Trump Can’t Control The Strait Of Hormuz, So He Attacks Iran Again

So, in case anyone was wondering: yes, we’re still involved in this ridiculous war in Iran.

Between President Donald Trump getting rebuked by federal judges on a near-daily basis, his Freedom 250 flop, the extrajudicial executions of civilians by ICE agents and National Guard members, and all the clear conflicts of interest that have been on display regarding the president and his family members, one could almost forget that we were still in the midst of what appears to be a ceasefire-proof conflict in the Middle East. But in case you were looking for an update, everybody is still bombing everybody, and productive negotiations still seem to be theoretical at best, but mostly non-existent.

From the Associated Press:

The United States reimposed a naval blockade on Iran and intensified its airstrike campaign Wednesday in retaliation for Tehran’s attacks on ships trying to pass through the Strait of Hormuz.

Overnight American strikes hit an Iranian army barracks, killed at least seven troops and wounded more than 260 people across the country, Iranian officials said. Later, the U.S. resumed striking Iran during daylight — an unusual move that further signaled the increasing tempo in attacks.

Days of back-and-forth strikes by the U.S. and Iran across the Middle East — and renewed threats to the waterway crucial to global energy supplies — have shredded the interim deal to end the conflict and the region could tip back into all-out war.

It should be noted that while all of this has been going on, Trump was threatening to take over the Strait of Hormuz, which he has done in the past, and even claimed the U.S. government would be charging a 20% toll on all cargo moving through it as compensation for the U.S.’s protection of the Strait, which, lest we forget, was wide open for free passage before the U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began five months ago.

“The U.S.A. will be, from this point forward, known as ‘THE GUARDIAN OF THE HORMUZ STRAIT,’ but as such, and as a matter of FAIRNESS, will be reimbursed, at the rate of 20% on all cargo shipped, for any and all costs necessary to do the job of providing safety and security to this very volatile section of the World,” Trump said in a Truth Social post on Monday. He also spoke about it during a White House briefing the same day.

Well, someone must have, at some point, taken the president to the side and explained to him that that’s not how any of this works, because just one day later, Trump was saying, sike!

From the New York Times:

Mr. Trump announced his reversal in a lengthy social media post on Tuesday.

“Based on highly productive conversations with Middle East leadership, I have decided to replace the 20% United States Reimbursement Fee with Trade and Investment Deals that the various Gulf States will be making into the United States,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social, his social media platform.

Mr. Trump later told reporters in the Oval Office that various “kings and emirs” of Gulf allies had called him and convinced him to allow them to invest in U.S. companies instead of paying the fees, which experts said could more than double the cost of shipping oil through the strait if levied at 20 percent.

“I don’t think anybody should be able to charge a fee for the strait,” Mr. Trump said, adding that he felt his new plan was “much better.”

Yeah, I’m pretty sure what really happened is Trump found out what even his ever-loyal secretary of state, Marco Rubio, knew, which is that taking over an international waterway and charging a toll to move through it is illegal, as well as impractical and unenforceable, especially when the waterway is roughly 7,500 miles away from the country you actually run.

Before Trump began walking back his tough talk about taking over the Strait and how the price of a brick is going up, regarding international passage through it, he began making the media rounds, telling reporters that Iran better make a deal with the U.S. or else he would bomb the nation into oblivion, which, as we all know, he has been threatening for months now.

“We’re going to hit them very hard tonight, and we’re going to hit them hard tomorrow — and there’s not a damn thing they can do about it,” Trump said Monday. “They have nothing. They have nothing going other than they have big mouths.”

Trump is the only president in recent history who woul would call into a news station and start talking about acts of war like he was promoting a boxing match on Pay-Per-View.

And in case you think I’m exaggerating, here he is literally comparing his war to a boxing match.

Of course, on Wednesday, when reporters asked him about his threats to begin bombing major bridges Iran, and if he was “giving Iran a deadline” before he begins that bombing campaign, Trump responded, “I don’t like giving deadlines, but they pretty much know — they know the story. They better behave.”

Trump doesn’t like to give deadlines? He is literally the biggest deliverer of two-week post-dated threats that any world leader has ever had to deal with. He’s been claiming Iran will “no longer have a country” if they don’t submit to U.S. demands for a smooth three months and counting now.

Meanwhile, the world, including our own Congress, just wants it all to end.

SEE ALSO:

Trump Iran ‘Update’ Was All Lies, Self-Gratification With No Substance

If Peace Negotiations Are Going Well, Why Is Trump Still Threatening Iran?

Are Donald Trump’s Statements, Social Media Posts Prolonging The Iran War?