Iran…Trump…War…Evening…8/2/2026…Trump Back’s Down from Escalation of his War…..

The whiplash from war to tense calm has become routine as Mr. Trump strains to resolve the conflict with Iran that began in late February. He has repeatedly threatened a huge attack on Iran’s critical infrastructure only to abruptly de-escalate by claiming an imminent diplomatic breakthrough. Little progress has followed, leaving the two sides stuck in a cycle of attacks and counterattacks.

If carried out, Mr. Trump’s threats to bombard Iranian power plants could have affected civilians and prompted fierce Iranian retaliation, with little likelihood that it would have decisively ended the conflict, analysts said. Former U.S. officials argue Mr. Trump’s public vacillating has eroded American credibility.

This time around, at least one important U.S. ally appeared to have tried to steer Mr. Trump away from renewed attacks. Saudi state media reported on Sunday morning that Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the kingdom’s de facto ruler, recently spoke with Mr. Trump to urge “the necessity of prioritizing dialogue to de-escalate tensions” and “prevent a wider conflict.”

Iran has yet to give any indication that it will relax its grip on the Strait of Hormuz. Mediators were still trying to broker a new agreement on the waterway that could de-escalate tensions, according to four diplomats briefed on the talks. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive diplomacy.

The Gulf nation of Qatar is mediating the negotiations on the Strait of Hormuz between Iran, the United States and Oman, two diplomats said. The Qatari mediators are coordinating those talks with two other Gulf states, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, two of the diplomats said…..

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ISW….Iran Update Special Report, August 2, 2026

1. Iranian negotiators such as Foreign Affairs Minister Abbas Araghchi may be willing to make limited compromises with the United States over the extent of Iranian control over the Strait of Hormuz. The Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) faction led by IRGC Commander Major General Ahmad Vahidi, which appears to be currently dominating regime decision-making, will likely reject any arrangement that meaningfully reduces Iranian control over the waterway, however.
2. US President Donald Trump stated on August 1 that he canceled planned strikes on Iran after Iran — presumably referring to Iranian negotiators — and regional states informed him that they had agreed on the parameters of a deal that reportedly includes the “immediate, complete, and total opening” of the strait and “an end to Iran’s nuclear threat.”
3. Israeli media also reported on August 2 that Araghchi agreed to a US- and Qatari-formulated proposal in which vessels would enter the Persian Gulf through Iranian waters and exit through Omani waters.
4. An arrangement in which Iran controls inbound traffic in the Strait of Hormuz would still enable Iran to control which vessels can enter the Persian Gulf and thus continue to undermine the United States’ interests as well as global commerce. Iranian officials have repeatedly emphasized that they seek to prevent “hostile” vessels, including US Navy vessels, from entering the Persian Gulf.
5. Some Iranian regime officials may be seeking to appease ultra-hardliners by emphasizing that the regime is exploiting pauses in US military operations and periods of diplomacy to reconstitute military capabilities and import new equipment. Iranian Artesh Spokesperson Brigadier General Mohammad Akraminia explicitly stated on August 2 that Iran “fully exploited” the MoU and ceasefire to import new equipment, repair and reconstruct damaged systems, and produce new systems.

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Decades on from the US’s disastrous campaign in Afghanistan, Trump is making all the same mistakes

Simon Tisdall @ The Guardian

It’s five years this month since the chaotic retreat of US forces from Kabul. The Nato-backed invasion and occupation of Afghanistan, launched after the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington DC, is now widely regarded as a failure. It cost the lives of more than 2,400 US and 450 British troops, and tens of thousands of civilians (the exact number is unknown). Although al-Qaida terrorists were routed, their Taliban hosts reimposed repressive, misogynistic Islamist rule after regaining power in 2021. Afghanistan became a byword for ill-considered western interventionism and nation-building. It was the archetypal “forever war”, a phrase first coined during Vietnam.

If this cautionary tale had any lasting value, it was as a deterrent to politicians and generals tempted to rashly embark on open-ended conflicts without just cause, defined, achievable aims, and an exit strategy. Dismayingly, the forever war lesson had to be learned all over again in Iraq, which the US and UK invaded in 2003 and departed, having caused huge harm for scant benefit, in 2011. “Never again!” was the passionate cry at the time and since. And yet, it seems, the same disastrous pattern is now repeating after Donald Trump’s incomprehensibly foolish decision to attack Iran. A war he termed a “little excursion” is entering its sixth month and has been escalating rapidly. It, too, has a forever feel….

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What else makes American politicians risk costly entanglements in foreign wars they can’t control and usually lose? Insecurity – meaning fear – is a common denominator. Like Bush before him, Trump and Israel’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, have greatly and knowingly exaggerated the immediacy and existential nature of the Iranian threat. Like Iraq in 2003, Iran possesses no nuclear weapons and there is zero firm evidence it is trying, or has recently tried, to acquire them. There is a recurring paradox here: it’s the spectacle of the world’s most powerful country once again fearfully tilting at shadows.

Trump’s overbearing hostility to weaker neighbours such as Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Panama and Greenland has a forever aspect, too. It is rooted in the foundational myth that the US has a unique mission – and right – to oversee the western hemisphere, a view it later extended to the rest of the world. Likewise, greed is forever. Abandoning altruistic ideas of democracy promotion, Trump seeks to exercise economic as well as geopolitical dominance…..

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