David Ignatius on Iran: Trump Feels He’s Really Got His Back Against the Wall and It’s Costing Him Politically

EXCERPT:

IGNATIUS: “He’s trying to choke out Iran through his blockade of Iranian ports. Same time, Iran is trying to choke out the United States and its allies by blocking oil exports from the Gulf. And it looks like the Iranian chokeout may be working more quickly than the U.S. chokeout on Iran. And that’s his biggest problem. He made a bet that his negotiators could somehow split the Iranian regime, find more moderate, pragmatic people to deal with. They thought that they had begun that in Islamabad when they met with the Iranian House Speaker, Ghalibaf. But since then, it’s clear that the hardliners have gotten stronger and stronger in Tehran, that the moderates that Trump was hoping he could make a deal with have gotten weaker, relatively. Their latest response has made Trump so angry, basically offers nothing. The Iranians assert sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz indefinitely. So you can see why Trump feels he’s really got his back against the wall. It’s costing him politically. Kagan in his article is saying, 'Really, the wisest course may be for Trump to fold his hand. And that's, again, a measure of of how bad it is, that a very hawkish columnist says, 'You know what, the only way out of this one is just to say it didn’t work. Pull back, don't waste any more money going deeper in the fight.'"