Trump Surrenders To Iran On Virtually Every Point
from the total-capitulation dept
If there’s one thing that Donald Trump has shown over the years, it’s that he will get his most sycophantic MAGA loyalists to insist there are perfectly obvious reasons why whatever he’s about to do is absolutely necessary… and then Trump will do the opposite, and all those hangers-on will magically change their story within minutes.
The excellent reporter Laura Jedeed has been tracking all of the excuses Trump and his team have been giving for why we absolutely had to go to war with Iran, and the very top one: eliminate their ballistic missile capability. Next: eliminate their nuclear program entirely. There was also some talk of “regime change.”
Now that Trump has signed the surrender agreement at Versailles (the traditional place to sign a total surrender agreement), the scorecard looks like this: no eliminated missile program, no eliminated nuclear program, no regime change. Also: no actual deal.
What Trump signed is a one-page memorandum of understanding with a 60-day time limit. After that, another deal needs to happen — one that may or may not actually get signed. The thing being called a historic peace agreement is, in legal terms, a note on the back of a napkin that expires in two months.
With that established: here’s what he gave away to get it.
The US backed down on everything to get the Strait of Hormuz only partially opened, in a situation where Iran still seems likely to come out of this way stronger and way more powerful than before Trump started this illegal war. Remember, before this war, the Strait was open. So with this deal we only get partially back to where things were before the war, but with a huge draw down of US military stock, over a dozen dead US soldiers, and tons of unnecessary Iranian casualties, including a school full of young girls.
Iran retains their ballistic missiles and MAGA officials have to pretend that makes sense.
And after months of screaming about how Iran could not retain any nuclear capabilities at all, Trump is now talking about how important it is for them to retain their nuclear capabilities.
Also, remember how the Trump world insisted that Obama’s JCPOA was one of the worst deals of all time?
That’s Donald Trump tweeting in 2015 about the JCPOA:
The deal with Iran will go down as one of the most incompetent ever made. The U.S. lost on virtually every point. We just don’t win anymore!
The “deal” Trump just made is a complete capitulation, a loss on every point, and way, way, way worse than what was in the JCPOA, which, in retrospect, was a genuinely good deal — carefully negotiated by actual experts — and briefly a real win for peace in the Middle East before Trump tore it up.
And remember how MAGA spent years misleadingly talking up all the money that the US supposedly “gave” Iran with the JCPOA? Or the deal Biden did to extend a Trump-era policy to unfreeze some of Iran’s frozen assets, which even Donald Trump Jr. falsely claimed was Biden “giving” Iran money?
There is now widespread reporting that this deal will unlock some $300 billion in investment for Tehran. To be precise: this isn’t the US writing a check — the deal creates the conditions for private capital to pour into the country. Trump has been pretty candid about his view on that:
“We don’t have to give them anything. But some people may want to invest. Like, what are you going to do to say ‘you can never ever invest in a country,’ I mean, it’s pretty tough.”
So: MAGA spent years insisting that financial flows to Iran — even unfreezing Iran’s own assets — would fund its military and get soldiers killed. Trump just opened Iran to hundreds of billions in new investment while leaving both the missiles and the nuclear program intact. The threat, apparently, only counts when a Democrat is president.
Obviously, ending this war is a good thing. But it never should have happened in the first place. Trump launched it without congressional authorization, in clear violation of the War Powers Act — and once it started, Congress should have stopped it cold.
The final accounting: Trump tore up the JCPOA, which he called “one of the most incompetent deals ever made.” He started an illegal war. He drew down US military stockpiles, lost over a dozen American soldiers, and killed Iranian civilians — including a school full of young girls. And he came away with a memorandum of understanding that expires in 60 days, leaving Iran with everything it had before the war started, plus full knowledge of exactly how hard Trump will push before he folds.
Trump’s own verdict on the JCPOA was: “The U.S. lost on virtually every point.” He was describing this deal.
Filed Under: donald trump, iran, iran deal, jcpoa
Comments on “Trump Surrenders To Iran On Virtually Every Point”
Dear Iran: My congratulations for your complete and total victory.
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Time to pull out the dusty equipment and go excavating for the historical records of comments from a few weeks ago when we were being told that Trump was just ending the 47 year war that Iran started and he’s going to stop them from getting nuclear weapons and he’s going to end their military dominance and he’s going to topple their government and foment a revolution and he’s going to open the strait.
Literally every step was a misstep here. Even killing leaders ended up making Iran stronger. Military strikes? He committed war crimes and murdered children and literally said it is now too long ago to talk about.
Time for the propagandists and sycophants to get in on the ground floor of the new bullshit myth spinning.
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And that’s just the comments Trump himself made, all on camera and all on the record.
