The Iranians do not seem grateful that President Donald Trump, having urged the protesters to keep on protesting and assuring them that “help is on the way!,” declared later that since the protests had died down and the Iranian government had less need to suppress them, there was no need for America to intervene. This disastrous capitulation has only emboldened the government, that continues to harass, beat, imprison, and kill protesters, albeit at somewhat lower levels than at the height of protests, without fear of an American response. Assuming that Trump comes to his geopolitical senses, what should he do now to hold the Tehran regime in check? More on Trump and the future of Iran can be found here. “What Happens Next for the US and Iran?,” by Jonathan Ruhe, Algemeiner, January 20, 2026:
Having warned Iran’s regime, repeatedly and explicitly, not to brutalize its own people, President Trump now must figure out how to uphold his red line, avoid losing credibility, and impose serious costs on the regime — all without triggering a wider conflict.
Revolutionary regimes like the Islamic Republic try to delegitimize and deflect popular discontent by pinning it on external enemies. Although Trump has spoken out about the protests, Tehran ignored the Biden team’s glaring silence and still blamed America for the “Woman, Life, Freedom” movement just a few years ago.
It is therefore no surprise that the speaker of Iran’s parliament has said the country is already in a new round of conflict with America and Israel. Iranian officials also have threatened to attack US regional bases, including preemptively….
Had the Iranians been clever, they would not a this point be declaring their undying enmity toward America and Israel. Instead, they would have pointed to the decline in the size and frequency of the protests on the streets of Iranian cities, offered a public tone of sweetness and light, and even invited Trump to Tehran to meet with the supreme leader to discuss how to keep the peace in the Middle East, the kind of personal invitation that Trump loves, because it confirms him in his sense that he is the indispensable man, the singularly adept peacemaker who can make assorted lions lie down with assorted lambs. In fact, he has helped to broker eight peace agreements, but many of these are shaky agreements, and likely not to last. That certainly goes for the ceasefire — not a ‘peace agreement” — between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, which Hamas keeps violating and the Israelis keep responding to those violations. How many people really believe that Hamas will voluntarily disarm as it has promised to do?
Iran’s regime should know its short-range weapons are central to the strike options being readied for President Trump’s consideration. America’s commander-in-chief should make painfully and explicitly clear that Tehran cannot escalate its way out of its predicament — at home or abroad.
Cynthia says
Unfortunately, there is going to be another massacre or total suppression. It seems the window of opportunity has passed for a strategic hit.
We are now like every otherAmerican administration betraying the Iranian people as well as the Kurds in Syria.
Peace at any price is not real peace. It’s a glued together peace for the moment like Gaza.
gravenimage says
Grimly this seems all too likely.
Wellington says
Unless Trump has something up his sleeve, and this seems increasingly unlikely though I would still not rule it out entirely, then there is no way this has not been a failure on his part. I’m reminded here of Barack Obama who in 2013 warned Syria, then under the Assad regime, that if it used chemical weapons it would be crossing a “red line.” Well, Assad did thereafter use chemical weapons and Obama did nothing. BTW, Putin took note of this, yes he did, and the next year annexed Crimea. Empty threats are always worse than no threats at all.
As for Iran not being grateful, this is in keeping with the Islamic mindset overall. When has gratitude, true gratitude, ever been extended by the Islamic world throughout Islam’s sorry-ass history to non-Muslims, i.e. “the vilest of creatures?” (Sura 98.6)
࿗Infidel࿘ says
The islamic regime not being grateful as a part of its islamic character may be natural, but it’s pretty stupid given who they are dealing w/. They know that they’re dealing w/ someone w/ a big ego, so all they needed to do was what Hugh had suggested – water down the rhetoric against both the US and Israel, talk about how the protests have lost steam and invited Trump to a summit anywhere he wanted – maybe Muscat or Baghdad. Allowing him to gloat about achieving peace b/w Iran and Israel
Heck, the islamic regime could have taken a page out of Ahmad al Shara’a, who at the behest of Saudi Arabia, absolutely agreed to play ball w/ Trump, so that now, there are limits to what the Israelis can do in Syria, while the Kurds there have reportedly surrendered. If they did this, they could have saved their regime at least from the external threat, and focused on the internal threat
James Lincoln says
࿗Infidel࿘ says,
“…all they needed to do was what Hugh had suggested…”
Yes, but they just couldn’t bring themselves to do it.
That may end up being the catalyst for Pres. Trump to act, especially now that strategic naval assets have been repositioned.
Time will tell…
somehistory says
I recall a scene from an episode of Andy Griffith where Opie and a bully were having a disagreement and the bully drew a line in the dirt and dared Opie to cross it. Opie crossed it. The bully stepped back and drew another line.
Jesus said just before He returns, the nations would be in tumult ‘not knowing the way out.’