I didn’t think Trump would be this foolish, but here we are.
Geopolitical Risk Surges
Trump said an interim peace deal signed between the two last month is over.
Oil prices spiked 8 percent, stocks are down, and bond yields surged.
Trump Calls Iran Scum
Rational Last Month, Scum Today
The Wall Street Journal reports Trump Says Ceasefire With Iran Is Over After Latest Attacks
President Trump said he believed his ceasefire deal with Iran was over and that the U.S. would likely carry out more strikes soon, following another round of Iranian attacks on ships in the Strait of Hormuz that snarled efforts to reopen the strategic waterway.
“We hit them very hard last night…we’ll probably hit them hard again tonight,” Trump told reporters at a NATO summit in Ankara on Wednesday. “I’ll give them a little warning, we’re going to hit them hard tonight. But we’ll see how it all works out.”
The president’s remarks were the starkest sign yet that diplomacy with Iran has stalled under the preliminary peace agreement he signed in mid-June. “If we make a deal with Iran, I’m not sure that will stick,” Trump said, during an appearance with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. He said he was considering reimposing a naval blockade on Iran to ramp up economic pressure, and raised the prospect of targeting civilian infrastructure such as electricity and desalination plants, “if we have to.”
During earlier comments to reporters, sitting next to North Atlantic Treaty Organization Secretary-General Mark Rutte, Trump stopped short of saying the U.S. would restart the war, however, and said he would let talks continue if the parties were willing.
“To me, I think it’s over. I don’t want to deal with them anymore,” Trump said.
Water Desalinization
- Qatar: ~61% desalination (22% groundwater, 18% rainwater); >99% of drinking water from desalination.
- Bahrain: ~59% desalination (32% groundwater, 11% rainwater); >90% of drinking water.
- Kuwait: ~47% desalination (51% groundwater); ~90% of drinking/municipal water.
- UAE: ~41% desalination (46% groundwater + treated wastewater/rainwater); ~42% of drinking water.
- Oman: ~23% desalination (69% groundwater); ~86% of drinking/municipal water.
- Saudi Arabia: ~18% desalination (79% groundwater); ~70% of drinking/municipal water. Saudi produces the largest volume in the world (about 3 billion m³ in 2023).
- Israel: Highly advanced system. Desalination (seawater + brackish) supplies ~80–86% of potable/drinking water. Strong wastewater reuse for agriculture. Israel is a global leader in water technology and efficiency.
Iran Desalinization
Iran has more diverse natural resources than the Gulf states
- Surface water (rivers like Karun, etc.): ~41% of total withdrawals (~41 BCM out of ~100 BCM annual total).
- Groundwater (wells, qanats/aquifers): ~59% (~58.8 BCM) — heavily overexploited.
- Desalination: Negligible overall — only ~0.2 BCM/year (~0.2% of total withdrawals), mostly for coastal petrochemical plants or small southern facilities. Some sources approximate it at around 3%.
Beyond Stupid Threat
For starters, targeting targeting Iran’s civilian infrastructure such as electricity and desalination plants would be a war crime, not that Trump ever gives a damn about such things.
Iran would immediately hit back targeting all the desalinization plants in the region. Any successful strike would cripple that country immediately.
Expect a TACO
Expect an immediate TACO on the threat. The Mideast countries with the exception of Israel are undoubtedly on the phone already telling Trump not to do it.
Trump already gave himself a TACO out. He threatens infrastructure strikes “if we have to.”
Resolution Unchanged
The resolution of this war is unchanged. Iran is going to control the strait in the absence of US ground troops.
The clueless Wall Street Journal still has not figured this not, nor have the neocon US Senators.
The WSJ editorial board sounds offs with nonsense again, No More Oil Sanctions Waiver for Iran
The regime lost that privilege by firing on the Strait of Hormuz.
The MOU says “Iran will make arrangements using its best efforts for the safe passage of commercial vessels.” The regime is making arrangements all right—maneuvering to conquer the Strait—but firing unprovoked on civilian tankers is as clear a violation as it gets.
