you ever heard one Dem Candidate day anything about Iran? If Obama hadn’t forced that absurd deal, they would be back in the Stone Age by now.
Given the unpredictability of Trump it is difficult to predict the future turn of the US-Iran stand off. For, even a worse acrimony than the current one between the US and Iran that brought the North Korea to near brink of war with the US has ended with a friendly bilateral engagement.
3
@Prof. Jai Prakash Sharma Iran will never negotiate seriously with a trump group. Unstable, dishonest and bullies. They will wait as they see the elections will offer a much better chance to come to a reasonable agreement.
5
@RichardHead, I pray you're right. But our damaging their economy may mean that they can't wait.
1
As usual trump has created a crisis. It's how he approaches everything, create a crisis, then do something to defuse it and claim victory. Of course nothing has changed except he hurt someone or a nation for awhile.
34
@Bill I like the concept of the bad boy lightening the trash can of paper on fire, letting smoke arise and then suddenly pouring some water on it and wanting to be a hero. He tries this over and over. We need to take away his matches congress.
6
...and time has passed.
...and our friends and allies around the world have watched this despicable act and wondered “can we trust the Americans?”
...and the American people have been betrayed, again, by Trump for his own personal benefit in pumping up the Trump Show ratings.
...and our opponents and enemies around the world watch, and take heart in our slow self immolation.
Rouhani is right. This POTUS is mentally unbalanced - or morally bankrupt ... take your pick. But that doesn't alter the fact that Iran is a dangerous, violent, repressive state that sows instability throughout the Middle East and sponsors terrorism around the world. Unfortunately, these two threats to world peace are not mutually exclusive.
18
@thegreatfulauk You don't think the US is more of a danger to world peace? Who has Iran invaded? Who has the US invaded? The US certainly sponsors terrorism.
7
@thegreatfulauk
Wait! Why do I have to take a pick?
Why pick? Can’t he be mentally unbalanced and morally bankrupt?
Iranian officials should be careful. With all of this name-calling going on, Trump is going to want to start a penpal relationship with them soon.
56
@Why Me
Being mostly illiterate, or at least uncaring to take the effort to read, I think Donald has people write his letters for him... and then they verbally explain the communications that come back to him.
But Donald loves the idea of someone taking the time to write to him, since he desperately craves attention. In response, he'll give them a huge vertical signature right back to them, along with someone else's words.
1
Closing the door on diplomacy is a grave mistake. Trump is making a huge mistake. Of course when a kook is in charge of national security, mistakes will follow.
50
The USA ignores Iranian hegemony at its own peril. As with Pakistan in Afghanistan where the ISI trained and funded the Taliban, Iran is a similarly a state sponsor of ideological and religious revolution, terror, war, crime, and black market enterprise. Iran is run like a modern day Barbary State led by the pirates of Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Quds. Their goals are quite obvious - superpower status via control of the Persian Gulf oil resources and the accumulation and proliferation of WMD to armed proxy groups. That fact you believed the JCPOA to have been worth the paper it is written on is laughable. Ben Rhodes and Susan Rice and Obama were naive but they were also deceitful in regard to selling out the Gulf States to Iran. The JCPOA was a smoke screen for appeasement through which Obama could leave Iraq and Afghanistan. If you really believe the JCPOA was not appeasement, then why did Obama not consult with our allies in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan about it? Because Obama was selling our allies out and throwing them under the Iranian bus. We had no ability or intention of enforcing the JCPOA or of curtailing Iranian proxy wars, arms proliferation or hegemony. The JCPOA all but assured that SA and the UAE and Egypt would go nuclear (which of cause was why Israel was beside itself over Obama's betrayal) as the next war in the Middle East would be the last one.
3
Sounds just like the Trump Administration is running the United States to maintain our hegemony everywhere, bombing indiscriminately, supporting Saudi and Likud terrorism and making the world profitable for a corrupt corporate oligarchy.
70
@American Akita Team
Those ‘allies’ have driven our Middle East policy off a cliff. I will never forget who drove those planes into Twin Towers. Iran is what it is because of Alan Dulles, and Kermit Roosevelt.
3
@American Akita Team A most biased and prejudiced point of view.
Iran was said to be 3 months from a bomb before the treaty now they are 1 year away if they start again. How is that a failure.
How is the Saudi inspired Islamic terrorism o 911 and the unrest in Africa and southeast Asia any different.
When it comes to world Islamic terrorism the finger points to our Saudi Friends not Iran Something Trump seems to ignore.
9
the list which was first revealed to General Wesley Clark in 1991 by neo-con Paul Wolfowitz. The seven countries which were to be invaded and blessed with regime change were Iraq, Libya, Syria, Lebanon, Somalia, Sudan, and the big prize, Iran with its wealth of resources and potential market of over 70 million persons
18
@frank I think Project for a New American Century is grinding to a halt. Out of necessity, Russia and China have figured out how to stop it. First in Syria, then Venezuela, and now, probably Iran. Bolton, Pompeo, are desperate with their new rounds of sanctions -- I'm sure the Ayatollah isn't worried about losing money...
5
Iran is quite secondary to the Trump Administration, Trump’s only concern is winning the 2020 election. He will hold off Iran until the Election is over. The name calling will continue & nothing will be accomplished.Tucker Carlson gave Trump the right advice that getting entangled with a war in Iran would hurt Trump’s chances of winning the Election,He would be making the same mistakes that Bush made, & what Trump has sworn not to do.
14
Lots of folks on the left want to criticize Trump and in doing so prop up one of the world's worst regimes. The Iranians are counting on our tribalism to weaken our resolve and their tactics are aimed at forcing Trump to either look like a warmonger and rally the left to vote him out in 2020, or for him to look weak to his base and dampen their enthusiasm in 2020. Either way, their goal is to get a Democrat elected in 2020 who will dust off Obama's agreement and let the Iranians go back to having their cake and eating it too. The current sanctions are clearly working and that's why Iran is acting out in such dramatic ways. If Trump is smart he'll let them stay in effect and force the Iranians to either do something really provocative that will rally global support or wait until the Iranians come to the table hat in hand asking to negotiate. I'm not convinced Trump has the resolve necessary to stay the course, but we'll see.
9
@Ryan
I think you are confused with who is the worst regime.
Has Iran invaded anyone lately?
39
Just factually wrong on many counts.
The current sanctions are difficult but a hidden gift to Iran in that they are becoming resistant to financial pressure at the same time that we are undermining out case among our partners that we can be trusted with the levers of the world economy.
Meanwhile, Iran has more or less kept its agreement under the JCPOA, in order to demonstrate to our allies that they are more trustworthy than we are. Iran will not offer better terms than the Obama folks got, but that won’t stop Trump from falsely declaring victory for rebranding the treaty but changing nothing. Just like NAFTA.
10
@Ryan 1/3 Americans prop up American worst regime. Iran didn't break the treaty the Trump tore it up. Unilaterally without talking to co-signers. Whatever people think of Iran this mess is entirety of Trump's making. If people die he will be held responsible by everyone but the stooges who protect him.
