The president of the United States, Donald Trumpassured this Friday that the Iranian leaders are “crazed scum” and that it is an honor for him to kill them one by one.
In a message on social networks, he repeated his idea that those who were not already dead would soon be if they did not comply with American demands.
In the same sense, his Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegsethassured at a press conference that the Iranian leaders were scared to death and hiding in tunnels and bunkers, “like rats.”
It is an idea that the White House has been repeating since it killed the supreme leader, Ali Jameneiduring the first day of bombing, in addition to probably injuring his son and successor, Mojtab Jameneiwho Hegseth assured was in serious condition and “disfigured.”
There is no evidence in this regard, although the same information is repeated from Israel. Now, no matter how much we insist on it, it is not so clear that the regime has been beheaded and this very Friday, it was publicly demonstrated with a large demonstration in Tehran on the occasion of Al Quds Day, an annual celebration that coincides with the last Friday of Ramadan.
The Iranian president attended, Masud Pezeshkianas well as the head of the National Security Council, Ali Larijanithe Minister of Foreign Affairs, Abbas Araghchiand the head of the judicial apparatus, the cleric Gholamhossein Mohseni-Ejei.
The fact that they appeared before the cameras and walked among the protesters celebrating Iran’s resistance to the attacks by Israel and the United States is already bad news for Trump and Hegseth… the fact that they all did it together, in the same city and at the same event, does not speak very well of the military intelligence of the aggressor countries.
Last Tuesday, Trump linked the end of the war to the disappearance of enemy leaders. Not so much a regime change as such, but rather a time when there would come a time when there were no possible replacements and, therefore, surrender was inevitable and unconditional.
That didn’t work in Gaza with Hamas, whose leaders have been repeatedly assassinated by the IDF without this preventing the organization from continuing to rule in the Strip, and it didn’t work in Lebanon with Hezbollah either.
Of course, both terrorist groups were greatly weakened, but they did not disappear.
Ormuz, in hope
Proof of the stagnation of a military operation intended to last a maximum of three or four weeks and which Trump has already ended several times, waiting for him to decide when to withdraw the troops – “when I feel it inside me,” he said mystically in a televised interview – is the fact that the Pentagon is considering sending one or two expeditionary units of the Marine Corps to the combat zone.
Each unit is usually made up of 2,500 men.
Of course, this rumor has fallen like a rock in the markets, as it points to a land intervention and, consequently, a prolongation of the conflict with the problems it is creating at a commercial and energy level.
If Trump’s words on Tuesday, speaking of an “imminent end” to the war, caused the price of a barrel of Brent to drop to $87, this Friday it once again touched $105, the highest figure since the start of the Ukrainian war in the spring of 2022.
There are also no signs that the commercial drain will improve in the short term.
Iran continues to control the Strait of Hormuz at will, allowing only ships from like-minded countries, for example, Türkiye, to enter.
The blockage of such an important passage of oil tankers especially affects China and the Asian continent, but, by implication, it can cause an increase in the price of energy around the world and inflation to skyrocket again, as happened in 2022 and 2023. A nightmare scenario.
Although Trump has stated numerous times that he would not hesitate to take military action to end the blockade of Hormuz, the truth is that these actions do not come and that both Hegseth and Scott BessantSecretary of the Treasury, have delayed them until the moment when “they are militarily possible”, without wanting to give an exact date.
That does not encourage the markets either and it certainly does not seem to indicate that the war is over, as the White House repeats.
More dead
Iran’s great asset in a conflict in which, obviously, its army is inferior to that of its two enemies, is to punish their governments in the public eye.
One resource is commercial: skyrocket prices until citizens demand their leaders to end the war.
The other is to cause the greatest number of casualties among their ranks, even if it is in military bases located in other countries, so that the pressure of the coffins provokes social indignation.
In that sense, Friday was the worst day for the United States since the start of the war, with the confirmation of the death of six soldiers on a military refueling plane.
The plane crashed on Thursday in western Iraq while another plane suffered damage that forced an emergency landing in Israel.
Although the Pentagon immediately wanted to make it clear that the accident was not due to friendly or external fire, it also did not specify the reasons why two planes traveling together had suffered unexpected mishaps in the air.
The Islamic Resistance of Iraq has claimed responsibility for the downing of the plane, but without presenting any evidence.
With these six new casualties, there are now thirteen American soldiers who have died since the beginning of the operation Epic Fury. At the moment, it is not a very high figure and both Hegseth and Trump justify it with “in a war, there are deaths” that does not indicate much empathy.
The problem is that the billionaire had arrived at the White House ensuring that this would never happen with him in the presidency and the MAGA isolationists, including the vice president J.D. Vanceare trilling over Trump’s very risky decision and its consequences.
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