The MOU negotiated by Vice President JD Vance & co. was light on nuclear commitments and heavy on sanctions relief up-front. Its redeeming feature was supposed to be re-establishing freedom of navigation in the Strait while nuclear talks proceeded. Instead the Strait is under fire and nuclear talks are barely underway.
Iran never agreed for freedom of passage without tolls. Indeed, it explicitly denied that.
Ships attempting to violate Iran’s statements were the ones hit. Trump broke the ceasefire not Iran.
Of course, the WSJ board offered no solution. It never does. All it says is “The regime lost that privilege by firing on the Strait of Hormuz.”
The WSJ clowns don’t say how the US is supposed to enforce that because they have no idea.
Market Reaction
- WTI Crude Oil, $75.71, +$5.27, +7.48%
- Brent Crude Oil, $80.09, +$5.93, +8.00%
- 30-Year Long Bond, 5.086 percent, +0.042 percentage points
- 10-Year Treasury Note, 4.591 percent, +0.062 percentage points
Stocks are down modestly, by about a percent. The oil and bond reactions are more telling.
The US Lost the War
The ultimate resolution has not changed.
Trump started a stupid war and lost it. Iran will control the strait, perhaps with Oman.
Oman would be wise to get in on the deal, speak in support of Iran to get something out of it. By doing so, Oman also would eliminate the threat of getting hit in the region’s crossfire.
Trump is doing nothing but making matters worse with his latest foolish actions.
Expect another humiliating TACO or more Mideast infrastructure is going to get blown up for nothing.
My base case is unchanged. Trump will back down and Iran will collect fees. As an added insult, Trump will look more stupid in the process.
If you have a better solution than waving the white flag of surrender (which the MOU did) then name it.
The MOU was simply a ploy to get gas prices down for the Fourth of July consumer orgy and most are aware that Israel will never allow peace in the Middle East.
Now the military establishment can get back to demanding more money!
Gas prices fell a bit but remained 40-50% above where they were the day of the election. Another Trump failure to stack on the piles of lies.
Frosty nails it per usual
Waving the white flag and paying due reparations for committing this vicious and criminal war.
The terms of the MOU are irrelevant because the United States never was going to abide by any of them.
The US should wave the white flag of surrender, GTFO of the Middle East and then pay reparations. Should, not will.
https://www.instagram.com/reel/DaX-SQBEwMq/
And the Neocons should be dropped off in the middle of the Sunni triangle. Or in Gaza. I would pay to watch that.
Don’t bother with ransom demands, boys. You keep them.
Trump is on Air Force One talking to reporters. He says the US can win the war with Iran very quickly and that Iran wants to make a deal.
He’s been saying that about once a week for four months now. I can’t help but think his dementia is so bad he can’t remember that he keeps saying it and that it has been 4 months.
Now Trump says that he has already stopped Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. So mission accomplished. No need to go in and get the enriched uranium. And no need to send in independent inspectors and monitors. They can monitor the sites from space.
Sounds like he is getting ready to walk away as if he actually accomplished something.
Meanwhile, Qatar is pausing efforts to restart LNG production as the strait is still too dangerous to transit.
Wont matter what Trump does Iran wont stop therefore forcing Trump to respond. This will go on for a while till either Trump makes the move (or tells Israel too) or walks away.
We should all weep for the world economy, that which we knew, is laying on its death bed.
Economies don’t die until people are extinct. The market will find a route around whatever is thrown in its way. That doesn’t mean that we in the West will be prosperous. We can hope.
I would like to see Trump seize Kharg Island and offer to buy oil from the Iranian producers and sell it to the consumers. That would force the Iranian oil producers onto the American side. What could the Islamic Guards or whatever they are called do then?
hmm I thought Irans offensive capabilities were kaput?? “The enemy’s command and control center in West Asia and the al-Azraq airbase in Jordan were crushed with 10 ballistic missiles.” https://www.presstv.co.uk/Detail/2026/07/09/771916/IRGC-strikes-USCommand-Center–West-Asia
Because Trump “never loses” the US is locked in on a suicidal war.