1
After all of the invasions, coups, assassinations, rigging of elections, is it not time for the rest of the world to sanction the US.
91
@frank
Many Canadians have been sanctioning the US and Trump regime, for some time, with NBA (Not Buying American) action.
We find, to our pleasure, higher or equally high quality and often less costly goods from other countries: French chocolate, Tunisian dates, Polish bakery goods, etc. Other countries are less volatile and more pleasant to visit. I can't see us switching these new habits, any time soon.
25
Iran, like North Korea and China, is outfoxing Trumpenfuhrer. Meanwhile, our traditional European Allies refuse to help us out when we need it. Plus the Kushner/Netanyahu New Middle East Peace Initiative, AKA bribe the Palestinians to give up sovereignty over their land to Israel, is a non-starter. Plus Trump thinks Americans will be happy to spend $50 billion dollars to expand Israel at the expense of the Palestinians and Middle East Peace. Trump is taking a wrecking ball to US leadership in the world and US credibility in the world.
49
@Harding312 - "Trump is taking a wrecking ball to US leadership in the world and US credibility in the world."
While it is important to worry about Trump "taking a wrecking ball to US leadership in the world and US credibility", I think what is more dreadful is the fact that Trump is taking a sludge hummer to the US democracy. What should anyone think about leader of any country who, when asked about possible impeachment, would say: "the police is with me; the US military is with me!"
The US public should not be surprised to see, in the case of losing the 2020 election, Mr. Trump refusing to give up the presidency!
4
"Nikolai Patrushev, Mr. Bolton’s Russian counterpart, supported Tehran’s account, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. “I have information from the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation that the drone was in Iran’s airspace at the time,” Mr. Patrushev said on Tuesday in Jerusalem, where he was attending the same summit meeting as Mr. Bolton.
---
That's it then, right? We were wrong, our drone WAS in Iranian air space -- after all, we believe Putin's intelligence analysts over our own!
20
Trump has ratcheted up tensions with Iran in order to make a few minor adjustments to President Obama's hard won accomplishment -- the JCPOA, re-brand it as his own, and claim victory on Twitter.
Trump's childish negotiating style may work with our allies (NAFTA). But Iran, China, and North Korea are another story.
21
@Vickie
It is adult jealousness that drives Donald Trump in nearly everything he does!
1
We should not forget that Iran supports Hezbollah whose stated aim and purpose is to destroy Israel, that Iran supports Assad, and that Iran is allied with Russia.
The Iran regime is our enemy.
Trump has taken the completely wrong approach to dealing with an enemy. But they are still the enemy.
5
@J. Swift Don't forget either that Trump is in cahoots with Russia too. His belligerence is not the interests of the US.
7
@J. Swift
what has Iran done exactly?
13
@J. Swift I understand what you are saying, and it makes me pause to contemplate our international situation.
I thought Russia was our enemy, too. Aren't they our enemy, too? I've seen President Trump shaking Putin's hand and holding secret, behind closed doors meetings with him so many times I forget who our allies are and who are enemies are, something that was much clearer with past, competent presidents.
This is what happens when an incompetent President surrounds himself with incompetent staff.
20
We are way out of our “sphere of influence” again, antagonizing a country with many western friends, and, in spite of Trump’s bluster, unable to back up our tough talk. The nuclear issue is for the UN, and we would do well to find ways to extricate our troops from Afghanistan and Iraq (Syria?) rather than opening another “front”.
13
President Rouhani,
In the US, we do not use the term “retarded.” It is considered derogatory and demeaning to people with disabilities. We would agree that President Trump is a demented, corrupt, perverse, unhinged, misogynistic, misanthropic waste of space, but we would not call him “retarded.”
65
@DaWill
It’s translated from farsi.
3
You have also described Clinton!
Let's put Iran and its leaders aside and look at the issue of imposing economic sanctions on a country in general. To start with, economic sanctions never impact the very well-to-do (0.1%) of any country. In fact it may present opportunities to them to make big money.
We are told that economic sanctions are directed at a country. What we are not told is that it is always the middle class and the poor of that country that bear the brunt of any economic sanction. Sanctions invariably make anything that enters a country much more expensive, largely because goods now have to enter the country through black markets if not through many middlemen.
A nuclear bomb explosion has a limited impact area. Depending on its size and sophistication, it could make uninhabitable an area of 50-100 miles in radius. In short, not everyone's life in that country is destroyed or impacted. Conversely, when economic sanctions are imposed on a country, no matter where you are or what kind of job you do, your life will be directly impacted; Children will be starving and hospitals shelves will be empty of medicine.
The question to ask is: in light of the above, what can be truly called "a weapon of mass destruction"; a nuclear bomb or economic sanctions?
We should also ask why the UN is so muted when it comes to economic sanctions? Why no one takes the US to task when it behaves like a drunken sailor, throwing punches at weak in any country it does not like? What happened to our humanity?
15
In a televised interview, Bernie Sanders expressed my feelings about Iran and the whole Middle East and what the US role in the region should be. In essence, he said it's time for the US to tell Saudi Arabia and Israel to sit down with Iran and "work it out" on their own terms with us in a support role and to end America's "endless wars" in the region. He also called for curtailing America's arm sales and military aid to preferred nations in the conflict zone and to begin being an honest broker of stability and peace. I and I believe most Americans are sick and tired of being dragged into wars in a region that has known constant war and threat of war with no end in sight. If ever there was a place and time to say, "America first" and direct our resources to our own domestic needs, it is the Middle East and now.
42
@abigail49
Bernie is the only candidate with a coherent vision of foreign policy.
11
@abigail49 Thank you for posting this. I had to share with another poster who stated no one else is coming up with solutions.
2
If U.S. troops hit the ground in Iran, I trust that Bolton and Pompeo will be on the field of battle.
24
A lot of people are complaining and criticizing Trumps approach, but they are not offering up solutions or proposals on what should be done instead. Past administrations have kicked the issues Trump is dealing with down the road for years and now he is trying to address. I don't agree with all of his policies, but I give him credit for taking on these very difficult problems.
2
@G G Ummm,we had a starting point, a viable solution for moving forward. It's called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action. The US signed this agreement. Iran signed it, and so did the United Kingdom, France, Germany, China, and Russia.
It cleared the way for 15 more years of conversation.
Trump withdrew from this agreement, leaving the US once again meddling in Iran's affairs as it has for decades.
28
@G G
You can't always find a 'permanent' solution to every problem. A deal that would have kept Iran from having a nuclear weapon for ten years is far superior to no deal at all and, in fact, increasing hostilities with a nation that has nuclear dreams. Trump has accomplished NOTHING; all he has done has weakened a deal that would have meant a decade of security for us all.
11
@G G- He should have stayed in the multi-nation deal in which Iran was in compliance [even according to Coats, Haspel and our other intel agencies]. The past administration, along with multiple other nations, didn't kick the can...they made a deal.
17
Rouhani is saying what other leaders should have said about this administration long time ago! Is he the only leader with a backbone?
