"Back From The Brink, At Least For Now?"
by Leo Hohmann
"What a roller coaster day this has been. At approximately 7 p.m., one hour before Donald Trump’s 8 p.m. EST deadline for Iran to capitulate to his demands, it looks like Trump may have agreed to the bulk of Iran’s demands. But this is only a ceasefire. Nothing permanent has been agreed to. But if the final deal is anything similar to what Trump has agreed to temporarily, then Iran is going to be much more powerful than it was before this war started.
One of the 10 points Iran demanded and apparently has been granted, is that Iran will no longer be threatened with anymore aggression from the U.S., which would mean the U.S. abandons all or most of its bases in the Middle East.
o Iran also will be given control over the Strait of Hormuz, as long as it keeps it open.
o Iran will be allowed to continue enriching its uranium.
o All economic sanctions will be lifted against Iran.
o All UN security council resolutions against Iran will be rescinded.
o Payments for everything destroyed in Iran over the last 38 days will have to come from somewhere, apparently the United States.
oYou can read more about Iran’s 10-point plan here.
President Trump said Iran sent the U.S. a 10-point peace plan that is a “workable basis on which to negotiate.” A day earlier, Iran rejected a 15-point proposal offered by American negotiators and Trump had earlier rejected Iran’s 10-point plan. “Almost all of the various points of past contention have been agreed to between the United States and Iran, but a two week period will allow the Agreement to be finalized and consummated,” Trump wrote in his post to Truth Social.
This does not sound like a win for Trump. But if that’s how Trump wants to spin it, then I’m good with that. I am just glad we are not going to nuclear war over a country in the Middle East that never presented an existential threat to the United States. At least not now.
On the other hand, I do not believe this ceasefire deal will hold permanently, precisely because it sounds too weighted in favor of Iran. I believe Trump will use this ceasefire to rearm and reorganize to fight another day. Israel has also reportedly agreed to the ceasefire, but I cannot imagine the Israelis will ever agree to this deal as currently framed with all of Iran’s 10 points. There is also the possibility that we wake up tomorrow or the next day and find out the deal is completely off and Trump is landing troops on Iranian soil. Nothing is guaranteed in the current insane environment.
But the immediate crisis appears to have been averted and I can’t help but think our prayers had something to do with that. Prayers and perhaps calls flooding into Congressional offices from thousands of very upset Americans.
Another point of pressure on Trump, and this may have been the biggest one, was the Gulf state Sunni Muslim countries allied with America. The UAE and particularly the Saudis, have invested heavily in Trump’s Operation Stargate AI data centers being built across America, which will form the basis for the coming global control grid. The Saudis likely threatened to pull that money if Trump didn’t back off of his threats to annihilate Iran’s civilian infrastructure, because Iran vowed to strike back at similar targets in Saudi Arabia, UAE, Kuwait, Bahrain and possibly Qatar.
In the end, Trump had threatened more than he could deliver, the Iranians called his bluff, and came out the big winners. Trump will spin a narrative that makes it sound like he is the winner and the world’s best dealmaker, but the facts, at least in the interim, speak otherwise."
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