Thousands of Americans are alive now that won’t be in another year, not to mention the damage this war will do to the US economy.
China probably sees this war as a way to end US hegemony & will give Iran lots of under the table support.
There is a reason that oil prices are not surging and it appears to be the effectiveness of US military strikes. The US had a couple months to watch Iran try to re-assemble its offensive and defensive military apparatus. All under the watchful eye of our satellites, drones and aircraft surveillance systems.
Targets were identified, prioritized and are now being systematically eliminated.
I am not condoning the activities of our aggression on behalf of Israel.
My understanding is that all of this violates the First amendment regarding the separation of church and state. It is clear that we are choosing one radical theocracy over another and using financial resources that should be invested in America. We are also using military resources that should be used to defend America.
Exhausting Irans military capacity is taking time. The shortages of fertilizer, sulphur, helium, LNG and crude oil are working their way through the inflation and supply chains which are stretching. When and where they break is of interest as helium is so critical to computer chip production and sulphur so critical to copper production.
We live in interesting times!
And you think that Iran hasn’t considered the satellites for the last decades? Do you really believe that the US is hitting military targets and not other civilian structures or decoys? Let’s just hope that no children is killed by the Epstein regime in the process.
Sure they have, but that does not indicate they have the staying power to defend their nation. Trump blows up little girls sitting at their desks with impunity, rapes little girls here at home and congress and the DOJ protect him. The US and Israel have been pounding them relentlessly for four months and I believe that at east 30,000 targets have been hit. The death toll must be in the hundreds of thousands and not one nation is effectively standing in the way.
Irans oil/gas is being pumped right out from under their feet by Qatar and if they could defend it they would.
China or Russia are not defending Iran. Virtually no-one is and over he next year I am pretty sure that the Iranian population will shrink by 10 to 25%.
Flip off the US financial, corporate and military structure?
Good luck with that!
Our military is only restrained by Trumps morals and he has no limits or compassion for any form of life he can not dominate.
“ There is a reason that oil prices are not surging and it appears to be the effectiveness of US military strikes.”
I disagree. If 4 months of US strikes were effective, Iran wouldn’t still be launching drones and missiles. The US says it struck over 13,000 targets and Israel said it hit 10,800 targets. All in the first 40 days. With plenty more strikes since then. Yet Iran still controls the strait and is still firing missiles and drones.
The US keeps striking the same radar and launch locations over and over, claiming to have destroyed them. Yet the next day those radars and launch locations are back up. They can keep installing new equipment to replace damaged units, or the equipment was never really damaged in the first place. Either way, it can hardly be considered successful.
Really? Then why is a barrel of crude trading at $71 bucks and no one is running out of jet, diesel or gasoline? Even Australia and New Zealand have shut down their fuel shortage websites.
I agree that Iran is continuing to deploy military assets including drones, decoys and real rocket launchers, but their effectiveness is negligible. The bully appears to be winning but not about to go to a ground offensive because its is not necessary. Controlling Iran financially and crushing their military assets is Israels and therefore Trumps goal.
Links to anything landing in Israel? Links to the cessation of the genocide in Gaza or Lebanon? I have not found anything indicating that Israel is stopping its expansion.
In psychology there is the idea of projection, an individual projects his self onto others. Maybe, Trump is the one who is “cuckoo and scum”.
He apparently thinks Iran may be Japan, so cuckoo is apropos.
I’ve lost count. How many times has Trump said these things in the last 4 months now? “We’ve won the war. They have nothing left. They are begging for a deal.“
Here are Trump’s statements from last night:
“I say we hit them 20 to 1 – every time they hit us, we’re going to hit them 20, and we did it last night,” he said. “They did a little something today, but it was really retribution for last night … when they hit, we hit back much harder.”
“We have many ways we can win, but we’ve already won militarily,” he said. “They have very little left, and they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly. I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal. I don’t know that they’re going to honor the deal. That’s the problem.”
