US President Donald Trump is currently vacillating between launching new military strikes and waiting to see if his “maximum pressure” financial sanctions will make Iran willing to negotiate an end to its nuclear program, five advisers who have spoken to the US president said.
“I would describe him as frustrated but realistic,” the unnamed adviser said of Trump. “He doesn’t want to use force. But he’s not backing down,” he added.
Several American officials told Axios that they are concerned that the United States will not get “into a frozen conflict without war and without an agreement.”
In such a scenario, the US would have to maintain its forces in the region for a long time. The Strait of Hormuz would remain closed, the American blockade of Iranian ports would persist, and both sides would continue to wait for the other to back down or fire first, the server explained.
A source close to the US president then stated that “the frozen conflict is the worst thing for Trump politically and economically”, because the congressional elections will take place in November, that is, in about half a year. If the Democrats were to win and gain a majority, Trump’s power would be significantly reduced.
He is talking about an attack
Axios reported that some of Trump’s top advisers want “the US to maintain the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz for the time being and impose additional economic sanctions to pressure the Iranian regime.” If this didn’t work out, Washington would go back to bombing.
“The level of sanctions against Iran is extraordinary, the pressure on Iran is extraordinary, and I think even more pressure can be applied,” said Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is also Trump’s national security adviser, on Monday.
The US is currently blocking passage to Iranian ports. However, some ships were allowed to pass, including the giant yacht of a Russian oligarch.
Negotiations between the two parties are not really taking place, at least officially. The meeting was supposed to take place last week, but President Trump announced that the delegation led by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner would not travel to Islamabad, Pakistan, because the US “holds all the cards”, which made the trip unnecessary, according to him.
“I told my people a while ago as they were getting ready to leave, ‘No, you’re not going to take an 18-hour flight there. We’ve got all the cards. They can call us anytime they want, but you’re not going to take another 18-hour flight to just sit around and talk about nothing,'” Trump said.