20
Past really is prologue. On November 29, 2011, Trump Tweeted that “In order to get elected, @BarackObama will start a war with Iran.” As Obama’s reelection campaign moved forward, Trump doubled down, Tweeting on August 16, 2012 that “I always said @BarackObama will attack Iran, in some form, prior to the election.” On October 22, just weeks before election day, Trump doubled down yet again, declaring “Don’t let Obama play the Iran card in order to start a war in order to get elected--be careful Republicans!”
While they all proved false, those proclamations demonstrate that Trump understands the power of war to boost political fortunes. Trump also understands, however, that public opinion is fickle and the same war that causes a temporary boost eventually drags a President down. The actual war will therefore commence when Trump decides the timing is right for maximum electoral impact in November 2020. In one of his rare moments of honesty, just a few days ago (June 22, 2019) Trump signaled his true intentions when he Tweeted that “I never called the strike against Iran ‘BACK,’ as people are incorrectly reporting, I just stopped it from going forward at this time!”
What makes Trump’s plan to sacrifice untold thousands of lives to benefit himself so dangerous is that there is a very good chance it will work, particularly if the media and the American public continue to buy into the false narrative that Trump is voice of peace even has he hurtles America toward war.
25
Could someone explain the US end game? Even if there was a wholesale change in Iranian politics i.e. no more belligerence or aggression, that isn’t really going to cut it, is it? The point here is that Iran has to let Trump’s buddy, murderous Salman, rule the entire Middle East, even though he doesn’t speak Farsi or respect Iranian culture or religion, or Iran faces being murdered - like Saudi Arabia is doing to the Yemenis? Are we asking of Iran something akin to asking the US to be run by a Mexican drug lord? You can call Bolton and his buddies “hawks” all you want, but the real truth appears to be that US military-industrial complex needs to justify having Saudi Arabia spend its vast oil wealth on US weaponry for a US instigated war designed to demonstrate the necessity of said weaponry, rather than spend it on its own people and promote peace and responsible leadership.
The US, Saudi Arabia and Iran do have one thing in common: greedy, completely irresponsible, often irrational, dictatorial, war-mongering, misogynistic leadership.
11
N Korea has nuclear weapons, Iran does not, And they wouldn't have had any for 10 to 15 years. What Bolton, Pompeo, Israel, & the Saudis want is for Iran to give up it strategic missiles that can reach Israel & Saudi Arabia. In essence they want the country defenseless. So when we invade they can't retaliate. That is not going to happen, nor should it. Stop comparing N Korea to Iran, two totally different situations. Iran has oil. It also has proximity to the Caspian Sea. Lots of natural gas there also. But we have no way to steal that either. The rest of the world wants to do business, not start wars.
17
The Iran boss does not need to adhere to american words when dealing with the most irresponsible immature group of american Rejects since time began.
25
Trump and his sanctions and tariffs. N Korea (no deal), Venezuela (no deal), China (no deal)! The international community brokered an agreement with Iran and Trump walked away to show his petty spite for President Obama. Trade deals and tariffs coerced Mexico and Canada to bend to his tariffs and now Canadians face the death penalty in China and Mexicans are beating the burden of migrants trying to get in this country. Making America Useless.
13
Don’t worry about a thing. Jared is going to solve all Mid East problems.
23
Given our current administration, they are correct.
19
We know the results of the US sanctions on Israel when they were developing their nuclear weapons in the 1960s on.
Anyway who started nuclear wars???
8
It appears the mullahs have moved past their deal with Obama, now realizing that it was never as firm as it was portrayed (and certainly not a "treaty"). It's unfortunate that Obama supporters cannot do the same. They see everything in terms of that agreement and are so bitter Trump has shredded it that they are defending the mullahs. That's really twisted.
5
@AACNY Your defending Trump?
6
@AACNY- Actually, trump moved past the deal with Iran when he unilaterally reneged on the deal in which Iran was in compliance [according to trump's own people]. It wasn't "firm" because, again, trump unilaterally reneged on the deal. Why would the mullahs honor a deal when, once again, trump unilaterally reneged on the deal, meaning there is no deal?
7
@AACNY
The JCPOA, while not perfect, deterred Iran from obtaining nukes. Trump supporters refuse to acknowledge this fact.
7
I doubt the Iranian government expected to get hammered so hard by a US Administration after the feckless appeasement policies of the Obama Administration which was more concerned with being on the "right side of history" in the Arab Spring and embraced democracy throughout the region. The latter movement among the Arab Street transformed military dictatorships into theocratic movements that were more aligned with ISIL than the USA. Obama also let the Russians walk into Syria and ceded geopolitical leadership to Putin so that he an Ben Rhodes and John Kerry would not have to enforce the bright red line over the use of chemical weapons in Syria by Assad. To say that Obama and Kerry and Ben Rhodes got played for fools is an understatement. When Trump took office, ISIL was on a rampage, Iran was busy fomenting revolution and destabilizing US strategic allies and waging unremitting proxy wars while arming terror groups with the latest missile technology. I doubt Ayatollah Khomeini and Nasrallah ever expected to get slammed up agains the wall by this isolationalist POTUS. Seems they miscalculated and have failed to comprehend US resolve to defend its allies and interests.
4
@American Akita Team Good grief, and from St. Louis, my home town. No, no, and no. First, there was no "feckless appeasement." Silly use of the word "feckless," akin to "specious" in standard conservative intellectual (sic) circles, and of course a very lame reference to "appeasement" a la Munich 1938, a favorite false parallel that is always trotted out. Then, Obama hardly invited the Russians into Syria; and please don't harp on the "red line" story again, as Republicans were loudly warning Obama that they would move to impeach him if he dared to attack Assad without Congressional authority. And last, of course John Kerry and his team, along with Europe, Russia and China, produced the 2015 Iran Deal that effectively stopped Iran's nuclear weapons program, with obvious understandings that the Iran Deal would be extended indefinitely after its first 15-year time period. Please, again, don't cite all of the bad things that Iran was then and is still doing now as none of that was included in the agreement, on purpose, i.e., the purpose of the Iran Deal was to prevent Iran and for that matter other Middle East countries from developing nuclear weapons capacity. All this said, I am definitely a Cardinals fan so we must meet out at the ballpark.
11
@C.L.S. I am Red Sox fan I know Iran very well. You ignore Iranian hegemony at your own peril. Like Pakistan in Afghanistan where ISI trained and funded the Taliban, Iran is a state sponsor of revolution, terror, war, crime, and black marketeering. It is run like a modern day Barbary State led by the pirates of Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the Quds. Their goals are quite obvious - superpower status via control of the Persian Gulf oil resources and the accumulation and proliferation of WMD to armed proxy groups. That fact you believed the JCPOA to have been worth the paper it is written on is laughable. Ben Rhodes and Susan Rice and Obama were naive but they were also deceitful in regard to selling out the Gulf States to Iran. The JCPOA was a smoke screen for appeasement through which Obama could leave Iraq and Afghanistan. If you really believe the JCPOA was not appeasement, then why did Obama not consult with our allies in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Jordan about it? Because Obama was selling our allies out and throwing them under the Iranian bus. We had no ability or intention of enforcing the JCPOA or of curtailing Iranian proxy wars, arms proliferation or hegemony. The JCPOA all but assured that SA and the UAE and Egypt would go nuclear (which of cause was why Israel was beside itself over Obama's betrayal) as the next war in the Middle East would be the last one.