How many more months will Trump keep trotting out these statements before finally slinking away without ever admitting defeat? No deal on nuclear. No taking of Iran’s enriched Uranium. No friendly regime change. No taking of Iran’s oil. No stopping their ballistic missile program. And letting them take control of the strait of Hormuz. Nothing accomplished. Only a net loss.
Meanwhile, we drained another 6 mb of oil from our SPR this week. It’s down to 319 mb. Patiently waiting to see how low we can take it before the salt caverns begin degrading.
“How many more months will Trump keep trotting out these statements before finally slinking away without ever admitting defeat?”
He will keep doing it as long as the markets respond positively to it, which they have again this morning. He is a master at manipulating the markets (he does it so often on weekends, I have been calling it Market Manipulation Monday), but at some point the game has to end and the bottom will drop out.
And Trump just increased the risk of an energy shortage triggered worldwide economic collapse. Somebody needs to get Rubio, the Neocons, and the blindly support Israel folks outta Trump’s ear. Trump is going to be in history books but not among the greats of the past.
US seeks cheaper hunter-killer drones after Iran destroys $1B worth of ReapersUS military drone losses in Iran war spur Pentagon call for cheap replacements.
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2026/07/us-seeks-cheaper-hunter-killer-drones-after-iran-destroys-1b-worth-of-reapers/
They need a lot more than that. The existing military contractors need to get broken up so we have more like 50 instead of 5.
If only we knew someone with the technology. Someone with cards to play…
Stocks new highs, bombs away. I bet Iranians dread the weekends.
I suspect the Iranians are gonna take the gloves off shortly. Don’t be surprised if they start counterattacking on Mondays
Fat Donnie’s splendid Special Military Operation is going very well.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
I honestly wish Trump would stop talking like he does, for the Iranians are a highly intelligent population.
Trump’s smears only show his lack of understanding of the historical rift that sits between the US and Iran.
It also shows that Trump is unaware of just how deadly a blow Iran can deal, not only to America, but the whole of Western civilization (I believe Iran is gonna take down world markets).
I’m also a believer we must as Americans, respect the office of the president, but Trump is seriously make it hard (for everyone in the world, not just me) when he blows diarrhea from his mouth like this.
No, what Trump is doing to.undermine respect for the office is actually a good thing.
Government is not reason. It is not eloquent. It is force. And like fire, it is both a dangerous servant and a fearful master.
The sooner people lose respect for fedgov the better.
I think what would be better Tenacious D is if voters realized that voting in the rich means that they place themselves and their children, grandchildren (and so on) into the servitude of the rich. And thus what the rich want and need comes before everyone else even if that means your child must die for a war the rich want.
Every society needs leaders, and every society gets the leaders it chooses to lead.
This is what happens when people vote for profit and greed (often with the hope that some of that profit would come their way – jobs are an example) and nothing less. That is they don’t think of the moral consequences of giving power to the rich that backstabs, lies and steals to get to the top.
In fact the American culture celebrates backstabbers, liars and thieves. How could it be anything else when these politicians go in with less than a million in their accounts and walk out of the job with 10s of millions or more.
That said, I love your use of fire to illustrate your point.
Thanks. That is a quote attributed to George Washington. However, voting does not matter. If it made a difference they wouldn’t let us vote. It’s not an election, it’s a Selection between 2 vetted candidates. Every society needs leaders but they don’t have to be government leaders. As Hayek wrote, the worst get on top. And the concentration of the levers of power in government enables the worst to exercise tyranny over the rest of us to a greater degree than they otherwise could. If there was no central bank and no fiat currency, the rich would have a lot harder time getting richer because they couldn’t steal the labor of the working class by stealing their purchasing power through inflation of the money supply.
Hayek was paid by the some very wealthy Americans to come to the US. He was given a good job at the U of Chicago, and paid well to spew his nonsense. His entire purpose was to create the intellectual infrastructure needed to return the US to control by the ultra-rich. He played his role well and was ultimately successful.
Today, our leaders are absolutely vetted by the ultra-rich thanks to “conservative” justices and the Citizens United decision. And the gold standard doesn’t end inflation. It just averages to zero because running inflation at 20% followed by collapse and mass unemployment gives you deflation at 20%.
