OP-ED: IRANIAN FOG ONLY GETS WORSE

Who to believe?  What to Believe?  The Iranians walked out I a huff from the talks.  Now they are back.  They wouldn’t allow nuclear inspectors, now they will.  The Hormuz was open, then it was closed.  25 million barrels, no wait, 33 million barrels of Iranian oil passed through through Hormuz freely.  What happened to the blockade?  Crickets. It appears, for the sake of oil dependent nations everywhere, that oil needs to be allowed through Hormuz.

No money for them, now they may have received 6 billion dollars. What is the truth?

President Trump is only beginning to learn some hard lessons about geopolitics.  Not everything is in your favor.  Not every battlefield is laid out to your liking.  Despite their shortcomings, the Iranians are worthy foes.  They are clever and creative in their negotiations.  People like former CIA station chief Sam Faddis, are quick to point that negotiating with Iranians is a perilous prospect.  So, what is the answer?

There is only one answer:  The IRGC and the ayatollahs must go. But we are learning quickly that even when you are choking the Iranian economy they are  still a critical part of the international economy.  Furthermore, the only solution to the control of the Hormuz is sustained military intervention.

Well, we may want another 60 days for negotiations, but we need that time to further develop removal of the IRGC.  This is only made more difficult by the clever posturing of the Iranian government, such as it is.

Iranians are not angry freedom-minded colonists.  The Iranian government has no real political opposition.  They don’t know how to build a vibrant, robust, determined opposition.  The best they can do is point to the son of a person the country rejected 47 years ago.  That doesn’t sound like progress.

For this, and other reasons, the Iranian fog will continue to thicken and confuse everyone.  The existing government will do everything it can to continue.  Whatever President Trump decides, that decision will have to work around many problems.  It will have to be a unique and inspired decision because nothing else will work.

Put simply, 47 years of tolerating Iran and doing effectively nothing will have to be replaced with a far more aggressive and sustained program of eliminating the current government and bringing about true regime change. It may take years, but it must be done for the sake of the Mid-East as well as the rest of the world.