Trump’s war of choice in Iran ends with humiliating concessions | Editorial
None of the goals the president initially stated were attained, and the final terms of the peace deal remain secret, while Trump tries to claim victory for a war he started and lost.
Just before hosting a modern day gladiatorial bout on the White House lawn Sunday, Donald Trump announced a deal to end the needless war he started in Iran. But the terms of the deal made public so far underscore the epic blunder of his Middle East misadventure.
None of the goals the president initially stated were attained: Iran did not offer the “unconditional surrender” Trump demanded. Its nuclear program was not abolished. The hard-line theocratic regime remains firmly in place. The people of Iran were not liberated. And Iran’s military, though damaged, is still intact.
At best, the preliminary agreement is a fragile ceasefire that will reopen the Strait of Hormuz and end the costly U.S. bombing campaign. If all goes well, that will maybe get the world back to the way it was on Feb. 27 — the day before the war began.
At worst, it is another humiliating defeat for the U.S. to go with the losses in Afghanistan and Vietnam. While the Iran war was much shorter, the damage was just as disgraceful, and perhaps even more unnecessary.
In fact, the Middle East and the rest of the world is less stable today than before Trump started bombing Iran.
If anything, Iran learned it can easily create a global economic crisis whenever it wants by putting a choke hold on the Strait of Hormuz with just a few drones and underwater mines. Iran can use that leverage as future deterrence against the U.S., Israel, or any other foe — which may be better than a nuclear weapon.
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Then there is the cost of Trump’s useless war.
The military spent more than $25 billion just through the end of April. But the cost to the economy was estimated to be more than $1 trillion.
Closing the strait meant cutting off passage for a fifth of the world’s oil supply, leading Americans to feel the financial pain at the gas pump and the grocery store. Farmers were hurt by higher fuel and fertilizer prices. Overall, the war sent inflation surging to a three-year high.
Trump was unfazed by the pain he inflicted, claiming he “loved inflation,” and that gas prices were not very high and a cost everyone needs to endure to keep Iran from obtaining a nuclear bomb.
As usual, Trump’s war spin was delusional, as he veered from dozens of claims that peace was just around the corner to psychotic threats to wipe out Iran’s civilization.
Then there was the human cost.
Fourteen U.S. service members died and hundreds more were injured. More than 3,000 Iranians were killed, including scores of children in a school that was bombed.
How many hearts have turned cold toward America and its interests after the senseless killing and destruction of civilian sites in Iran and other parts of the Middle East bombed by Israel?
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Of course, the agreement did not resolve the main issue regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions — which Trump oversold.
Trump can’t even claim his deal is better than the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty Iran signed in 1968, let alone the nuclear agreement negotiated by the Obama administration in 2015, whereby Iran agreed to do away with much of its nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.
In 2018, Trump abandoned that deal, which was reached through nearly two years of discussions by seasoned diplomats, in contrast to the untrained negotiators Trump sent in — a group that included his son-in-law, Jared Kushner.
Trump and his Republican allies for years railed about the $1.7 billion the Obama administration sent to Iran as part of the deal. But preliminary drafts of Trump’s plan include unfreezing $24 billion in Iranian assets, lifting oil sanctions, and implementing a massive reconstruction plan — or reparations — for Iran valued around $300 billion, according to Reuters.
No wonder why the final terms of Trump’s deal remain secret while he tries to claim victory for a war he lost, while everyone else was stuck with the cost.
All to end up — at best — back where we started.
