When Negotiation Is Impossible and War Is Unnecessary
by Amir Taheri
September 22, 2019 at 4:00 am
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14903/iran-negotiation-war It is likely that whoever planned the attacks was more interested in testing the waters, seeing how far it was possible to go in provocation...
What the mullahs did not realize was that the new status quo came at no cost to the Americans, who could thus afford to prolong it as far as needed. All that Trump did was announce that anyone trading with the Islamic Republic could not trade with the US, and that the US would no longer allow the mullahs to use American global banking and trade facilities.
In every case, the tyranny of the underdog worked and the mullahs managed to continue crushing their opponents at home and fattening their cohorts abroad while casting themselves as champions of the downtrodden resisting the diktats of the "Great Satan."
Khamenei's best hope is for Trump to go for a pin-pr*ck operation that would shake but not topple the Khomeinist regime while mobilizing Iranian and international opinion in its support as a victim, thus forcing the easing of sanctions that are beginning to break the bones of his regime.
