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WASHINGTON, D.C. – Trump addressed the world today amid the current conflict between the United States and Iran. Trump, who once seemed more confident in going to war with Iran just a day or two ago, seemed shook at the podium in an attempt to tell the world and the American people that Iran “appears to be standing down”. In other words, “I don’t know what these people going to do after they done stole off on my a**!” If you are wondering what is being referred to, last night Iranian military forces let off over a dozen ballistic missiles at Iraqi military bases housing U.S. troops. Trump has reported no American casualties while the Iranian government says otherwise. That “slap”, which Iranian officials explained as such, must’ve been felt by Trump and his administration.
Trump’s penchant for shade-throwing and stretching the truth makes his statements suspect at best. That’s not surprising when you consider the history of Trump’s inability to tell the truth. Trump, during his address, brought up the $150 billion the United States handed over to the Iranian government during the Obama administration. The $150 billion part is true, but the story was not that the funding was some gift handed over by the United States and other countries to Iran. In fact, the money given to Iran was frozen assets (their money) that they regained through a multinational deal to restrain from nuclear development. The latter has been fact-checked ad nauseam by experts, but here we are. Trump’s ego can’t let it go.
Trump did, however, mention the United States will continue to hand out “powerful [economic] sanctions until Iran changes its behavior”. On that front, we will have to wait and see what happens. Still, the tone of Trump’s address was not from a place of resolve. You don’t threaten someone while also trying to be a peacemaker. Either you are trying to end this potential threat of war or not.
The remarks by Trump, so we’re clear, didn’t clear up much of anything. There are conflicting stories stemming from Iran and the United States. Ultimately, what will be the long term effects of these conflicts on our troops deployed in the Middle East and what strain will they have on our allies moving forward?