@American Akita Team Well, let's leave it at that. As for the Red Sox, I remember having heated arguments as a kid about who was best, Ted Williams or Stan Musial. Looking forward to another World Series face-off someday.
It can’t be said enough that there was an agreement in place that many report was working, Trump withdrew from it and has steadily put the U.S. in a more difficult position.
69
"The Trump administration is punishing Iran with crippling economic sanctions that American officials say are intended ..." David Kirkpatrick is a very valuable observer but one has to object strenuously to the construction he adopts here, for American conduct in this matter. America's are acts of retaliation or reprisal, but they absolutely lack standing to be defined as "punishment," which is predicated upon acknowledged authority. Yet this construction's most worrisome feature is its probably uncritical adoption in this discussion. That adoption needs urgently to be examined, its inaccuracies made plain, its infection of analysis disapproved.
3
I recommend that the NYT publish an image of the screen from a trustworthy radar station that would prove WHERE the drone was shot down.
Trump has never done this because I believe it would settle the issue once and for all and prove that he is lying.
44
Ideologues are the worst kind of leaders and this crisis with Iran is proof of it.
Leaders in Iran could easily put an end this crisis if they wanted to. Iranian leaders could have followed the same playbook as North Korea. Trump was threatening North Korea on a daily basis until he began receiving "nice and beautiful letters from chairman Kim". Since then Mr. Trump has opposed any strong sanctions against North Korea, stop the US/South Korea military drills, etc...
All it would take to put an end to this crisis is for Mr. Rouhani or Iran Supreme leader to write a "very nice and beautiful letter to Trump". In that letter, they could throw some conspiracies theories ( we know Trump is a big fan) and educate Trump about the Middle East.
In fact, Mr. Trump would be the perfect US president for Iran to talk to. Mr. Trump is and always has been against foreign military intervention.
To the Iranians leaders, I say: Stop being so obtuse ideologues and write a beautiful letter to Mr. Trump. This could save your country from total destruction.
4
@Chaks
So the rest of the world has to humor the insane American in the White House or else face annhilation?
And we keep electing the worst of us to represent us on the global stage.
This arrogance is our worst enemy.
42
A few years ago North Korea refused to talk to the US if Bolton was involved at all. Maybe Tehran should tell Trump they'll be glad to talk to him if he gets rid of both Bolton and Pompeo. Bolton and Pompeo are driving us into war with Iran, Trump says he doesn't want to go there. He should fire Bolton and Pompeo to show his bona fides. A fair ask.
229
@Eero
Pompeo has threatened the democracy in my country.
The UK.
32
@Eero But naive. The surest way to ensure that Bolton and Pompeo remain is for Iran to ask that they be removed. No US President could consider firing aides based on a demand by Iran.
6
@Critical Reader
You forget that our Trump is "no U.S. President". If Iran buttered him up, made promises of flushing its nuclear materials down the toilet (so to speak) & made silly suggestions to Trump that he might earn that Nobel Peace Prize he covets -- Trump would ABSOLUTELY tell Flynn and Pompeo to stay home while he flew to Iran to have 'beautiful' conversations with Rouhani. Trump has absolutely no caring for anyone's dignity or for precedent; we all know that.
26
So far, it's just a war of words. Sure, Israel and its minions in the government want war with Iran, and that's a lot of pressure to face. But, President Trump is thinking about re-election, and he knows that the nation is war weary. Jaw-jaw is better than war-war, as Winston Churchill said. I'd rather see insults fly rather than rockets and bullets. Also, to his credit, President Trump questioned why it is that the US has to pay for the security of the Strait of Hormuz - why is this our problem? I've never heard another president raise that issue. Why are we looking at war with Iran as a realistic option? How does it threaten the US? Or, it is a particular "ally" that wants us to "do something"?
12
Welcome to the land of reality where self-service and socialism and Elitism/Authoritarianism join hands in being exposed as the past "coin of the realm" from Obama to Clinton to Rhuhani. With apologies to Tinkers to Evers to Chance.
1
John Bolton was also describing America. We are an even bigger source of belligerence in the Middle East. How many times will our government lead us into war with such sanctimonious rhetoric?
23
Amazed that so many of the comments here support Iran against any sanctions that the US government has imposed. Are the commentators here Americans at all??
3
Comments by people opposing sanctions show exactly why America is great....we are free to express our opinions, even when they run counter to the government’s policy. Open-minded discussion is what keeps us from spiraling down into the authoritarian abyss.
29
Free to express our opinion but not able to make the slightest difference. Welcome to American democracy.
11
@Let me knows Please. I would take the word of the Iranian president over Trump any day.
5
Trump:
"We broke our deal with you . . .
Now you must pay!
Because you cannot have the thing that we have because you might use it like we did. So stop doing what we have been doing to your region for over a century!
Got it?"
28
No sane person would enter into an agreement or treaty with Trump. He doesn't respect and honor any agreement, treaty, pact or Accord. Why would they bother?
81
@Larry
Spot-on Larry. The President of the United States is completely dishonorable. Agreements, contracts, loan documents and marriage vows are only adhered to until he feels like disregarding them.
28
@Larry
The treaties that the Native Americans signed with the US government were not much cop either.
10
One step closer to the demise of our empire.
Make America Great Again!
13
If recent decisions of Trump on Iran don’t exemplify his incompetence as a “deal-maker,” none ever will. With Trump even the word “deal” is now offensive to use. That Trump is such a blatant liar as consistently to “reorganize” facts in order to synthesize a “truth” about himself as ultimate master in his “dealing,” is seen universally through ... and laughably so, though without dismissing dire effects on sense, civility and justice. As truly sorry as it is to say, we have a fool as our elected leader. The Office of President is greatly compromised for honor by Trump. There is no getting around this, even when contrasting remarks of an enemy are involved. Any American ought rightly to be suspicious of Iran’s theocratic leadership with its strong right-wing support (but not Iranians per se). However, in considering ways to deal with this, those of Trump (undoubtedly emboldened especially by Bolton and Pompey) not only are sure to fail, but are making more so than they already have, the United States the world’s fool. The election of 2020 will reveal who we are and what we hope for.
21
With these sanctions, Russia and China get to name their price when they buy oil from Iran since that's who is left for Iran to sell it to.
You can trust Trump as far as you can throw him.
5
@Jbugko You think that Russia is buying oil from Iran? Russia is among the top ten producers in the world of oil and gas; it would be startling if it is importing oil from Iran, the way China is, and Japan and India have been.
