Trump’s five impossible demands, and the inevitable second strike against Iran |
As American naval forces assemble in the Indian Ocean, diplomats started negotiations in Muscat on Friday; the region is standing at the precipice. President Trump, buoyed by his recent spectacular success in Venezuela, is entering these talks with Iran with demands that can only be described as maximalist. The conditions are so extreme that even the most seasoned diplomats are calling them a dead-on-arrival.
As reported by the Israeli newspaper Maariv, the United States has made five core demands of the Iranian government. The demands are the transfer of 400 kilograms of enriched uranium, the destruction of Iranian nuclear facilities, the destruction of its ballistic missile capability, the end of its missile program, and the end of its support of its allied forces in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon. These are not opening demands; these are ultimatums issued under the guns of an approaching American naval Armada.
“I would say he should be very worried,” Trump told NBC News when asked about the Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Trump’s candor is the candor of a man who is sure of the outcome. Having recently forced the surrender of Venezuelan President Maduro, Trump is convinced he can repeat the same fantastic performance with the Iranian government. But Iran is not Venezuela. Iran has spent forty-five years preparing for this moment and may well thwart Trump’s ambitious plan. Seasoned observers are convinced that decapitation or extraction is impossible to achieve in Iran.
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“Following the 12-day war, we have changed our military doctrine from defensive to offensive by adopting the policy of asymmetric warfare,” declared the Chief of Staff of the Iranian Armed Forces, Major General Abdolrahim Mousavi,........