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As much as I hate Trump and think he’s the dumbest president we’ve had in our 250 year history, for surrendering after losing his asymmetrical war with a smaller country… surprisingly he’s smarter than Putin.
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If only Iran could return the favor.He got so excited about how well things went in Venezuela that he thought he was going to pull a repeat of it in Iran. But when it didn’t turn out the way he thought it would—and his advisors finally got through to him that both the economy and his poll numbers were going to get much worse if he kept the war going—he got bored and caved on a deal that, on its face, appears far more beneficial to Iran than it ever would to the United States.
ART OF THE DEAL, EVERYBODY!
What a fucking joke of a man. I hope he knows that when It Happens, the reaction is going to make the celebration in NYC for the Knicks winning the NBA Finals look like a book club meeting.
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A book written by Tony Schwartz alone, for “purely financial” reasons—$250,000 plus half the royalties goes a long way for someone starting a family. (“In 2019, Schwartz suggested that the work be “recategorized as fiction”.)
Oddly, Schwartz was hired after writing a negative article about Donald Trump’s efforts to illegal evict tenants. Trump ended up “loving” that article.
And yet, even this will leave him with millions of supporters who are supposedly functional adults
America needs to take a hard look at how it got here. Trump is making the problems obvious, but he isn’t their sole cause by a very long way.
Don’t forget all the economic and political harm, which still isn’t fully realized. The impact to farmers is going to be showing up at least over the next year. And we further pushed all our allies away.
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Let’s forget everything about Iran. Inflation is now the fault of the Fed.
And next month, it could be climate change or virtually anything else, as long as Democrats can be blamed.
It's much worse than this
“There is now widespread reporting that this deal will unlock some $300 billion in investment for Tehran. To be precise: this isn’t the US writing a check — the deal creates the conditions for private capital to pour into the country.”
There are no restrictions on how Iran can allocate that money. If they want to funnel some of it to Hezbollah or or Hamas or the Houthis or Jihad or anybody else, they can. So not only has the US surrendered, but it’s pretty much guaranteed that billions of dollars will flow to terrorists.
It’s very clear why Trump did this: his poll numbers. That’s one of the things he cares about, like his ego, his vanity, his greed, his blood-lust, his everything. And I’m sure someone told him that creating this enormous mess — as is the usual Republican practice when in office — would leave a disaster for a future Democrat to clean up.
Happy birthday, America: your leader is a traitor.
So… Iran now knows they can block a major shipping lane with missiles and drones and take a hammer to the world economy. They know they can hit data centers and cause huge problems for internet traffic across the middle East. They know that nobody but the US will join Israel in unprovoked attacks going forward and international sympathy for them is fading fast given their actions in Palestine. They know they can withstand a US assault with billion dollar weapons and there is zero support for a land invasion within the US despite Zionists and neocons pushing propaganda since the Obama days.
Such winning from the Master of the Deal.
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I don’t understand why so many people seem to think Iran didn’t have a clue the global west was using the strait for transit until earlier this year.
They’ve perfectly well understood the importance of the strait for as long as the west has been shipping energy through it, at the very least. They have a diplomatic corps, negotiators, intelligence agencies, game theorists, and civil servants, just like the rest of us.
What’s worse for US power, hard and soft, is they now know how relatively weak the US is militarily compared to its bleating on the subject, and how incredibly thoroughly it’s kneecapped its soft power among allies. Iran may well have already concluded all of this, but now they have receipts the whole world saw printed.
They also now know that if they want another go at some point, they need only sustain a war for some weeks or months before the US has depleted several years worth of missile production and has to go home again, since the US military is well aware putting boots on Kharg Island means inviting free throws from up and down the coast.
Plus, they have the local ‘nuclear option’ of mining the everliving fuck out of the shipping lanes, which logic dictates has also long since been gamed out in Tehran.
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Don’t get me wrong, I wasn’t saying they didn’t know what they have, I have friends who served in the US navy and know full well they will protect their waterways. What Trump did was remove all doubt in their minds and in the minds of the world that they can assert that control and withstand any attempts to wrest it from them. The Trump regime spent billions in munitions to effectively remove all doubt.
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Yeah, sorry, should’ve worded that better. Didn’t mean to imply you were. That first bit was mostly a mini-rant on western exceptionalism in general. It seems to have completely blinded shedloads of our so-called ‘experts’ to the actual realities of international relations, kinetic or otherwise.
Well, at least the fire's contained now...
If you wish to construe this as me praising the Charlatan-in-Chief, go for it. I hate the guy’s guts, but I’m glad he’s trying to end the war rather than double down on a bad idea.
The smarter move on King Donald’s part would have been to not start this war in the first place. The reality, though, is that he went to war with Iran, so he now has to end it. If there was ever a realistic chance of the Iranian people overthrowing their government, that window is almost certainly closed now. The options were escalation, which would be very costly, lead to a lot of American casualties, and risk turning this mess into a forever war, continuing as is, which would lengthen the economic strain, or negotiating an end to the war, which would be humiliating.
