i join with mr crooke in his opinion that iran and the empire will not be able to 'negotiate' successfully their way out of this war; 

 

Trump today seems torn between the prospect of ‘heavy’ military escalation and an extended Hormuz blockade.

Putting two sides together — let alone three — who have wildly diverse chronicles of their histories and even less commonality in charting their future national trajectory was innately unlikely to reach an agreed settlement. More likely in such ill-prepared encounters is often an ill-tempered recapitulation of the general lack of congruence.

This was the case in last month’s Islamabad ‘talks’ between the U.S. and Iran — with Israel acting as third-party proxy for ‘collective forces’ trying to ‘force the end’ (a Greater Israel regional hegemony) — by demanding effectively massive (and unrestricted) regional territorial control for Israel.

For such talks to serve a purpose, they would have to concretise an underlying level of agreement between the parties — if such can be found. Otherwise, the best that may emerge will be informal arrangements that are never formalised, but may, in the instant, suit the interests of the parties involved. Such understandings last as long as they last. That’s it.

Esmail Baqaei, spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, noted that over these 47 years, deep distrust and suspicion have accumulated with the U.S.:

“You should not expect that within a short period of time, after an extraordinarily bloody war, in which … Iran, having fought two regimes armed with nuclear weapons, two exceptionally ruthless regimes, whose brutality we witnessed over the past two and a half years in the crimes of Gaza and Lebanon, would quickly reach a settlement [with us]”.

Aurelien succinctly outlines the impasse:.......more..........