Recent talk is that absent help from traditional allies, which Trump HAS show indifference and outright hostility to?
The worried US President may turn to Israel to join in any military actiuon against Iran….
It would appear that Trump IS waiting in vain for Iran to bend in his direction against the drum beat of escalating military assets in the Middle East….
THAT?
Has NOT happened….
The FACT is?
The American President IS bluffing for time against a foe that seems NOT be laying down for him or the US Military ….
Iran pushed back Wednesday against U.S. President Donald Trump’s pressure tactics ahead of critical talks in Geneva over Tehran’s nuclear program, alternating between calling his remarks “big lies” and saying negotiations may yield an agreement through “honorable diplomacy.”
The remarks by two Iranian officials came a day before the talks and as America has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships to the Middle East in decades. The buildup is part of Trump’s efforts to get a deal to constrain Iran’s nuclear program while the country struggles at homewith growing dissent following nationwide protests last month.
Trump has repeatedly threatened to attack Iran if negotiations fail. Mideast nations fear an attack could spiral into a new regional war as the embers of the yearslong Israel-Hamas war still smolder. Already, Iran has said all U.S. military bases in the Mideast would be considered legitimate targets, putting at risk tens of thousands of American service members…..
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Iran enters critical talks on its nuclear programme with the US on Thursday, insisting a deal is in reach as long as Washington sticks by its willingness to concede Iran’s symbolic right to enrich uranium, allow Tehran to dilute its stockpile of highly enriched uranium, and not to impose controls on Iran’s ballistic missile programme.
The three preconditions for success are seen as critical by Iranian diplomats, but it remains unclear whether Trump accepts these parameters.
The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said on Wednesday that it would be a “big problem” if Iran did not negotiate over missiles.
The US special envoy Steve Witkoff, who is heading to Geneva for the talks along with Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, had already accepted these principles in the two previous rounds of indirect talks, Iranian officials claim. But it remains possible that Trump could overturn these terms, a step that will inevitably lead to a conflict between the two nations that could rapidly consume the whole of the Middle East.
It is understood that Witkoff has asked only that Iran agree to enrichment at below 5% purity, roughly the level it accepted in the 2015 nuclear deal and well below weapons grade.
A source in contact with Iran’s negotiation team said members were surprised at the lax terms of the proposal submitted last week by Kushner and Witkoff as a first step. The key request, this source said, was that Iran agree to limit enrichment to 5% and convert the programme to civilian use…
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Israel lead the Iran strikes?
Senior advisers to President Donald Trump would prefer Israel strike Iran before the United States launches an assault on the country, according to two people familiar with ongoing discussions.
These Trump administration officials are privately arguing that an Israeli attack would trigger Iran to retaliate, helping muster support from American voters for a U.S. strike.
The calculus is a political one — that more Americans would stomach a war with Iran if the United States or an ally were attacked first. Recent pollingshows that Americans, and Republicans in particular, support regime change in Iran, but are unwilling to risk any U.S. casualties to achieve it. That means Trump’s team is considering the optics of how an attack is conducted in addition to other justifications — such as Iran’s nuclear program.
“There’s thinking in and around the administration that the politics are a lot better if the Israelis go first and alone and the Iranians retaliate against us, and give us more reason to take action,” said one of the people familiar with discussions. Both individuals were granted anonymity to describe private conversations.
With hopes dimming in Washington for a diplomatic resolution to the standoff with Iran, the primary question is becoming when and how the U.S. attacks.
Regardless of the desire for Israel to act first, the likeliest scenario may be a jointly launched U.S.-Israel operation, the two people said….
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