It’s no secret that Trump’s a lousy diplomat, but I’ll take what I can get in this situation, and “what I can get” is our President taking the L and trying to turn the page on his failed Iranian adventure.
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This is a completely unnecessary take. It’s entirely possible to be happy some of the bullshit is over without giving credit to the asshole who caused it. You don’t thank the guy who intentionally shat on the floor for taking a dirty rag and smearing it around while pretending he’s cleaning it up.
He already did double down multiple times.
It’s like saying he gets credit for not punching his wife the 50th time after he punched her 49 times before.
He’s not trying to end the war. He’s trying to get out of a mess he created. And he’s leaving a bigger mess than when he started. Anyone who thinks Iran was a problem before should recognize that they’ll be enriched and emboldened by this. Trump has done more good for the Iranian regime than he has for the US at this point.
“Trying to turn the page” here just means he’s going to move on to another fuck up. He’s going to go back to fucking over our European allies or bullying someone else. He got humiliated trying to bully Iran, so he’ll pick an easier target to shore up his ego and pretend he’s still big and smart and powerful.
Absolutely no credit should go to the man who is responsible for all the fuck ups. He’s too old, arrogant, and stupid to learn from his mistakes. And we’re going to pay the cost.
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What’s worse: Now they’re going to want a “win” after suffering a global humiliation.
Apropos of nothing, but I do wonder what all that attention being paid to Cuba the past few weeks was about… 🤔
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He’s rerouting his attention to the Latin America. It’s not only Cuba. It’s every country that doesn’t bow to the US will. He attributed the “terrorist organization” status to PCC and CV, the largest organized crime groups operating in Brazil opening up a window to conduct operations ignoring the country sovereignty under some shitty US law.
He is also attacking Brazilian banking system, mainly what we call Pix, an electronic transaction system that’s free for the ordinary citizen while commercial entities pay a much smaller fee than using Visa and Mastercard for instance. Via USTR. He says it’s unfair competition.
Another major attack vector is against our institution, mainly our supreme court and the electoral system, one of the most advanced and secure in the world. All while tagging along with people that have already been found guilty of trying a coup d’état.
This man is a fucking piece of turd and nobody is stopping him. Hopefully this complete loss and the continued destruction Trump is promoting in all areas of the USA strips some power and the ability to cause so much destruction of future baboons the Republicans will eventually put in power.
Meanwhile in China:
Do nothing. Win.
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“Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”. —Napoleon, but it does neatly cover what China’s doing right now.
Trump putting on a masterclass.
Trump to the military: “Bomb the shit out of Iran.”
Military intelligence: “Sir, that’s a bad idea. We may kill some people, but we can’t win a war with them unless we put boots on the ground. Oh, and their is the little issue of the straight of Hormuz.”
Trump: “I don’t care what you losers think! Bomb them or Animal House Hegseth will fire you!!”
Military: “Yes sir, you must be playing 4D chess. Bombs away.”
Trump: “Mission accomplished!!”
Iran: “Here’s what it will take to buy us off from our two move checkmate…”
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Yes, this is definitely the “tech jounralism” you claim so much to know about it.
I think you write enough articles that boil down “I hate Trump and Elon Musk” already, brosef.
Which is it? You don’t even read these things before you hit send, do you?
I’m not all that fond of this deal, I think Trump should’ve just blockaded them until the riots started, but all of their military and industry is rubble and the top 10 levels of their government are dead, you fucking retard.
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More genius thinking from the same brains that thought that if they bombed schools, threatened and committed further war crimes and killed leaders who were willing to negotiate, people will rise up and appoint the son of the Shah… Rather than appoint more hardliners and start dronestriking infrastructure in surrounding oil producing nations.
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So angry all the time, man, you must really hate getting everything you voted for. 🙃
Also:
Three things.
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This fiasco basically undermined the growing movement for change in the country, it’s hard to keep support when the people egging you on are killing school kids, launching attacks during negotiations and threatening complete obliteration, with the Shah’s idiot son jumping up and down with glee, hoping to be made the puppet king of the corpses and rubble.
Iran will now have access to resources and has experience fighting the US to share with the world.
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And worse yet, Iran’s leadership learned they can leverage the Strait of Hormuz—something they seemed unwilling to do prior to Trump’s whole “Venezuela 2: Bombing Boogaloo” adventure. All he had to do was nothing and let his negotiators do their thing.
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They now know they can cause a trillion dollars in damage with a hundred thousand with of drones, all because Trump is mad at the state department because Hillary used to be in charge, and really likes it when Bibi compliments him.
