Seems pretty easy to me to just stop the war to end this sort of stuff.<p>But I must be missing something.
Irans leadership does not want to be killed by being bombed every few month. So they need to impose sufficient costs to deter bombing them.<p>Idk what you are missing... maybe that people don't want to be killed and try to implement strategies to not get killed?
We are in a really bad situation, of our own making no doubt.<p>We actually have no idea who's in charge of Iran (the stated ruler has yet to be seen and probably was severely injured in the same blast that killed Khamenei), but it's a pretty good bet that they are even more extreme and hard-line than before.<p>We've shown that Iran has complete and total control over the global economy via energy markets.<p>Every other country in the region wants Iran gone. Or to put it in more direct terms, the US kind of needs to "finish the job".<p>If we back down now, Iran wins, and that may actually be the worst possible situation to end up in.<p>To everyone who voted for Trump ... YOU VOTED FOR THIS. THANKS.
Trump must save face. Publicly backing down is only possible once there's some kind of out, probably involving Iran loudly compromising.
Trump would also have to navigate the loyalty the US state apparatus has to Israel. Iran has made it clear that the ceasefire option is off the table this time round. So I just don’t see the US extricating itself from this quagmire barring some extreme political upheaval.<p>But who knows, if you take Trump’s incompetence, plus the possibility of global economic collapse, plus the possibility of global food shortages, we just might see it.
Trump is old and a lame duck. I think he sees not backing down in as his last hope of creating a legacy
The view from the couch is such that everything seems pretty easy really.
ran started with 5 demands:<p>* US out of middle east entirely (meaning removing the army bases protecting the gulf countries)<p>* Cessation of hostilities, including their proxy forces<p>* Security guarantees, including for their proxy forces (translation: letting Iran fully take over Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq and probably soon Saudi Arabia)<p>* Payment of war reparations to the IRGC<p>* Taxing the strait of Hormuz<p>They're down to 1 demand only: cessation of hostilities, only against Iran itself. Well, let's not forget who we're talking to. The only thing Iran's "revolutionaries", but in reality a dictator with a bunch of mansions in London, wants is guarantees for <i>his own</i> safety.<p>Now it's war and no doubt things can go very badly very quickly. But, so far, seems to be going pretty damn well for the US if we're being honest.