Trump lost his nerve and surrendered to a beaten Iran

From calls for “unconditional surrender” to handing Iran control of the Strait of Hormuz, President Trump just gave the Islamic Republic of Iran a win on the world stage.

What happened? Iran became too hard for the White House. 

Trump was in search of a quick win. He believed that removing Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the initial strike on February 28 would topple the regime. It did not.

Instead, to his surprise, he got a resilient Iran. After 38 days, he lost his nerve to complete the task — even though, by all metrics, Admiral Brad Cooper’s military campaign was on a glide path to achieve its objectives. Given more time, it would have eventually toppled the terrorist regime, provided peace to the region after decades of conflict, and reopened the Strait of Hormuz on his terms. These were Trump’s objectives.

But that all changed on April 7. Trump apparently lost his strategic patience and political will and handed a win to an Iran on the verge of collapse.

He tried to spin the agreement on Truth Social, saying that the U.S. had “exceeded all his military objectives.” But this is not winning.

Trump was looking for an off ramp, and he found one through Pakistani intermediaries. He did not want to have to follow through on this threat to destroy all power plants and bridges in Iran, let alone “wipe out a whole civilization” — whatever his intentions were in posting such a preposterous thing in the first place. For many, the ultimatum sounded like the oft-quoted phrase from the Vietnam War about how “it became necessary to destroy the town to save it.”

It may have been hyperbole — more Art of the Deal hot air — but sometimes words matter. This was one of those times, and the anti-Trump regime quickly seized upon........

© The Hill