I never heard of Hayek through the education system. I learned about him after learning about Ayn Rand, after a newly-elected Australian prime minister said something nice about her and was condemned in extreme terms by the frauds in the universities.
I used to write letters to newspapers, and was once told by the economics columnist of a fairly important newspaper that Hayek and Mises were “extremists.” An economist of some note tried to dismiss them in a meeting where I brought up the subject, by telling me that they were “atheists.” I don’t think they had the support of the Establishment. And anyway, as far as I know, Hayek found a refuge in London: it was von Mises who went to New York.
I don’t think either of them would have given much credence to the University of Chicago’s monetarist school. They were economists, not econometricians.
If you had lived through the inflation in Germany and Austria, as they did, you might know something about the value of gold in preventing inflation. It is true that there were some bad panics in the nineteenth century, but that was because of excessive expansion of credit. Given time, the market would probably have ironed that out. The frauds (university statisticians and radical politicians) got in first.
The office is an elective monarchy. Even if a term limited constitutional monarchy, it’s still a monarchy. The Freemasons, I mean, the Founding Oligarchs, I mean, the Founding Fathers screwed up. No wonder the states didn’t want a union and right off the bat amended their creature with the Bill of Rights, which has been wholly watered down by now.
Iran: A Modern HistoryCharting the rise of modern Iran with Yale historian Abbas Amanat
https://macmillan.yale.edu/middleeast/iran/publications/iran-modern-history
Oh that’s nice find there robbyrob,
Thank you!
No idea what the evidence for this statement is.
Iran has not stated this and this is not on the target list they have handed over.
Iran has to think of its relationships to these Gulf statelets after this is over.
Not depriving people of water has a very central place in Shia origins, like the crucifixion in Christianity. Have mentioned this before, but this would be a redline akin to deploying a nuclear device.
Read up about the Battle of Karbala 680 and Husayn ibn Ali and the deprivation of water.
The Iranian Regime has made the mistake of thinking that Trump was a WIMP president, like all the past ones they manage to intimidate into bending over for them!
I’m truly amazed by just how deluded you manage stay even with facts constantly tea bagging to right in the face. All hail they cheeto pedo!
He folds like a wet TACO.
Like all previous presidents, Trump refuses to put boots on the ground. Iran puts out fake radars and balsa wood rocket look alikes, and trump spends billions of taxpayer dollars to bomb them.
Trump would garner more respect if he just admitted the circumstances require retreat to neutral ground and let the world economy catch its breath. Or turn the war powers over to the Senate and wipe his hands of the problem. But false pride and lack of humility stand in his way. He is sabotaging his Presidency instead.
correct
Didn’t he actually say the ceasefire with the Islamic Republic of Japan?
Why not just call Persians “subhumans” and say what he really thinks?
Actually, for Trump and his ilk, that term applies to anyone not part of The Epstein Class.
Perfidious Albion.
“ I didn’t think Trump would be this foolish”
There is no lower bound for his stupidity, now that dementia has taken hold.
He will do something even dumber within the week.
quoted:
Feb 28th: Launches war with no Congressional backing, no NATO support. Claims it will be over by Sunday night in time for the futures to open. Maximalist goals include regime change, complete de-nuclearization of Iran, and limits on their ballistic missile program.
Early March: Now says war over in 4-6 weeks. Axios fake news weaponized to manipulate crude oil futures.
April: War continues.Attacks NATO allies for not providing support. Makes up stories about Kurds possibly doing a ground war.
May: No more regime change on the menu. Now the goals are reduced to restoring the status quo ante Feb 28, and getting Iran to give up “nucular dust”.
June: Bogus MoU signed.
July: Bogus MoU RIP. War is back. Trump now begs Jolani to bail him out in Lebanon.
The picture we get is of an incompetent with no plan, no exit strategy, and no discipline.
US voters are to blame for electing two geriactics in a row.
You are joking, right? The Epstein class narrows the choice to tweedle-dee & tweedle-dum, and gives the sheep “the vote” just to make them think they had something to do with it. There’s plenty of blame to spread around, but expecting the sheep to be allowed to behave differently is dreaming.
