Orrock LXXXVI XLVII23h ago

From #heatherCoxRichardson #leonpanetta

The president is under enormous pressure, as his war with Iran sparked Iranian officials to close the Strait of Hormuz.... This outcome was expected by previous presidents, but Trump seemed to think he could avoid it and now is stuck without an easy solution. As former defense secretary and Central Intelligence Agency director Leon Panetta told David Smith of The Guardian, “[I]f there was an escape here for Trump, it would be to declare victory and it’s over and we’ve been able to be successful in all of our military targets. The problem is he can declare victory all he wants but, if he doesn’t get the ceasefire, he’s got nothing. And he’s not going to get a ceasefire as long as Iran is holding the gun of the strait of Hormuz against his head.”

“He tends to be naive about how things can happen,” Panetta told Smith. “If he says it and keeps saying it, there’s always a hope that what he says will come true. But that’s what kids do. It’s not what presidents do.”

Show threadOrrock LXXXVI XLVII

🧵 National security scholar Phil Gordon, who served as the White House coordinator for the Middle East, North Africa, and the Persian Gulf Region during the Obama administration, posted: “When Obama sent Iran $400m + $1.3bn in interest in 2016 Trump called it ‘insane’ and he and others spent a decade mocking the idea of ‘pallets of cash’ even though it was Iran’s own money, American prisoners were released, courts were likely to require the U.S. payment, and Iran had just agreed to significant and verified reductions and restrictions on its nuclear program for 15+ years.

“Now Trump is giving Iran up to ten times that amount of revenue—one of the most significant measures of sanctions relief provided to the Islamic Republic since its founding—in exchange for marginal and temporary relief from the big increase in oil prices his actions have caused, without any concessions from Tehran, and even as Iran continues to target the United States, its allies, and world oil supplies…”/2

Mar 23 at 2:33pmWeb