JD Vance was stunned that the Iranian delegation in Pakistan could not do anything without traveling back to the Supreme Leader for approval.
Trey Yingst of Fox News said, “This speaks to how disorganized the Iranian regime is. They don’t even have the ability to communicate with many of the field officials from the IRGC as a result of the communication systems being targeted during Operation Epic Fury!”
They should use pagers.
Oops. I forgot.
Traveling back is problematic because no one is in charge of the Islamic Republic. Its would-be negotiators fear reprisals for even meeting in Pakistan.
Iran International reported, “A member of Iran’s delegation to talks with the U.S. in Pakistan said the team felt seriously threatened while returning to Tehran, claiming their plane diverted to Mashhad before members traveled onward by train, car and bus.”
Before the USA began blowing things up, a drive from Mashhad to Teheran took 11 hours. That’s how much they fear assassination.
Yingst also said, “The red lines were laid out by the Trump administration. And if the Iranians try to come back to the negotiating table, trying to maintain their nuclear program or their support of regional proxies, it will be very challenging to reach an agreement.
“Remember, President Trump has extended an olive branch to the Iranians, and he’s giving them a choice here, especially as it relates to the enriched uranium. They’re either going to give up the enriched uranium at the negotiating table or it’s going to be taken from them.”
The Islamic Republic is dead but there is no one left to surrender.
Brit Hume said, “Here Iran is, badly battered, militarily crushed. They really don’t have any cards here other than the Strait of Hormuz which we are acting on. Yet they came into this negotiation absolutely refusing to give up their nuclear weapon ambitions which was the bottom line for the President and his negotiators.
“If that doesn’t emphasize that President Trump was correct in assessing in the beginning of this that Iran was still going for a nuclear weapon and it was something the world could not afford, then I don’t know what could.”
On Tuesday, Trump re-opened the Strait of Hormuz and slapped a blockade on Iran—essentially killing its economy, which should finally trigger a rebellion. Odds are the new regime will be terrible but that’s better than what they had, which was horrible.
More than 10,000 U.S. Sailors, Marines, and Airmen along with over a dozen warships and dozens of aircraft are executing the mission to blockade ships entering and departing Iranian ports. During the first 24 hours, no ships made it past the U.S. blockade and 6 merchant vessels complied with direction from U.S. forces to turn around to re-enter an Iranian port on the Gulf of Oman.
The blockade is being enforced impartially against vessels of all nations entering or departing Iranian ports and coastal areas, including all Iranian ports on the Arabian Gulf and Gulf of Oman. U.S. forces are supporting freedom of navigation for vessels transiting the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian ports.
Two moves hit Red China hardest. Trump hurt Xi a third way by finalizing a trade deal with Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world.
Flopping Aces, a pioneer blogger, tweeted, “Trump just wrapped his hands around China’s throat and started squeezing hard.
“While everyone was screaming chaos and no plan, his team quietly flipped Indonesia, the fourth-largest country on Earth and guardian of the Strait of Malacca.
“That narrow little gut-punch of water carries 80% of China’s oil imports.
“Now, after a lightning round of beef deals, tariff carve-outs, fossil fuel pacts, critical minerals, nuclear reactor promises, and a shiny new major defense agreement signed at the Pentagon with Pete Hegseth, Indonesia has gone from neutral to America’s newest strategic squeeze toy.”
“All because Jakarta was choking on its own energy crisis rationing gas, sending bureaucrats home, and staring down 32% tariffs until they bent the knee. Hormuz was already locked down. Malacca just got grabbed.
As a younger Trump would say, grab them by their straits.
Flopping Aces added, “China’s entire energy lifeline is now sitting in Trump’s iron fist. This is a straight-up existential strangulation. Beijing is about to learn what real leverage feels like.
“Sweet dreams, commies. The adults are back in charge.”
Opening the strait allowed the Saudis and others to relieve their oil bladders. This will cheer up our allies in this war, who withstood the missiles from Iran (lame as they were) and took a hit to their economies.
Venezuela and Iran were more than regime changes. They also were more than stopping illicit drugs and worldwide terrorism.
Operations Absolute Resolve and Epic Fury were about rescuing the world economy from Chinese communists. Red China uses more energy than it produces. Oil that is. Black gold. Texas tea. Beijing’s lifeblood. Donald Trump now controls roughly a third of the world’s oil.
Victor Davis Hanson said, “Almost EVERYTHING that Trump is doing that seems herky-jerky has an ultimate strategic purpose: to diminish the power of the Chinese—and to turn Russia and China against each other. There is a plan. And it’s WORKING!”
Trump also showed the world American might and our willingness to use it.
Maduro’s gone. The Ayatollah’s gone. Xi’s desperate. As Meat Loaf sang, two out of three ain’t bad.
Clandestine tweeted, “They really think Trump has no clue what’s going on, when in reality, he now controls the flow of 36% of the world’s crude oil supply, and just forced the nations of the world to buy oil from us, and Venezuela, which Trump conveniently already secured, along with the Panama Canal.
“Now Trump’s focus on Greenland, Canada, and the Arctic shipping routes, makes even more sense. Trump is securing global shipping lanes, and turning the US into THE global energy superpower.
“Trump has China, and the world, by the balls, and the sheep are oblivious. Trump is completely shaking up the global order, and forcing the world to deal through us. Trump is stripping the Deep State of their leverage, and securing the entire board.”
The sheep—Democrats, communists and their media—are quite aware of what’s going on, which is why they are livid and scared.
Ursula von der Leyen said Operation Epic Fury made clear, “the only lasting way out of the fossil dependency is to modernize” by shifting to green energy and “electrifying the economy as rapidly as possible.”
When you refuse to use coal or nuclear power, electrifying everything will set progress back 200 years. What did the EU use before they had candles? Light bulbs. I know it is an old joke that about communists. Who do you think runs the EU?
Meanwhile, Trump tweeted to Britain, “Europe is desperate for Energy, and yet the United Kingdom refuses to open North Sea Oil, one of the greatest fields in the World. Tragic!!!
“Aberdeen should be booming. Norway sells its North Sea Oil to the U.K. at double the price. They are making a fortune. U.K., which is better situated on the North Sea for purposes of energy than Norway, should, DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!!
“It is absolutely crazy that they don’t. AND, NO MORE WINDMILLS!”
But oil is not the only essential commodity Trump controls.
Zero Hedge reported, “Taiwan Helium Imports Rapidly Shift From Qatar To U.S. As Global Energy Flows Are Rewired.”
No helium, no semiconductors.
Other world leaders have learned the lesson of Venezuela and Iran.
Eric Daugherty tweeted, “The greatest Secretary of State Marco Rubio just WALKED OUT and made history, holding the first direct Israel-Lebanon peace talks in DECADES. Marco is making history, brokering the meeting directly in Washington.”
That is 26 years after Israel withdrew from southern Lebanon, handing it over to Hezbollah.
Meanwhile, Chairman Xi met with the communist leader of Spain and declared, “The international order is crumbling into disarray. Both China and Spain are nations of principle and integrity.”
You are darned tooting the old order is crumbling because a new sheriff is in town and he has shaken up the cookie jar.
Red China’s grip on the world is slipping. Xi may have bought a U.S. presidency or two—that Act Blue money that funded Democrats laundered foreign (cough, CHINA, cough, cough) money. Xi also paid off several heads of NATO states. If your country has open borders, you are run by a Tim Walz.
But people now see Red China as a Temu tiger. Its military gear is useless against the USA.
Trump just orange-pilled the world. America is large and in charge. Trying to wait out his term will only make the USA ticked off and tougher to deal with when his successor begins an 8-year presidency.