Will the Iranian regime try to escape a collapse by cutting a deal with Donald Trump? Or will they try to distract the nation from a two-week popular rebellion by declaring war on the US? According to the Washington Post, the answer is ... yes:
Iran is keeping lines of communication with the United States open and is ready for either “war” or dialogue, its foreign minister said Monday, as President Donald Trump weighs responses — including military options — amid reports from rights groups that hundreds of people have been killed across the country amid mass protests against the regime.
“We are not warmongers, but we are prepared for war. … We are also prepared for negotiations, but fair negotiations, with equal rights and mutual respect,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told a gathering of ambassadors in Iran on Monday.
In fairness, Trump appears to speak the same language as Araghchi. The difference is that Trump has real options, while the Iranian regime is starting to run out of them. In conversations with reporters yesterday, Trump revealed that discussions about direct negotiations had begun, but that it might be too little, too late:
Trump said aboard Air Force One on Sunday night that Iran had contacted the U.S. to propose talks, but added: “We may have to act before a meeting. … A meeting is being set up.” He declined to elaborate on the options the U.S. was considering on Iran.
It's not clear when the talks about talks began. However, the massacres perpetrated by the regime over the weekend have potentially changed those calculations. Trump issued a clear red line on Friday, and now his credibility is on the line. NBC News reports this morning that reprisals may be more a matter of when rather than if:
President Donald Trump has been weighing a range of options against Iran amid the country’s crackdown on protesters that human rights groups say has killed more than 500 people.
Trump has said publicly that he may take action if Iranian leaders killed protesters challenging Iran’s theocracy, as demonstrations entered their second week despite an increasingly aggressive crackdown.
According to three U.S. officials, the president has been presented with preliminary plans ranging from possible strikes to other options that would not entail military action. No final decision has been made, the officials said.
The problem for Trump is one of credibility. Iran may be signaling negotiations on one hand – and he made it clear that they Iranians initiated the offer – but the mullahs and the IRGC are opening fire on protesters en masse in defiance of Trump's red line. Even the New York Times has taken notice, after two weeks of arms-length coverage of the massive popular revolt:
Despite a near-complete internet blackout and draconian limits on phone communications in the country of 80 million, reports have started to trickle out that include verified videos of protester deaths and corpses lined up in body bags outside hospitals.
The worsening crisis in Iran, which started as a protest over economic grievances, represents what some experts are calling one of the gravest challenges to the authorities since the Islamic Revolution nearly five decades ago.
After initially striking a more sympathetic tone when demonstrations began two weeks ago, Iran’s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, took a tougher stance in an interview on Iranian state television Sunday, saying he was working to address protesters’ anger over the economy but vowed “not to let rioters destabilize the country.”
Late Sunday, President Trump, who had earlier warned that the United States would intercede if the Iranian government killed peaceful protesters, hinted that he might be ready to act. Asked by reporters traveling with him on Air Force One whether Iran’s leaders had crossed a red line, he replied: “It looks like it. There seems to be some people killed who weren’t supposed to be killed.”
Without getting into details, Mr. Trump said: “We’re looking at it very seriously, the military’s looking at it. And there’s a couple options.”
The evidence coming out of Tehran in particular will ramp up pressure on Trump. Videos show bodies lying in the streets, the Independent reports:
Shocking footage shared from Iran appears to show scores of bodies in black bags strewn across a forensic facility in the capital, Tehran.
It comes as rights groups warn that more than 500 people have been killed in a bloody government crackdown after two weeks of nationwide protests calling for regime change.
Five separate clips shared by activists online show bodies, some bloodied and just in their underwear, littering the compound of the facility, where identification and death certificates are reportedly being issued. ...
Two Iranian activist accounts, which have become credible sources of images smuggled out of the country, named the location as the Kahrizak forensic laboratory. They separately wrote that the regime had summoned civilians there to identify their dead.
The Iranian regime may want to talk, but ... what do they have to say? What do they have to offer? And more to the point, what would Trump demand in return? His recent "talks" with Nicolas Maduro suggest that Trump will keep the opportunity for talks open right up to the point of taking action. He did the same thing with Iran up to the moment that B-2s demolished Fordow, Isfahan, and Natanz, too. If Trump wants to get the Iranian regime to stop massacring people in the streets, he'll have to reach the action point sooner rather than later.
Update: Looks like sooner, according to Al-Jazeera's sources:
The US military's plans to conduct military operations against Iran are in "the advanced stages," an anonymous US official told Qatari-state-owned Al Jazeera on Monday.
The military options for an operation against the Islamic Republic are "being tailored to circumstances and developments," the official told the outlet. "Our forces in the Middle East are ready for any contingency, any mission, and to defend themselves and our interests."
The Qataris are probably getting an advance warning. Stay tuned.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
Help us continue to report on the administration’s peace through strength foreign policy and its successes. Join Hot Air VIP and use promo code FIGHT to get 60% off your membership!
Join the conversation as a VIP Member