That’s the problem. They never had a clear goal. Or at least, not an achievable one.
Broadly, in his more lucid moments, Trump wants Iran to agree to an absolutely devastation list of demands. They won’t, because they’ve been down this road before and they fully expect that whatever they agree to now, they’ll be asked to agree to twice as much tomorrow. So Iran is trying to get to a manageable list of concessions before they settle in and prepare for the next round of negotiations. They’re not going to simply give up all their leverage.
As for the goal of military action… It’s pretty obvious by now that Trump has no idea. It seems very much like he thinks that threatening military action, of any kind, would be enough to make Iran capitulate to all his demands, and he can’t understand why that isn’t working.
So he’s unwilling to come down to something Iran will agree to, but he’s also not eager to get stuck into a prolonged war, so instead he’s stuck constantly tightening this “military escalation” ratchet in the desperate hope that this time will be the one where Iran gets scared enough to give up. What they’re actually going to do with those troops could be any number of things, but really it’s all just flailing attempts at further intimidation mixed with vague wishful fantasies about opening up the strait, because despite it being the most obvious move for Iran they somehow did not plan for it.
They’re also contemplating some escape route options, primarily in the form of “seizing Iran’s uranium”, a plan that doesn’t sound remotely plausible, but which would theoretically give them a way to declare victory and walk away.
What they ultimately go with is impossible to guess, because there is no long term plan and never has been. It’s all going to be determined by the ever changing mood of an idiot child and the raging hate-boner of a racist alcoholic.
That’s the problem. They never had a clear goal. Or at least, not an achievable one.
Broadly, in his more lucid moments, Trump wants Iran to agree to an absolutely devastation list of demands. They won’t, because they’ve been down this road before and they fully expect that whatever they agree to now, they’ll be asked to agree to twice as much tomorrow. So Iran is trying to get to a manageable list of concessions before they settle in and prepare for the next round of negotiations. They’re not going to simply give up all their leverage.
As for the goal of military action… It’s pretty obvious by now that Trump has no idea. It seems very much like he thinks that threatening military action, of any kind, would be enough to make Iran capitulate to all his demands, and he can’t understand why that isn’t working.
So he’s unwilling to come down to something Iran will agree to, but he’s also not eager to get stuck into a prolonged war, so instead he’s stuck constantly tightening this “military escalation” ratchet in the desperate hope that this time will be the one where Iran gets scared enough to give up. What they’re actually going to do with those troops could be any number of things, but really it’s all just flailing attempts at further intimidation mixed with vague wishful fantasies about opening up the strait, because despite it being the most obvious move for Iran they somehow did not plan for it.
They’re also contemplating some escape route options, primarily in the form of “seizing Iran’s uranium”, a plan that doesn’t sound remotely plausible, but which would theoretically give them a way to declare victory and walk away.
What they ultimately go with is impossible to guess, because there is no long term plan and never has been. It’s all going to be determined by the ever changing mood of an idiot child and the raging hate-boner of a racist alcoholic.