2
Iran has been disparaging the U.S.ever since the Ayatollahs came to power. Whatever the U.S. had done under presidents Carter and others before him did not justify hostage taking of innocent unarmed Americans in the US Embassy 40 years ago. Since then all the presidents experienced a defiant Iran with chants of death to America in the street and in the Iranian parliament.
John Kerry did make a sincere effort to negotiate a nuclear deal but the deal was not perfect, it was favorable to Iran and I am not sure whether it was approved by congress as part of checks and balances. In any case the carrot that was dangled by the Obama administration of 100+ billion dollars to get Iran to agree to the deal was promptly delivered in the middle of the night in cash
Enter Trump, he does not like the deal and so decides not to recognize the deal going forward and impose sanctions which were lifted as part of the deal. Iran shoots down a US drone and Trump decides not to retaliate with strikes from the US airforce but instead imposes more sanctions. Iran is obviously not happy over the new sanctions but is resolute not to come to the negotiating table with Trump ready to negotiate and resolve all differences. Iran does not think the USA can be trusted and that goes both ways. There is an impasse. It is time Japanese prime minister (PM) or Indian PM both of who have decent working relations with Iran and USA offer to host talks. Russia and China also have good relations with Iran. Peace
3
@Girish Kotwal
"Whatever the U.S. had done...did not justify hostage taking of innocent unarmed Americans in the US Embassy 40 years ago"
I'd say overthrowing Iran's democracy in 1953 for the benefit of our oil companies and installing a brutal dictator justified far more than taking a few hostages.
87
@Girish Kotwal But please remember that that 100 billion + dollars of cash that right wingers always whine about was Iran's money! President Obama returned it as a show of good faith to get the Iranians to the bargaining table, and it worked! Do you think TrumpCo's. threats, bluster, and lies will do the same? I don't.
10
@Girish Kotwal
Trump has handled this very well. He is signaling the right message to the Iranian people and the world that he is willing to talk, while at the same time allowing our military to assume a position of force.
The only thing standing between the mullahs and an attack is Trump, which is a pretty smart move.
2
The US is a superpower ready to topple like the Soviet Union did.
Military demanding double digit budget increases yearly on top of 18 continuous year of wars will bankrupt us.
54
@gene
You are right. And its difficult and costly to reverse this bloated economical sector. The depts will be paid by following generations i fear. Short minded lobbying and profits can be seen in many sectors. The military sector and the prison system are the most cynical in my opinion.
So much good could be done for the people. Healthcare, education, regional development, ..
5
@gene
US's international reputation, under the Trump regime, is already bankrupt. A regime that cannot be trusted, is arrogant, belligerent, whipsaws from one position to the opposite, alienates its once -allies"......."so much winning" .
Iran has been distrustful of the US since 1953, when the US ousted their elected Prime Minister Mossadegh, and installed the puppet dictator, the Shah.
Who is the bad guy?
47
@frank
Yes, it was the US and the Brits who undermined a democratically-elected PM in Iran. Also, why is there never any reporting about what the Iranians endured during the years of the Shah's rule? Just asking. . . .
8
Perhaps the headline for this article should have read, "Iran Disparages Trump Over Sanctions."
7
It is time for responsible world leaders to take a page from the current administration's playbook and apply travel, financial and asset sanctions to gangster criminals who rule countries. They should not be allowed to travel; their financial assets frozen; and their tangible assets seized. The first and most urgent target of such a move to enforce global law and order would be Donald Trump, and his family members.
64
Between this and the viral tweet below (referenced in another NYT article) it seems the Iranians may have “the best words” today:
“The only people left to sanction are me, my dad and our neighbor’s kid. The foreign ministry should share Trump’s phone number so we can call him and give him our names.”
13
Never mind Iran. The United States is rapidly becoming the JR Ewing of international relations; hated and despised by more and more, followed and imitated by less and less.
(for those who don't know: JR was a universally hated villain in the '70s TV soap opera, Dallas)
10
I say the same thing every day.
7
I hope Mr. Trump is able to hold back his hardliners. Especially Mr. Bolton. I'm afraid of the violence the Iranian people may be dragged into. It is always the little people that suffer. USA must rejoin the nuclear agreement and stick to it.
The hardliners on Iranian side are hard to contain also i would guess. One nation has to make the first step towards new talks and create a middle-gound.
Will the Iranian people ever have the prospect of a fair treatment? One legislature follows this strategy the next legislature is making a 180 dregree turn. Thats not how you treat countries and their inhabitants in my opinion.
It doesn't make sense to appear strong on the verge of a violent outburst as violence is the biggest fail in politics. It must not be mistaken for strength.
It is David against Goliath. Goliath should have the courage to talk to David and be open for compromises. If David is to weak to do it then Goliath has to have the courage to show the other side that the most important thing is to prevent violence under any circumstances.
No more destabilization please. It leads to more pain in the region and it sadly fuels terrorism. Furthermore the political hardliners on both sides see their opinion confirmed now. It is like a self fulfilling prophecy, if you give power to hardliners.
5
Is there a possibility that these sanctions of Iran has less to do with the fear of nuclear proliferation and more to do with stabilizing oil prices?
By cutting off Iranian oil from the market, that has an effect of stabilizing oil prices at a time when Saudia Arabia and OPEC are worried about an over supply of oil and possibly the effects of a slowing global economy.
Domestically, higher oil prices are needed to keep the electorally important red states of Texas, OK and LA happy.
With Iranian oil not in the equation, keeping oil prices relatively stable and at a certain level is much more achievable
Just wondering..........
13
@Confused democrat These sanctions are all about The Donald's base (evangelical voters) and the 2020 election. Evangelicals love Israel and Bibi. Bibi hates Iran. Therefore the evangelicals hate Iran and The Donald panders to them when he bashes Iran.
Best wishes.
6
When presidents start quoting the Gospel
According to the Pentagon, I refer back
to Chapter one, Verse one, The Gulf of
Tonkin, from the Book of Vietnam.
When your opponents start talking
impeachment, presidents talk war.
Never, ever take Gossip for Gospel
from any man with an agenda.
29
"Trump administration officials have insisted that the United States is prepared to reopen negotiations with Iran as soon as Tehran is willing...." The United States has reneged on its last agreement, why would Iran want to start negotiating another one?
48
@Bert
Because their negotiations with Obama turned out to have been meaningless. They negotiated with the wrong president.
Obama and multiple US allies hammered out a deal with Iran that was working and independently verified. Trump and his minions couldn’t stand that success, so we reneged on the deal, humiliating America in the process. Now Trump apparently thinks, based on nothing, he’s going to get a better deal (whatever that means) and be the hero. Of course his willfully ignorant followers believe him, but no one else does. The world just laughs at Donald Trump. And at America for electing him.
6
Iran has demonstrated nothing but patience, sound judgement and tolerance with this administration and for it they have been rewarded with nothing but hostility and threats of violence from trump. Once again we see how the bafoon in the white house is working against our interests and uniting the world against us for no reason. Shame on any American that supports this pathetic excuse for a president. His only achievement has been to lay bare the great flaws and inconsistencies of our rigged system of government.
