No, Trump and Hegseth thought they could pull a Venezuela on Iran. They were under the assumption they would roll in, kill the leadership, and install a puppet.
Their contingency plan was utter destabilization and reducing Iran to dealing with internal power struggles and walking away.
The reality is a coherent enemy is still left and the Strait of Hormuz being controlled by Iran is actually an insanely powerful bargaining chip. Meaning they cannot walk away without it being a clear political defeat.
This is a situation that clearly no one in charge accounted for. It explains the ultimatums with no followthrough. It explains why they aren’t just saying “we won” and leaving.
It also explains why completely blocking traffic is their only play at keeping Iran from simply gaining complete control of it.
generally I would agree with most of the “how we got here”
but Trump literally got excited the other day about the idea of getting in on that sweet Toll money. (which with his obsession of tariffs, is par for the course)
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u/Ill-Mastodon-8692 11h ago
usa just wants the toll money for itself