[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Catfish

^ Oh really yes and why not? What has Trump reached applying more and more pressure to make a deal with Iran? Where is it?

Trump has shrunk to a hesitating president, whose foreign political scope further shrinks with the blurring economics.
This escalation in the Middle East is also Trump's crisis. So he aggravated the conflict with Iran getting out of the nuclear deal. He wanted to negotiate a new deal, this was the official doctrine, but never were the USA more far away from negotiating usable results in a dialogue than now. If his plan was to bully, frighten, negotiate and then succeed with a better deal, it has failed completely. As Skybird said the Iranians do not think like that, nor do they let themselves be driven to give in to demands and western ideas by force.

So his options are now limited, apart from the next election which is much more important to him than the US' standing in the world. A war with Iran would further accelerate the oil price development, which is already on the rise. Trump wants to evade a recession in the election year, but it is his own fault causing the economical ruckus, from Europe to China. He has harrasssed international trade so long with threats and taxes that the US economical growth finally gave in. If there will be a wave of lay-offs in the election year …

So he is a bit more reluctant now and sends cautious messages to the german automotive industry, there are suddenly negotiations in China about a new trade treaty "forgetting" taxes, and one of the hawks (Bolton) has been fired. But diplomacy is complicated as the whole world, and destroying it was easy. Generating trust will take decades.

I take it you're a big Trump fan then