Cogito Ergo Non Serviam
Trump Sets Deadline, Backs Down
Donald Trump is in over his head with the war in Iran, and he grew desperate over the week-end. He demanded that the Iranians open the Strait of Hormuz within 48 hours. Otherwise, he would attack the Iranian electriciy grid, which would be a war crime. With only hours to go, he announced that there had been useful talks with Iran on a “total resolution” of the war. Consequently, he is giving them five more days grace to allow the talks to continue. He will continue hitting other targets. Meanwhile, the Iranian semi-official news agency, Fars, has said no talks occurred.
Tactically, the US military is working its magic, wiping out targets everywhere. Strategically, none of the successes are translating into changes in the Iranian regime and its behavior. Mr. Trump was certain this fight would be just like Venezuela (where one doubts the new leader is really all that helpful to the US), over in a day or so. Instead, the war is entering its fourth week, and Iran has struck Israel and the Gulf Arab states that host US forces. Instead of caving in when the Supreme Leader was killed, the Iranian regime appears to have grown more hardline, and the uprising the Israelis expected has not materialized.
So Mr. Trump said he would attack Iranian electricity sites if the Strait of Hormuz did not open by nightfall tonight. Rather than wave a white flag, Iran said it would respond by hitting US bases in the region, electricity and water desalination facilities in the Gulf states.
The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps stated, "You hit our hospitals, we did not do the same. You hit our relief centers, we did not do the same. You hit our schools, we did not do the same,. But if you hit electricity, we will hit electricity."
So around 7 am Washington time this morning, the president announced "very good and productive conversations" with Iran about a "total resolution of our hostilities in the Middle East." So he is putting off the attack on electricity until Friday evening, when the markets will be closed.
Iran called him a liar. In a statement carried by semi-official news agency Mehr News, the Iranian foreign ministry said "there is no dialogue between Tehran and Washington."
It added, "Yes, there are initiatives from regional countries to reduce tensions, and our response to all of them is clear: we are not the party that started this war, and all such requests should be directed to Washington."
The Tasmin news agency added that a foreign ministry official had said, “From the beginning of the war until today, messages have been sent to Tehran by some mediators, and the clear response has been that we will continue our defense until the necessary level of deterrence is achieved. There have been no negotiations and there are none underway.”
Now, as much as one is suspicious of anything religious yahoos say, one sees the Iranian announcement as being more truthful than anything Mr. Trump has said. How they benefit from denying the talks is a simple propaganda win. He benefits from lying about them by driving up the Dow and lowering the futures market price of oil for a day or two. In short, he has more reason to lie, to say nothing of havnig a habit of lying just for the sake of it.
What Mr. Trump and his minions failed to understand from the beginning is that Iran has a much better ability to fight back than they imagined. For the last 49 years, the West has known the Strait of Hormuz was the chokepoint that lets Iran punch above its weight in world affairs. Only this administration was stupid and arrogant enough to ignore that basic fact.
There are no talks. The delay is the beginning of a major climbdown. The war will not end this month, and probably not next month either.
The enemy is Iran, but Mr. Trump is finally fighting in Vietnam, in the sense that he is in a quagmire from which he is not going to be able to extracate himself easily. Bonespurs will not keep him safe now.
© Copyright 2026 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Ubuntu Linux.
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