They should not be sheep.
Even sheep are not lemmings (even lemmings aren’t).
Just everybody vote for candidates that are not Dem/Rep or incumbents, and only if their main campaign plank is to rid the political process of money and corruption.
Biden had nothing to do with this and did nothing equivalent to this. Let’s keep the focus on who did this.
Doesn’t matter that Biden may be blameless in tRump’s fallacies, he was still to old to serve.
True the POTUS is legally limited by minimum age of 35. It’s time to add a maximum age, say 65. With about 117 million Americans in that age bracket more than half native born Americans we could find a competent POTUS.
Iran doesn’t want to let Trump iff the hook. it wants to punish him by tanking the election for the GOP.
Bond yields surge you say? It’s time to buy back calls on TLT dirt cheap.
Oil prices spiked you say? It’s time to sell calls on oil stocks.
Stocks are down? It’s time to sell those puts for profits.
Any questions?
Remember the A.B.P’s of life, Always Be Profiting!
Do worry, Trump, Walrus and the GOP will find a way to make things even worse.™
As far as the Wall Street Journal goes?
Just another Fox News propaganda outlet for the extremist theocracy called Israel.
Why are we fighting another extremist theocracy (Iran) on their behalf?
Has anyone at Fox/WSJ ever read the first amendment to the US Constitution?
Beware of another false flag incident…
Only one dropping more bombs than the US and Israel is Frosty in the chat!
President Donald J Hoover just said at the NATO summit that the world respects America now, more than they ever have before!
This man is a delusional narcissist.
It’s embarrassing to see an old fool making a fool of himself on the international stage. Even MAGA voters deserve a better head of state.
No, they do not.
Mish …. your summation is absolutely correct couldn’t be more spot on …
Thanks
Ditto…pretty good post…balls & strikes, staying away from the ad hominem, for the the most part 👍
Trumps crazy MOU nonsense has been a silly distraction- nothing has changed since he capitulated. Trump went on an ego bender and created a mess that will be around for years until we put an adult in charge that can extract the US from the situation. Just like everything he touches, he’s turned it to shit – he’s a moron
Drama. Short USO OCT 90/135 call spread. Will short more if it continues to rise.
John, short CALLS higher into resistance. Averaging in is a loser’s trade.
Already up 6.5% and there is plenty of time left on the clock. I do this for a living after retiring from medicine in my early 40’s. Listening to your advice is a loser’s trade. Thank you. Have a nice day.
Closed half of the position with a 10% gain. I will hold the rest until expiration. Have a nice day.
Hey, an actual documented position as opposed fake nonsense about “profits” 👍
Not sure this is a crazy idea but…
Maybe he did this to throw the NATO summit of balance and keep the focus on him. They were going to talk about the progress made to increase European spending. This might even be seen as progress towards some kind of agreement about something.
But instead it’s all about Donny and not the Epstein files or FIFA or reflecting swamps. He’s got to keep the boat rocked.
OK, bring it. Supreme goofball is going to take this over the edge. Useless waste, at global scale.
Trump gaffed that the “Islamic Republic of Japan” fired on our carrier, and seemingly mistook Zelenskyy for Putin. So brain-wise, it is a propitious moment, a moronic convergence!
Says the grifter/profiteer/pedophile in chief.
Trump is attacking a nation/theocracy half way around the world as a pawn of another nation/theocracy without a plan or justification.
Meanwhile China and most civilized nations shrug their shoulders observing Trumps lack of leadership skills or self control.
Who does Trump work for?
> Who does Trump work for?
The shambolic Democratic Party, apparently.
We know who he works for. The Mossad has the Epstein tapes incriminating the Chief Pedophile of the United States.