44
“Today, the Americans have become desperate and confused,” he (Rouhani) added. “This has made them take unusual measures and talk nonsense.”
Or just another Monday in the Trump Administration.
147
Same thing for Kim and Xi, they trade noxious verbal insults with Trump until, like an SNL skit, their hate shifts to love on a dime and they're suddenly writing oversized love letters.
Same will happen with the leader of Iran. A fickle middle school sensibility now determines the fate of the world.
6
We keep being told that Iran is a threat to regional and world security. Yet, the Pentagon's own assessment of Iran which it sends Congress every year describes Iran's military as purely defensive. Iran spends 1/4 as much on it's military as Saudi Arabia, about 1/50th as much as the USA. The Pentagon also describes Iran's efforts to develop a nuclear weapon as a deterrent of a foreign invasion.
Now who might this foreign invader be?
Could it be the country which toppled Iran's democratically elected government in 1951 to install a brutal dictator friendly to US interests?
Could it be the country which supported and armed Saddam Hussein's 1980 invasion of Iran by Iraq following the toppling of the Shah in 1979 by a popular uprising? This conflict would last five years and generate about a million casualties and devastate large parts of southern Iran.
Could it be the country which shot down an Iran Air airliner in 1998 with 290 people on board including 66 children?
Could it be the country whose president named Iran a part of the ''Axis of Evil'' in 2002 following 9/11 even though Iran had no link to 9/11? 9/11 was perpetrated by extremist Sunni Muslims who view Shia Iranians as apostates.
Could it the the country which has imposed sanctions continually on Iran since 1980?
The US has been threatening to invade Iran for the past forty years. If I were an Iranian, I would long ago have understood that only a nuclear weapon could protect me from America.
196
@rapatoul indeed look at the difference in treatment between having a nuclear weapon and not having one. If you don’t have one the US will strangle your economy with every bit of its might. Even Trump said other nations should get nukes (but I guess the shiny object media forgets that blunder) If you get a nuke you get love letters and meetings and respect from Trump for being rough and tough. Iran will develop a nuclear weapon and it’s 100% the fault of moronic US foreign policy.
42
@rapatoul
Add to the litany of US attacks on Iran this:
"US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld helped Saddam Hussein build up his arsenal of deadly chemical and biological weapons, it was revealed last night.
As an envoy from President Reagan 19 years ago, he had a secret meeting with the Iraqi dictator and arranged enormous military assistance for his war with Iran.
The CIA had already warned that Iraq was using chemical weapons almost daily. But Mr Rumsfeld, at the time a successful executive in the pharmaceutical industry, still made it possible for Saddam to buy supplies from American firms.
They included viruses such as anthrax and bubonic plague, according to the Washington Post."
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-153210/Rumsfeld-helped-Iraq-chemical-weapons.html
2
@rapatoul - Your comment should have been and EP as it clearly lays out the history between the US and Iran, which is very important in weighing who's the bad guy here, and it's not Iran.
6
As far as the signatories countries to the Iranian nuclear treaty is concerned, Iran was in full compliance with the terms of the agreement. Netanyahu and AIPAC want war between the US and Iran. Why?
32
It certainly feels weird and almost surreal to state the following: the Iranians speak truth to power.
39
Not buying it.
This is just the “Dotard/Rocket Man” name-calling phase of the relationship.
In the next year, there will be a high level summit between Trump and Rouhani. The insults will be forgotten and the love and mutual admiration will flow.
I’m out on a limb with this one, but I like the odds.
4
Trump is a master of dirty tactics he has used all his life in his real estate and other dealings. How else would a man who declared bankruptcy so many times be still so rich? Unfortunately, he thinks he can use the same tactics, especially bullying and brinkmanship in dealing with foreign countries, both friendly and no-so-friendly. With limited knowledge of other cultures and intellect, he supposes that pushing other nations to an extreme will cause them to "cry uncle" and do what he dictates. Not all nations will. Some have as much pride as we do in our own nation. His economic warfare policies are causing extreme hardship to ordinary people in those nations under sanctions, but he does not c are even a bit. These policies are bound to fail and cause nations to move away from us and our almighty dollar. What happens then? Heaven help us if his stupid man brings us another extremely costly war of choice in the Middle East, with untold suffering to ordinary folks in the region. Iraq, Libya and Syria all over again!
32
@kant Good comment. When The Donald played his dirty tricks on contractors and creditors he wasn't doing it on worldwide television and media. Outside of the person or company being stiffed, it was not widely know what he was doing. He could go on to another victim.
Now everything is displayed on the media. Putin, Kim, the Iranians, everyone can see The Donald on display. Anyone who doesn't understand The Donald must be willfully ignorant.
The Donald wanted to be president; but I think he will live to be sorry. His shallowness, ignorance, and narcissism are being displayed to the world on a daily basis. The only things he excels in, are shamelessness and brazenness.
Best wishes.
9
“Trump administration officials have insisted that the United States is prepared to reopen negotiations with Iran as soon as Tehran is willing,”
It is the Trump regime that does not want peace with Iran only capitulation. The Nuclear deal with Iran signed under Obama was working and that was a problem for Trumps foreign policy handlers the Saudis and Israel, since it has long been their plan to overthrow Iran. Sanctions are an act of war by the US, that kill with starvation rather than bullets.
Trump likely found out that the drone was violating Iranian air space. A manned spy plane that was shadowing the drown at a lower altitude was most likely the bait for war that the Iranians wisely chose not to shoot down. The US also tried to blame the Iranians exploding a tanker, yet only blurry videos of people looking like making a rescue were shown. Also the owner of the tanker ruined it when he bravely said that the explosions were caused by a projectile not a mine.
The UAE, US and Israel are best friends with “bonesaw” bin Salmon who just ordered the cutting up live of a journalist. They also like that the Sunni Saudis are the largest financiers of Al Qaeda, ISIS and other terrorist groups against their Shia enemy Iran. The Iran who has fought back against the Saudi funded terrorists in Iraq and Syria. 15 of the 19 9/11 hijackers were Saudi ( NONE Iranian).
38
Rouhani was the most "moderate" candidate that Iran's Council of Guardians would allow to run in their most recent Presidential election. It's important to understand that their political conservatives and religious reactionaries actively seek to rig elections, just like ours do.
Personally, I blame the Iranian political elite for these problems. If they had only employed some kind of political cutout to "invest" in a Trump property in the past (inasmuch as previous sanctions made it almost impossible to do so legally), they would today be enjoying a far more harmonious relationship with our "businessman" President. For when it comes to Donald Trump, it's "pay to play, all the way." Donald doesn't care if you use a bone saw on your political critics and dissidents, so long as you grease his palm.
Oh yeah, sending personally flattering notes helps too! Get with the program guys...
9
The US cannot ignore the downing of one of our drones nor can it ignore the attacks on oil tankers. Those attacks are an attempt to raise oil prices, nothing more. Iran knows it would get crushed if the US fully retaliated with military action. As much as I hate Trump, I fully support any economic or military action against Iran taken by the administration.
