Trump’s only option is a surrender he’ll call victory

Trump seems to think he has more power at his disposal than he has. It seems he has no one around him who dares to tell him the truth.

The original nuclear deal with Iran was secured by coordinated economic sanctions between France, Germany, the UK, the U.S., Russia and China. Those sanctions brought Iran to its knees. That isn't possible now. Trump has kissed goodbye to our allies in terms of their trust of him; and the U.S. Russia and China are both openly aiding China.

The original deal worked in terms of keeping Iran from developing atomic weapons. But, Trump withdrew the U.S. from that deal with no success in renegotiating the agreement. That led Iran to begin ramping up its nuclear weapons capacity.

So, there is a slim to none chance his efforts will bring Iran to its knees, unlike the original coordinated sanctions. He has resorted to this idea since the U.S. has significantly degraded our store of Patriot missiles and other air defense weapons. We also no longer, maybe temporarily, have a two-ocean navy as our last aircraft carrier in the Pacific is being reassigned to deal with Iran.

He is in the position now of having no good options to get out of this war. Iran has escalated its demands especially regarding the Strait of Hormuz. The Houthis have shut down the southern entrance to the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia.

Contact your federally elected officials to request pressure be put on him to end this war. To do it, he would have to get Iran's agreement. No easy chore. He almost certainly would have to agree to some if not all of their conditions. He would, thus, have to surrender. He is quite capable of framing that as some kind of victory. Would you believe him?

Arthur Pitz, Elmhurst