re: Iran stops all negotiation with U.S. — Promises to completely block Strait of Hormuz.

They can't even keep this topic contained to the stickied thread.

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We don’t negotiate with terrorists” has been the mantra forever. Knowing that, we’ve been doing it for months.

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Trump has been negotiating with himself for months. Meanhwile, and despite the fact that "we totally destroyed their Navy, totally wiped out their missiles", Iran controls the Straight and we can't open it.

Basically, they called our bluff.

Best I cab tell, Trump has two choices: start bombing again. Or pack up and go home.

Curious to see which one he does.

It will be studied in text books for centuries as one of the dumbest political decisions ever.

He was elected not by MAGA folks (they would have voted for any Republican, but moderates that are socially liberal).

He was hired to end foreign wars, close the border, identify and eliminate useless spending (DOGE), deport illegals, find and arrest those associated with Epstein and make America healthy again (Kennedy).

Three months in, he was hitting on all cylinders and people were elated.

Then DOGE is shut down. Then they crap the bed on Epstein - tripping all over themselves in the process.

Then…for some completely unknown reason, we start another baseless war in the ME…this time with Iran…a nation of 90 million people.

Gas through the roof. Cost of goods up. Inflation will go up. Interest rates will stay up.

It was a mindnumbing-ly stupid decision that will ruin the mandate he had when he was elected.

We should go full tilt in destroying everything that moves and every military target around the strait.

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was a mindnumbing-ly stupid decision that will ruin the mandate he had when he was elected.

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I am fascinated with how he is gonna try to spin this. What did we accomplish again?

Just end their ability to produce and export oil. Destroy their facilities. Blockade their tankers. This is all these sand people have.

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They’re betting that there isn’t much political will in the U.S. for a longer term regime change war and rebuild. And they’re right. Totally destroying that country and then being left to clean it up would be Iraq all over again. Knowing everything we now know, Iran was not a threat to this country and we should have stayed out.

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Trump was sold a bill of goods. He doesn't have any decent options besides making some kind of deal that gets him through the midterms.

He did this to himself.

The Iranians aren't stupid in spite of what the idiots say here. They have significant leverage because they know Trump can't escalate.

Be selective in your discernment, though.

If it doesn't have sirens in the tweeter post, it's either fake news or not important.

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I have Persian fatigue.

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good thing we didn't have twitter and message boards during vietnam.

I have little faith in POTUS and whoever advised him into this shi*tshow to get us out of this. The president doesn't seem to get that they've called his bluff.

I only see one possible exit strategy to avoid full-scale escalation:

1. Intense bombing campaign of whatever military and industrial infrastructure that remains for 1-2 weeks.

2. Impose our demands (no enrichment, I guess) and enforce with a no-fly zone, blockade, and a containment protocol, as was used for Iraq after the first gulf war. Some scaled back version of that.

3. Let them twist in the wind that way for a while until we can ease out of the region. Heck, maybe all those brave Persians will rise up and save us the trouble.


This likely means that we'll have to bomb them again someday, but that's why this war was a fool's errand.

Regime change will not happen absent a full on invasion, and the country doesn't have the money, soldiers, materiel, or stomach for that.