2
@James
Without any evidence at all?
The drone was flying over Iranian airspace.
The tanker episode looks like the gulf of Tonkin again.
21
The Iranians can’t ignore that Trump is in breach with the Iranian nuclear deal that he unlawfully canceled.
18
@James - Have you thought through how the disruption of Iranian and Venezuelan oil actually helps the US and Saudi Arabia? The higher prices are great for fracking and the Saudi's reap profits with every shortage.
Also, let's not forget that no one has come forward with data proving the drone was in international space. Wasn't that curious.
22
Hard to disagree with Rouhani's diagnosis of this White House. Here's the deal: as usual, the US press is being more than obtuse about all this.
The US engineered a far-right authoritarian coup in Iran in the 50s. (Mosaddegh, and, yes, I knew about this before Bernie told us all, but that was a very important moment.) Then, when that regime basically neutralizes and/or kills any sorta left option, the only revolutionary option was Islamist. OK, fine: they take some hostages (dumb; apparently controversial within the revolutionary leadership). Then they're released.
What do we then do? Support Saddam and chemical weapon use, among mass slaughter, to punish the Iranians for daring to go against the Global Godfather. Endless confrontation; we invade two countries on its border; we support Israel to the teeth we've armed it to. We consistently talk about vaporizing the country. We have instituted massive sanction regimes, which themselves are acts of war. We tear up the nuclear deal, and then we go nuts, and the NYT, too, about Iranian "violations." After we left the deal. Which is, like, you know, sorta a big violation, and stuff.
And yet the drumbeat to war goes on, as ever. Europe, ever the US's poodle, is properly submissive. The press, the leader of the Resistance, is falling into the usual imperialist formation. Hey, Fareed Zakaria only accepted Trump as president when he bombed Syria, right? And he's one of the Adults in the Room.
Nice job, press. As usual.
41
@Doug Tarnopol
The most amazing result from the latest saber rattling by the Trump administration is that they have managed to make Ian look like the good guys, similar to making Kim look like a world leader.
7
@Doug Tarnopol
I see this alllllll the time. Every single drop of neutrality and non-bias that the media, including NYTs, applies in an attempt to appear and maintain, is spent, always works in one consistent favor. The powerful and corrupt R political party. I’m not sure they see it, but I do, and there should be a name for this journalistic counterproductive phenomenon. They’re propping up the problem by default.
3
@Doug Tarnopol Given the short attention spans and lack of critical thinking skills of the American population in general, I think every article about global politics should include a brief history. It's pathetic how many global issues are presented as if they exist in a vacuum. Thanks.
2
Given the devastation economic sanctions can inflict upon a nation, how can any country, even if it’s USA, impose upon it to another unilaterally, and force compliance from other sovereign countries that do not agree with it? American government is acting like judge and executioner. Without an international coalition on these sanctions against Iran, we are a bully.
24
Not too long ago,such a statement by an Iranian leader would be laughed at and ignored.
15
@Red Crossed. When Iran seems far more astute and rational that the US, you can see how far we have fallen.
14
I hope the other signers of the non-nuke proliferation agreement with Iran can find a way to get around the unilaterally imposed US sanctions. If they can achieve this, Trump's position would be marginalized and saner heads would prevail.
Perhaps Facebook's proposed bitcoin would be a venue for countries to get around US Banking hegemony. Can Zuckerberg save the world from another Mideast war?
2
@Ed.C No. Zuckerberg has done enough damage to this world with his massive social media data mining abomination. Silicon Valley has reached the point where it manufactures more problems than it solves.
Blockchain will not prevent war. The Europeans have already set up an exchange for sanction-evading trade with Iran, and nobody is using it because they fear the US.
Silicon Valley cannot meaningfully challenge the military-industrial complex that owns our world. On the contrary, their products trend toward strengthening "security" agencies by compiling massive data warehouses of biometric data (voice, facial recognition, fingerprint, geolocation) accessible to the FBI CIA, NSA without much oversight. China has interned Uighurs with this technology, for example.
Can we talk about saving the world from Zuckerberg instead?
6
By golly, sanctions have worked so well in North Korea, Cuba, and Venezuela, why not force Iran to our do will with them. How could they not work? Or maybe this policy has been put in place to force Iran into a response that Mr. Bolton can use to justify real war? Do you suppose the leaders of Iran are going to allow the U.S. to destroy their country without a fight?
315
Imagine what the rest of the world thinks
83
Iran wants an excuse to start a war. Obama appeased them and insulted every America by his ignorant actions. This president is correct: Iran must never have a nuclear missile.
3
@Jan
Why would Iran start a war?
And we had a nuclear agreement that was working.
But some people want regime change.
30
@Jan
and they say satire is dead.
26
@Betty durso. Some people want war not for any real reason but to reaffirm their questionable masculinity.
7
The US claims Iran’s interference in the region that is one of the reasons for punishing them. The tankers belong to Norway and Japan so why is the US considering that as it’s own interest? Who gave us the authority to be the policeman of the world? We but ourselves in every conflict as if we are the keepers of moral authority. It would have been easier to engage with Iran while we were part of the nuclear agreement than being out of it; does it take a stable genius to know that? The administration is bent on ending everything that Obama had done? the white supremacy just could not bear to see the success of a black president who was the real genius!
93
@ Naushad Kassamali
"The administration is bent on ending everything that Obama had done? "
Yes, and there should not be a question mark at the end of the sentence; there should be an explanation mark.
7
@Naushad Kassamali We should also keep in mind that Japanese dispute the administration's account of what happened with the tankers. So, probably the incident with tankers was our own job -- and Iranian fishermen are catching drone wreckage so I'd guess Trump is lying about where the drone was shot too.
5
@mhg The tankers belonged to Norway and Japan. What in the world is Trump trying to do? That's insanity.
3
I am reminded of a scene from Monty Python’s Holy Grail - with a French soldier hurling insults (and cows) down from their castle battlements.
The U.S. is made to look like comic bullies.
48
I’m not a fan of the Iranian government, but by standing up to the bully in chief, they’re showing the way to defeat trump, whether it’s in global diplomacy or domestic politics.
Just stand up to him.
When the words stop, the actions he has available (the semi-sane ones anyway) won’t have much of an impact.
Hopefully, he won’t throw a tantrum and start lobbing lethal weapons at the people who have littler nothing to do with steps the rulers have taken.
The USA has gone from a pretty great nation to a two-bit autocracy with a demented leader driving an administration full of sheep.
We need real leaders and an government that can compromise to get results.
251
@Steve Ell
Remember Merrick Garland. The GOP will not compromise. Their idea of compromise is us doing what they want. So you can put that kind of leadership out of your mind.
3
@Steve Ell
What's next? Lobbing missiles at "Blue" states before we can vote him out ? This man child is a true threat to the world and to our country.
2
Unlike an engine which could be tuned up and the spark advanced, a better analogy for the current US leader would be a rotten cabbage, soft and mushy with little thought with no hope to correct.
