Trump Tells Iran 'Get Serious' About Negotiations Or 'No Turning Back' As WH Mulls Plans For 'Final Blow'

Trump Tells Iran 'Get Serious' About Negotiations Or 'No Turning Back' As WH Mulls Plans For 'Final Blow'

TYLER DURDEN

• White House, Pentagon reviewing options for 'final blow' as Trump tells Iranians 'get serious' about talks, which they've rejected.

• Trump said to want 'speedy end to war' (WSJ) while at the same time warning Tehran of 'no turning back' if it doesn't negotiate.

• Israel says it has killed Alireza Tangsiri, commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps navy.

• Iran "laying Traps" & "building up defenses" on Kharg Island; NYT report says 13 US regional bases largely 'uninhabitable' in wake of Iran ballistic missile retaliation on Gulf.

  
  

  
  

  'Final Blow'

  President Trump on Thursday is on the one hand calling on Iran "to get serious soon" in negotiations with the US "before it is too late" - while on the other he's said to be mulling plans for a "final blow" in the military campaign. Axios writes that several possibilities are being considered, all which point toward serious escalation and in some cases even ground troops. All but one of the below "final blow" options carry the potential for US to get stuck in Iran for years:

   Seize or blockade Kharg Island (Iran’s main oil export hub).

  — Invade/control Larak Island (key to Strait of Hormuz control).

  — Take Abu Musa + nearby islands (strategic entrance to the strait).

  — Block or seize Iranian oil tankers in the region.

  — Launch massive airstrikes on nuclear/energy sites.

  — (More extreme) Ground operations inside Iran to secure nuclear material.

  Axios elsewhere reminds: "Trump's five-day pause on strikes against Iranian energy infrastructure expires Saturday, and a dramatic military escalation will grow more likely if no progress is made in diplomatic talks, particularly if the Strait of Hormuz remains closed."

  
  

  Negotiations or 'No Turning Back'

  Meanwhile, below are a couple of the latest Iran-related Truth Social posts by President Trump, at a moment Iran has made clear it will reject direct talks until its 'five conditions' are met. Iran has said it won't be "fooled again" and even though Trump has declared 'success' and that Iran has been "militarily obliterated, it's clear that Tehran has serious strategic leverage given its de facto control of the Hormuz Strait.

  Trump threatens in all caps that if Iran doesn't relent then there is "no turning back" - however, the WSJ is at the same time reporting Trump has told aides he wants a speedy end to the war.

  
  

  "President Trump has told associates in recent days that he wants to avoid a protracted war in Iran and that he hopes to bring the conflict to an end in the coming weeks," WSJwrites.

  
  

  The publication continues, "Nearly one month into the war, the president has privately informed advisers he thinks the conflict is in its final stages, urging them to stick to the four-to-six-week timeline he has outlined publicly, according to people familiar with the matter. White House officials planned a mid-May summit with Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing with the expectation that the war would be concluded before the meeting begins, some of the people said."

  
  

  And then it states the obvious which should have been known before Operation Epic Fury was launched: "The problem is Trump has no easy options for ending the war, and peace negotiations are at a nascent stage." Certainly all of the above-mentioned 'final blow' options all carry extreme risk of quagmire (which might make the Iraq and Afghan wars easy by comparison). 

  
  

  Path to offramp or more massive escalation coming?

  
  

  More...