Trump never had a plan for Iran. Now he's scrambling. |
President Donald Trump is cornered in a conundrum of his own creation in his war of choice with Iran.
At home in America, the Republican Party had hoped to use an improving economy to sway voters to let them keep control of Congress in November's midterm elections. But Trump's war has driven up the price of oil, which makes gasoline and everything transported by gas-powered vehicles more expensive.
Abroad, Trump's main ally in his war with Iran is Israel, which keeps bombing Iranian oil industry infrastructure, prompting Iran to attack the oil industry in surrounding Middle East countries. That, too, drives up the cost of oil, while shaking America's stock markets.
Trump never looked like he had a plan for this war. Now he's scrambling to deal with the consequences.
Just look at the extraordinary social media post from Trump on March 18, after Israel bombed the Pars natural gas fields in Iran, which drove the price of a barrel of oil up to $110. Iran responded by bombing liquefied natural gas facilities in Qatar, causing about $20 billion in lost annual revenue.
Trump, in his post, claimed his administration and Qatar "knew nothing" about Israel's strikes on Iranian oil infrastructure and promised that Israel would not launch similar attacks in the future.
That looked like a bid to calm the oil markets. But Trump couldn't stop at that, adding a........