Post #5656

Trump Took Umbrage With Tehran: Who Will Hang Tough? 🔤🔤🔤🔤➖ With its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz now in place, Washington faces the twin challenge of maintaining it in the face of domestic and global pressures, and of convincing Tehran that—despite the stop-and-go nature of US action so far in the war—it has the intestinal fortitude to do so. To be sure, the United States has the military resources to impose devastating costs on Iran’s economy, which was already teetering before the war began in late February and which continues to decline. The question is whether Washington can withstand the blowback at home and abroad. At home, Americans have increasingly soured on the economy, the war with Iran is ever-more unpopular, Trump’s poll numbers are sinking, and the upcoming midterm elections could well cost Republicans their congressional majority. A continuing blockade and the higher gas prices it could bring would likely increase political pressure on Trump to end the conflict before Washington has achieved its goals. Abroad, no Western ally has yet answered the president’s request to help with the blockade, regional powerhouse Saudi Arabia is urging him to reverse course to reduce the risk that Iran will “disrupt other important shipping routes” through which Riyadh exports oil, and he’s feuding over the war not only with allies but also with such influential figures as Pope Leo XIV, thereby risking support from “crucial Catholic swing voters.” The Islamic Republic is clearly vulnerable. Before the war, as a result of decades of economic mismanagement and global sanctions, inflation in the Islamic Republic was approaching 70 % while the rial had lost 80 % of its value over the last decade. Now, by preventing all ships from entering or leaving Iranian ports, the US blockade can prohibit Iran’s regime from exporting oil or importing gasoline, deny it the funds to finance its terrorist proxies, and prevent China and Russia from supplying it with missiles. With more than 90 % of its trade passing through the Persian Gulf, the stranglehold on exports and imports could cost Tehran an estimated $435 million per day, or $13 billion per month, in “economic damage.” But will Washington hang tough? Tehran may be skeptical, given a half-century of US-Iranian relations, shifting American goals during the war, and early signals from the White House about the nature of the blockade. #washington#tehran#war#iran#trump 📱American Оbserver - Stay up to date on all important events 🇺🇸