Trump is Trapped, But Doesn’t Know It

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The image above reminds us that we are in Deja Vu land with respect to the current war with Iran. Despite Trump’s campaign promise to not start a new war in the Middle East he has done exactly that. Only one little problem… He can’t win it and, even if he declares victory and tries to bring the air force squadrons and carrier strike groups back home, Iran is not going to cooperate.

I was interviewed late Friday night by a 40 year old man who lives in Iran. He was born during the Iraq/Iran war in the 1980s and has no real memory of how that event resonated among the adults at the time. However, the US and Israeli attacks of June 2025 and February 2026 have ignited a spirit of patriotism and nationalism among the generation born between 1980 and 2010. Western hopes that the people of Iran would demand the end of the Islamic Republic have been dashed. Iran is more united now than at anytime since the revolution of 1979.

A story has emerged that explains why Israel and the United States were so confident that the attack on 28 February would produce a regime change and the fall of the Islamic Republic… Israel’s Mossad had recruited General Esmail Qaani. General Esmail Qaani (often spelled Qaani or Qaani) was an Iranian brigadier general in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) who served as the commander of the IRGC’s Quds Force, the unit in charge of Iran’s overseas and covert operations, until January 2020, when he was appointed to replace Qassem Soleimani after Soleimani was killed in a U.S. drone strike near Baghdad on January 3, 2020. General Qaani reportedly had promised to deliver Iran to the West, but his role in facilitating the murder of the Ayatollah Ali Khameni was exposed and he has been eliminated. Watch this video to understand the extent of his treachery.

During the week following the death of the Ayatollah Khameni and his top generals, Iran military operations and missile strikes were carried out in a decentralized fashion that gave each regional commander complete autonomy to select targets. It now appears that the command-and-control system of Iran’s military and security services has been restored and Iran is now carrying out a very precise, coordinated plan to force the US from the Persian Gulf and to destroy Israel’s ability to attack Iran.

Here’s the report from Iran of its activities on March 14:

In the 52nd wave of Operation True Promise 4, under the code “O Zainab al-Kubra, peace be upon her,” IRGC forces carried out combined strikes on targets in the occupied territories and three US bases in retaliation for the blood of martyred workers from Iran’s industrial towns.

• Ambulance sirens and Zionist admissions of rising killed and wounded reveal the scale of the IRGC missile strikes on the industrial sectors of Tel Aviv.

• Iranian missiles and drones also struck the industrial sectors and US force gathering points at the Al-Harir base in Erbil and the Ali Al-Salem and Arifjan bases.

• The unknown fate of the Zionist Prime Minister and reports he may be dead or fleeing with his family highlight the crisis within the Zionist regime. If this child-killing criminal is alive, we will continue to pursue and kill him with full force.

Iran is carrying out an average of four waves of missile and drone attacks per day. The US and Israel have grossly underestimated Iran’s arsenal of ballistic missiles. In the event that Donald Trump tries to declare victory and disengage, Iran will not. Iran will continue to pummel US military facilities in the Persian Gulf and Israel’s military and infrastructure. I believe that Iran will not end its blockade of the Strait of Hormuz until the US and Israel agree to Iran’s terms. These include the lifting of all sanctions against Iran, the removal of US military installations from the Persian Gulf and reparations for the damage inflicted on Iran during the course of this war.

Trump will face the dilemma of accepting Iran’s terms (a humiliating outcome) or continuing a war of attrition while the while Iran launches at least three waves of missiles every day. The pressure on Trump will be enormous as long as Iran maintains control over the Strait of Hormuz… US allies, particularly in Asia, will be pleading to an end of the war, and the domestic economic picture will worsen. Trump is trapped and does not appear to have a politically viable exit ramp.

I had a pleasant chat with Pelle Neroth Taylor and retired journalist, Martin Sieff, late on Friday. Please visit their channel:

Stas and I discussed the debacle that is unfolding in the Persian Gulf and the damage to US credibility: