Trump’s Ultimatum Blows Up In His Face; Iran Raises The Price Of His Humiliation

Trump issued the ultimatum and Iran sent him back a bill, and a whole list of demands that'll change the Middle East forever. Right, so Donald Trump has thrown down what he wanted treated as a final ultimatum to Iran, threatened to blow up bridges and power plants if the Strait of Hormuz is not fully reopened by his deadline, tomorrow at time of writing and Iran has not folded. Iran has sent back its own response through Pakistan, rejected a temporary ceasefire, and put a permanent end to the war on the table instead. And that was just for starters. Not a little pause, not a tidy breathing space, not some stage-managed bit of diplomacy that lets Trump strut about saying he forced them to heel. A permanent end. A regional end to all other ongoing Israel instigated war and genocide too. That puts Gaza in the frame and Lebanon in the frame as well as Iran and that was just for starters. More on all this in a moment. But the man who wanted this sold as his deadline, by his order, because he is in charge now gets to stare at a counter-package that exposes his threats for what they really are, the baby throwing his toys out of the pram. However being the bloviating little man baby that he is, Trump has then compounded this, because of course he has. He has called the response significant but not good enough. He did read it didn’t he? Someone did break the big words down for him? He didn’t have Whisky Pete slurring it out for him or anything? Did someone draw a picture? These don’t seem completely unreasonable questions to ask, considering everything Iran has put on the table, 10 clauses. And yet hee has said the deadline is final. He has threatened bridges, power plants, and civilian infrastructure, he is literally threatening to commit war crimes before the entire world. He has gone from command language to apocalyptic language because the first round of threats did not produce the result he wanted. Iran will never bend to him. A man in control does not need to keep telling you he is in control after all, all while adding fresh threats every few hours it seems. A man with clean leverage does not need to keep widening the promised punishment because the original pressure will have already settled the matter. Trump has not settled the matter.