By Nirmal P. Acharya
President Trump went to Beijing this time for the war on Iran. The United States is mired in the quagmire of war against Iran and cannot extricate itself.
It will be very difficult for the US to extricate itself from Iran this time, as the demands of the two sides are too far apart.
Previously, the Iranian side made five demands to the United States through Pakistan:
1. End all wars in the Middle East, including the war in the Strait of Hormuz and the war between Israel and Lebanon.
2. The United States must lift all sanctions against Iran, including all sanctions.
3. Release all Iranian funds that have been frozen by the United States, including all funds.
4. The United States must compensate Iran for the losses it suffered in the wars. The exact amount is unknown, but of course, trillions of dollars should not be a problem.
5. The United States must recognize Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz — this is even more unacceptable to Trump because before the war was launched, this strait was originally international waters, and now how could it have become Iran’s?
In response to this, the United States did not refuse. Instead, it replied to Iran through Pakistan with five key points. In fact, I think the United States would have been better off not replying at all or even launching another military attack against Iran directly. Therefore, the United States once again, through Pakistan, gave a so-called tough response to Iran. This action itself exposed the difficulties of the Trump administration. They couldn’t go up, and they couldn’t go down. The five key points that the United States responded with were:
1. Iran will not receive any war compensation from the United States. The United States will not give a penny.
2. Iran must handover over 400 kilograms of 60% highly enriched uranium and hand it over to the United States.
3. Iran can only be allowed to retain one nuclear facility.
4. The United States will continue to freeze Iranian assets.
5. Whether the Strait of Hormuz will be in a complete ceasefire will depend on the subsequent negotiations.
The Trump administration weighed and weighed, but still gave the above seemingly tough response. But as soon as you see the first point, you know that the United States has lost. Trump’s response was “Iran will not receive war compensation from the United States”, but in fact, it indicates that the United States has already been discussing whether Iran should receive war compensation. That is to say, the United States has now listed this as a negotiation condition.
As soon as Trump returned to Washington from Beijing, he claimed that he would join Israel in immediately resuming the bombing of Iran. He also said that the scale of the next strikes would be even larger, and that Iran would even be wiped off the face of the earth. In fact, if the US really had this capability, they wouldn’t have needed to cease the ceasefire in the first place.
The key point is that the ultimate goal that Trump and Netanyahu have been focusing on – the new spiritual leader of Iran, junior Khamenei — has still not shown up. Not only that, this person who has not shown up still firmly holds the power of Iran’s state and military. After the ceasefire on April 7, with a rest period of nearly a month, Iran’s military strength, such as their missile strength, drone strength, air force and navy strength, is expected to be even stronger than at the moment of the ceasefire. This is undoubtedly certain. Therefore, the US and Israel should now deeply regret why they couldn’t continue this war? Why didn’t they continue to attack Iran? Yes, why didn’t Trump and Netanyahu continue the war since April 7?
The reason is quite simple.
They have already lost themselves in their continuous self-boasting and bragging over the past 30 to 40 days. However, the decision couldn’t be lied about. Even with the joint efforts of the US and Israel, they couldn’t defeat Iran. So they had to decide to declare the ceasefire. And a month and a half later, it would be even more impossible to defeat Iran.
I can’t figure out why President Trump wants to go to Beijing to persuade China to assist him in defeating Iran. The United States is deeply mired in the war against Iran. It is only because it lacks the military power to exert pressure on China in the Taiwan Strait that it is in a favorable position towards Beijing.
Just after President Trump left Beijing, President Putin arrived in the city. China and Russia have the same interests and positions on the issue of the US war on Iran. The US is deeply mired in the war against Iran and thus is unable to continue supporting Ukraine’s war against Russia. Therefore, it is not difficult for everyone to guess what topics President Putin is eager to discuss in Beijing.
At this point, one can’t help but feel amazed. Seeing that the once mighty world superpower, the United States, suddenly found itself in such a passive and helpless situation, it makes me, a humble citizen of this small country, Nepal, feel a bit of pity as well.
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