New in PJ Media:
Envoys of President Donald Trump are set to meet on Friday in Istanbul with representatives of the Islamic Republic of Iran, and the president himself seems to have high hopes for the meeting. On Thursday morning, Trump posted without comment a Fox News video entitled “Trump weighs diplomacy with Iran amid rising tensions.” The rulers of the Islamic Republic, however, are hardly behaving like people who are ready to sit down at the negotiating table and hammer out an agreement. In fact, they’re behaving more aggressively than they have in quite some time.
Fox News reported Tuesday that the mullahs in Tehran have “show little public sign” of accepting the terms that Trump’s representatives are likely to present at the Istanbul meeting: “an end to Iran’s nuclear enrichment program, curbs on ballistic missiles and a halt to support for proxy groups such as Hamas and Hezbollah,” as well as “an end to the regime’s violent crackdown on protesters.”
Not only is it unlikely that Iran’s Islamic regime will accept any of that, but the Iranians are now nitpicking about the basic arrangements: “Iran is now seeking a change in venue to Friday’s meeting — wanting it to be held in Oman, according to a source familiar with the request — raising questions about whether the summit will proceed as scheduled or produce substantive progress.” That is by no means the only reason for questioning whether this meeting will actually accomplish anything.
The biggest indication that the Istanbul (or Oman) meeting will be fruitless is the fact that the Islamic Republic is behaving more aggressively toward the U.S. than it has since the dark days of the Obama administration. The mullahs appear convinced that Trump has revealed weakness in not yet following through on his repeated threats against the Islamic Republic.
On Jan. 2, the president stated that “if Iran shots and violently kills peaceful protesters, which is their custom, the United States of America will come to their rescue.” Then on Jan. 13, Trump assured the Iranian protesters that “HELP IS ON ITS WAY.” But then he wrote on Jan. 16: “I greatly respect the fact that all scheduled hangings, which were to take place yesterday (Over 800 of them), have been cancelled by the leadership of Iran. Thank you!”
The fact that Trump has not yet acted, however, does not mean that he is not going to act, or lacks the will to act. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Tuesday that Trump “remains committed to always pursuing diplomacy first. But in order for diplomacy to work, of course, it takes two to tango, you need a willing partner to engage. The president has always a range of options on the table, and that includes the use of military force.”
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Big Dude says
What about our Iranians? Trump has got to live up to his word, or the United States will become the Mouse that Roared. Hopefully, Israel doesn’t make the same mistake. Iran is waiting for them, and the warmth between the two peoples will create a far better Middle East.
Walter Sieruk says
That those despots of that hostile are now willing to have negotiations with the United States is nothing more than the same ploy played by Hitler when he understood that his regime was about to go down in total defeat he offered a proposal of negotiations with Franklin D. Roosevelt , very wisely Roosevelt rejected that proposal .
Let’s hope that President Trump has the same kind of wisdom regarding that disingenuous offer by Khamenei and those other tyrants still in power in that Islamic tyrannical regime played that deception tactic of having “talks.”
\In any such so called “talks” the officials of that tyranny would only speak half- truths and outrights lies. They engage in the practice of Islamic deception, Taqiyya , to achieve their jihad objectives. Those “negotiations’ are tactic to stall for time so that they may further their construction of many deadly weapons, with the intention of future jihad murder attacks in America and Israel.
Walter Sieruk says
It’s just far too late for any type of “diplomatic settlement’.” The reason why this is so is because the massive human carnage is so horrendous that those murderous despots of Iran must be brought to justice. Likewise, their tyrannical Islamic regime need to be destroyed.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
If Iranians want a war so much, they should send more drones towards not just the Abe Lincoln, but against US bases in al Udeid, Emirates and Bahrein, and maybe damage something, so that Trump can no longer ignore it w/o resurrecting the “TACO” insults
James Lincoln says
Just wondering what the optics would be if Israel decided to strike Iran on its own – without “permission” from the United States…
Patrick says
As far as I’m concerned, President Trump has walked back on Israel, Syria, Nigeria, and now Iran. He’s now kissing the ass of China’s leader., will be making a trip there soon, while China buys more land in the U.S.