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all of their military and industry is rubble and the top 10 levels of their government are dead, you fucking retard.
You’d think he wouldn’t have signed such a shitty ‘deal’ if that fucking mattered. But that’s OK – now he can claim that he outdid Obama by sending magnitudes more cash to Iran.
He’s a fuck up.
He’s a moron.
And everything he touches turns to shit.
But you keep right on cucking for him, Fuckface. He’ll be quitting right after the midterms anyways.
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That’s what you read into them because you don’t do nuance and you can’t read more than a few paragraphs. You frequently claim to not read all the text, so why do you think you know what they mean? Oh right, gut feelings and dunning-kruger.
You don’t even thing about these things before you type them.
A deal can be considered a negotiation where both parties give something up to a achieve a shared goal. This surrender agreement MOU doesn’t require much in the way of a sacrifice from Iran. Trump is capitulating in the surrender agreement.
So often when you think you have a clever point, you’re just pointing out that you don’t understand what you’re talking about.
How are your gas prices, buddy? You think conservatives are going to do well in the midterms with $6 a gallon? We bombed them and killed some of their leaders and there wasn’t an uprising. Why do you think blockading them would have worked? Their drones were leaving their airspace to hit nearby targets. How many other nations’ infrastructure are you willing to sacrifice and what moral authority do you assert to sacrifice them?
Trump could have let Obama’s agreement stand and just not done anything and he’d be in a better position. Your boy done fucked up and you’re upset he didn’t fuck up more with an even worse strategy. Sgt Bilko here is a military genius.
So they weren’t controlling the strait and everything was fine? Then why did Trump need to end anything? It’s like you think Trump tells the truth or something! You keep using the r-word when you’re the biggest sucker, and worse for you, you keep showing it off while pretending everyone else is stupid.
Re: YouTube listslop clickbait be like
You’ll never believe number 7!
To be fair..
The only thing that would’ve been dumber than starting the war in the first place would be prolonging it for years just because you can’t afford to lose it. See Putin x Ukraine. If the war had been started with a strategic objective of forcing Russia to prop up Iran while still engaged with Ukraine, it might’ve made more sense. But Trump doesn’t give a hoot who wins the Ukraine war.
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“But Trump doesn’t give a hoot who wins the Ukraine war.”
Oh yes he does. He’s the property of the Russian government/mob, purchased and paid for. He’s their obedient, submissive, collared, leashed pet, kneeling before Putin and begging to service his master. So, yes, he cares because things will go badly for him if he fails.
It’s times like this I wish we had more of the trolls back, just for the day. Just so we can hear how actually it’s actually unfair Iran doesn’t have ballistic missiles.
That Rodger’s clip is probably the funniest thing I’ve watched all year.
The ConIntern
“If there’s one thing that Donald Trump has shown over the years, it’s that he will get his most sycophantic MAGA loyalists to insist there are perfectly obvious reasons why whatever he’s about to do is absolutely necessary… and then Trump will do the opposite, and all those hangers-on will magically change their story within minutes.”
The Communist International (Comintern) was notorious for turning on a dime whenever the Soviet leader reversed himself. They were the original prototype for MAGA. I’d say MAGA studies “1984” as a playbook, but that would be assuming they can read. Such shameless 180 degree reversals just come naturally to authoritarians and to their servile bootlickers, whether Communist or Conservative.
Christian Nationalism is an important factor of the Iran war and should not be ignored in reporting
You can’t fully understand Trump, MAGA, and his Iran war, if you don’t have the religious context behind it. Here is some religious context behind the Iran war for you:
Trump called Iranian leaders “religious fanatic lunatics.” His own Secretary of War reportedly has Crusader tattoos and he prayed for “overwhelming violence of action” against enemies who “deserve no mercy” in the name of Jesus Christ. This was in reference to Iran. The Secretary of War also have been holding monthly worship meetings in the Pentagon during the war and framing the war as a holy war. Trump has been calling Islam an enemy for years. He even ended a threat to bomb Iranian power plants with a taunt “Praise be to Allah”. When the Pope asked him to stop the war, Trump attacked the Pope then posted a picture of himself as Jesus Christ, and ordered naval blockade of Iran. Evangelical pastors were in the Oval Office laying hands on Trump praying for his war. Mike Johnson said that Iranians have a “misguided religion.” Marco Rubio was also calling them “religious fanatic lunatics.”
The Christian Nationalists in Trump’s circle saw themselves as starting a holy war. They gave up on it as the holy war rhetoric was not gaining much support among the Christian Nationalists supporters in the MAGA rank, that why Trump is washing his hands and done. This is the religious context that is not reported widely. With Trump and MAGA, Christian Nationalism is never far away and it can be irrational.
America
Always winning 😀
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So much winning that we’ll get tired of winning and beg him to stop!