8
Trump is an economic, military, and moral arsonist who calls the fire department after he burns the “thing” to the ground and wants to take credit for putting out the fire!
That is and has been how he runs his business and life.
This should be the only thing we say about him to re-brand him as the arsonist he is...
164
I am beginning to think that we have seen this movie before of POTUS exchanging insults with foreign leaders.
Soon, we may have POTUS declaring that he received a very "poetic" letter in the best traditions of Persian writing from his new friend Ayatollah.
And while not going so far as to say he is in love - he could say that FLOTUS has requested special Persian carpets (on sale, of course) for private quarters of the White House.
Well, it is worth imagining anyway rather than "fire and destruction."
This Kabuki style dance of rhetoric might give rise to a new diplomatic jargon or even a new type of diplomacy along the lines of "perestroika" or "detente" or "Finlandization" or even "containment".
And many PhD's will be minted in years to come over a "Trump" doctrine.
All welcome - rather than a deadly and devastating war.
8
Rouhani is right. Though the terminology is offensive, especially to those with disabilities, there is something wrong with trump. Being from Brooklyn, I have no lofty diagnosis; the man is nuts. The entire world knows it and is watching in wonder at the US slowly sinks into cartoonland, a caricature of what we once were.
To top it off he is now once again accused of being a sexual predator, apparently a lifelong hobby he readily admits to in his own words with glee.
Depressing.
621
@Jay Stephen. So the head of the world’s largest terrorist organization is evil but only because he used insensitive language about people with disabilities? The man who leads the government’s that has littered the world with amputees? And Trump is the real bad guy? Sorry, but that is the kind of mental confusion that puts all of us at great risk.
7
@ehillesum How many have died in our military mis-adventures in Vietnam and Iraq? Eisenhower warned us about the military industrial complex. We didn't listen. The drumbeat of war goes on and on.
176
@ehillesum The only country in the world that was rebuked for state sponsored terrorism is the US for mining Nicaraguan waters.
77
The “Times” reports, “Tensions have risen sharply over the past six weeks, ever since the Trump administration tightened its sanctions enforcement in an effort to cut off all international sales of Iran’s oil, the lifeblood of its economy. Iranian officials have denounced those sanctions as “economic warfare.”
Yes, sanctions on a globalized, recognized crucial, and essential asset, oil, to not only participation in, but survival in, the modern world — for both oil providing nation states, but also oil dependent countries, is exactly tantamount to “economic war”.
Just ask Japan from July of 1941 on.
14
@Alan MacDonald
BTW, I should have more accurately described the ‘trump administration’ as the ‘world-girdling’ EMPIRE of the Imperialist Trump ‘Regime’.
And, Yes, we the people of America, and all ‘citizens of the world’, desperately need a positive and progressive “Regime Change”.
11
Other than using a “politically incorrect” term, Rouhani hit the nail on the head and upped it a notch by using language that Trumpites can understand.
399
Trump is also politically incorrect so it all evens out.
15
The US’s desire for world dominance is teetering on the head of a pin.
9
@Sue
More accurately, The Disguised Global Crony Capitalist Empire, which is only nominally HQed in, and merely ‘posing’ as, our formerly ‘promising’ and sometimes ‘progressive’ country (PKA) America, “desires world dominance and is teetering on the head of a pin” — which only ‘we the American people’ have the responsibility, and power of loud public democracy, to peacefully resolve.
3
"Mr. Rouhani and other Iranians have said the mixed messages and coercive tactics from the Trump administration belie its professed desire to negotiate."
So, let's see...we were part of a cohesive plan with our European allies, trump doesn't like Obama and pulls us out of it on a petulant whim and now says he wants to talk. No wonder Iran doesn't see him as someone who is capable of negotiating himself out of a paper bag. And they know he is a liar and cannot be trusted. He is incapable of instilling any kind of hope.
His incoherence on foreign policy (let alone what is going on here at home) is going to end up very badly for the American people (and the people of the Middle East).
151
From an outstanding NPR piece by Aaron David Miller and Richard Sokolsky this spring:
'Pressure — in the form of military threats, economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation — can be an effective tool if it's tethered to a comprehensive and realistic strategy that combines carrots and sticks. But a strategy that insists on getting 100 percent of what the administration wants while denying Iran anything it wants is doomed to failure.'
The strategy vacuum in Washington, combined with prideful ignorance and glaring opportunism, dooms this newest round of sanctions to abysmal failure. It's up to us, voters, to bend the arc of history back towards reason and justice.
330
@common sense advocate
Are the 10's of millions who voted for Trump pleased with his performance?...prolly so
7
@common sense advocate
Does anyone really know what we want? Don't make the bomb. Is that it? Or don't support Hezbollah? Is there any thing else?
@common sense advocate
The administration's policies are all stick, without any carrots. Iran has figured out how to live without foreign goods and can wait out the sanctions. It isn't pleasant for the Iranians, but capitulating to President Mayhem is worse to them.
9
The level of absurdity is reaching new heights. On one side a narrow minded cleric running a sophisticated country and than a narcissistic President who prefers to demean his opponents with tweets and a crazed Korean leader who is just sadistic and uncaring.
The world needs real adult supervision not these myopic, immature individuals, will someone please help !,
193
@Pablo Cuevas
Indeed.
Iran does not invade sovereign states to steal their oil.
102
@Dave Martin: Who do you mean with narrow minded cleric running a sophisticated country? Pence? Pompeo? Because both of them are definitely the bigger religious fanatics than President Rouhani.
Ok, there's still Khamenei who holds the real power, but even he seems less of a religious wacko than many GOP representatives, so best to not throw stones in a glasshouse..
52
In spite of being religious, which usually pushes people to make stupid decisions, at least the Iranian leaders have shown much more maturity, restraint and common sense to deal with our aggressive and violent empire.
157
President Hassan Rouhani is only articulating what people have been saying for a while now.
467
@frank. It's the first time I have clicked "like" on his twitter feed.
16
@frank
Yes. He's clearly the more reasonable one of the two. Unbelievable.
2
Please don’t insult the disabled, Trump’s mental issues are far greater.
337
“Today, the Americans have become desperate and confused,” he added. “This has made them take unusual measures and talk nonsense.” Rouhani is a bit late to the game... "Today"? Just now? He's not been paying attention to the "nonsense" that is the trump presidency.
132
Trump and Rouhani deserve each other. All this talk is tiresome, but it beat the alternative.
"Jaw, jaw is better than war, war.”
No, these words were not spoken by Churchill, but by Harold MacMillan.
5
Rouhani sounds like Trump's critics. He's obviously been paying attention to them and has adopted their tone and language.
5
@AACNY
Yes, the critics’ language is much more civil, truthful and on point than anything coming from Trump and his tribe.
21
you always speak of trump's critics. you never speak anything about his policies or initiatives that he had congress pass that benefit all americans including his critics.
why is that?
12
@me
Looking for Trump's beneficial policies and initiatives...still looking.......looking some more....Nope! NADA!!
1