It seems that Trump is not so much opening the Straits of Hormuz as drowning in it and trying to take his whole team down with him. He instructed vice president Vance to sign the US-Iran memorandum of understanding so that if it fails he can blame Vance which gives Vance more incentive to make it work.
In his various press conferences at the recent G7 conference, instead of his usual rude and arrogant demeanour, he has been subdued offering some unexpected and astonishing statements.
On Iran enriching uranium: “It’s a little hard when other people have it, other adjoining states have it and you’re not letting them have it for purposes of electricity and things like that. You have to use a little common sense.”
On Gaza: “Hamas have behaved very well.”
On the Strait of Hormuz: “Iran can’t charge tolls on the Strait of Hormuz for 60 days.” Which means he is offering Iran a Get Out of the Straits Free Card.
On the $300bn dollars to be given to Iran: “We’ve taken their money and we froze it… at a certain point in time I guess we are going to have to give it back. If we didn’t give it back nobody would ever invest in the dollar again.”
Then he boasted that, as usual, he had single-handedly saved the global economy. “The alternative to this deal would be a global economic recession. There are stupid people who want a global recession. They are just stupid people. The Strait of Hormuz would never have been opened.” To which we may add, the mid-term elections are approaching and it’s “the economy stupid”. One thing is sure, if the US still harbours intent to attack Iran, it will be not this side of November.
On the issue of missiles, which is more consequential than nuclear material, Trump was nonchalant instead of threatening: “I’m saying that if other countries have them, it’s a little bit unfair for them to not have some,” he said.
The US-Iran memorandum of understanding was a surrender and Trump’s vacillations confirm this to be so. But Trump does not want history to record his surrender which is why he assigned the signing of the memorandum to vice-president Vance. But this is not only a delegation. Vance is more committed to it and more hostile to Israeli actions to undermine it, which is why the negotiations have been moved to Switzerland after the Pakistani secret service uncovered a Zionist plot to attack the Iranian delegation.
Over the weekend, while Vance was winging his way to Switzerland, Trump, donning his Zionist hat, once again attacked Iran and Hezbollah. He threatened to annihilate Iran after it closed the Straits of Hormuz in response to ongoing Israeli attacks in Lebanon. “You won’t even make it back to your f***** country,” the president claimed to have relayed to the Iranians, adding: “We’ll take over the rest of the country.”
This reflects language uttered by Israel’s minister of national security, Itamar Ben Gvir, who said: “Israel will burn Lebanon”. In contrast Vance claimed the negotiations in Switzerland had made swift progress. It makes one wonder who is in charge, the diplomat Vance or the ranting Trump?
This is important for Israel. The Hebrew press is full of laments about the memorandum, which they correctly view as a US capitulation to Iran, a country they consider to be an existential threat to their colony. The key question this week is this. Will the US allow Israel to threaten the world economy, or will it sanction Israel to hold it back in Lebanon? If it does and the pressure on Israel becomes unbearable, this will represent a fundamental realignment between Tel Aviv and Washington.
Strategically, the importance of Israel to US imperialism lies not in Gaza, or Lebanon or even Syria, but on Israel’s ability to join the US in crushing Iran. It has failed and failed badly; therefore, a clear question is posed – is Israel now an asset or a liability for US imperialism?
Subscribe to our regular updates to receive the latest articles, analysis and news direct to your inbox at https://theleftlane.media/subscribe/
