Groundhog Day for US-Iran Antics: Another Strike, Another Deal?
Trump is reportedly contemplating 'limited strikes' to coerce Iran into a new nuclear deal. This is not new; it's a rerun of an old, disastrous movie, playing out with the same stale plot details. The idea that a few bombs over a sovereign nation will somehow lead to a more amenable negotiating partner ignores decades of history. It ignores the 1953 CIA-orchestrated coup that overthrew Iran's
democratically elected Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh, a betrayal that still echoes loudly in Tehran. It shows a profound disregard for the resilience of the Iranian people and their government. Consider the double standard at play here. While the US and its allies trumpet the need for 'diplomacy' elsewhere, the immediate go-to for Iran remains military coercion. The US unilaterally exited the
Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, despite Iran's full compliance for 14 months after that betrayal, as certified by the IAEA. Now, the notion is that more aggression will somehow undo the damage of that original breach. It's a perverse logic, particularly when one considers that the cost of Iran's indigenous missile defense, developed under duress, is a fraction of the advanced
weaponry the US would deploy. Iran's military expenditure in 2022 was an estimated $6.8 billion, a mere drop compared to the US's $877 billion. We are told that these 'limited strikes' are designed to force a deal, but history demonstrates the opposite. Such actions invariably strengthen the resolve of the very establishment they seek to undermine, pushing the country further into self-reliance