This 100 years old document reveals some pretty interesting insights. Seems nothing much has changed since. Technological progress, most certainly, a great digital enslavement enabler for those in control.
https://dn790007.ca.archive.org/0/items/secret-world-government/secret-world-government.pdf
It’s multi-dimensional chess re oil prices – A lifeline had to be thrown to U.S. fracking. /sarc
Iran fired on three ships transiting the Straight of Hormuz. Why is it a good thing to allow Iran to control the Straight?
its not a good thing, its the least worst possible option available after Trump stupidly caused a shooting war.
if the gulf states oil infrastructure gets eliminated, we will be in a worse position.
Iran didn’t have control over maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz before February 28. Trump (your best president) handed them that leverage on a silver platter.
We bombed them because of the belief that they were close to completing a nuclear weapon or three and feared they might use it against Israel.
Any repercussions re: the Strait of Hormuz were secondary.
You definitely sound like a paid bot. Nobody can be as stupid as you sound here.
Or, am I being too optimistic?!
I think the real problem was not so much the nuclear weapon as those new, fast missiles. I got the impression that the Persians were just about to develop/acquire those. Then Israel would not have been safe. Like it or not, Trump cares about Israel. As an Australian, I’d like to think that America would do that for us, too.
Trump didn’t allow Iran to control the Strait of Hormuz, he caused them to take control through his idiotic actions. He has no ability to prevent them from controlling the strait, which illustrates the difficult position he is in.
If you have a better solution than waving the white flag of surrender (which the MOU did) then name it.
You might like to refer to my suggestion of seizing Kharg Island and becoming the middleman between the Persian oil producers and their customers, thereby forcing the Persian oil producers onto the American side, and leaving the Islamic Guard helpless.
Hey Steve. Has Iran always been firing on ships in the Hormuz? If not, when did it start and why? What was the Hormuz like for the last 50 years before Trump showed up?
Maybe you need to start thinking and asking critical questions instead of your endless loyalty to a total loser like Trump.
He is a MAWA (MAGA) moron.
Should have thought of that before attacking Iran on the basis of lies.
Because the Strait is in Iran’s territorial waters.
Half is Omanian and UAE also. D’oh.
No, it’s not, according to the maps Mish has published. Only a part of it is, and the Persians have been shooting at ships trying to use the other part.
This board is populated with pathetic islamic extremist sympathizers who worship the IRGC. I am going to stop reading the idiotic comments of these knuckle dragging foaming at the mouth assholes.
If you removed the core group of 8-10 who post here daily, the number of posts would decline by about 80%.
Mish has allowed this formerly Libertarian blog to turn into a leftist Dem conventiuon!
Allahu FU
You could try to persuade people to your point of view by using facts, analysis, and reason!
Hint: name-calling won’t persuade anyone
Don’t be like that. It gives me a boost: I may be stupid, but I’m not THAT stupid. Don’t you love the way they keep bringing Epstein into it, apparently thinking that that puts them on the side of morality?
I see 3 options:
1. Boots on the ground trying to control the strait.
2. A lot of boots to force regime change. Like bush and Iraq.
3. Relentless carpet bombing. Like nixon and Vietnam
Of course there is also a complete Taco option.
I think you’re way too optimistic on 2. In Iraq, we had much more competent leadership, both at the Presidential and the military level. Would anyone trade General Stormin’ Norman for Pete Kegsbreath? Even Rumsfeld looked like a genius compared with that guy.
Plus, Bush Jr. had the support of most of Europe, Japan, and Australia. Taco has a big fat zilch. He has no support for this war, and our boys coming home in body bags would end whatever is left of his shrinking political capital.
Unlike Iraq and Vietnam, Iran can shoot back and the boots would come back empty and the bombers would not come back.
Actually there are 58,000 items of evidence that Vietnam could shoot back, their names are on a wall in Washington DC. We still lost.
You are obviously an under-appreciated military planner.
Which of those last two actions was a success? In reality we have lost every war since WW2. Some low level military actions have been “successful” like Panama and Granada.
US turned the Strait into a war zone.
Now Iran has to be able to control and interdict traffic to make sure it’s not the enemy.
Should not be a surprise as we have a declining moral and competent pos as head of state.
No surprise here: I’ve been calling Trump…
King Chaos the Shit Talker…
for a while now.