Trump throwing a lot of people under the bus because of stock markets?

[mids2019]

When you start a war you finish it in my opinion. There has been no other war that has been stopped because of a slide on the Dow Jones or an oil price spike. For Trump to now prematurely call an end to the war simply because of economics will simply mean IIrans drone terrorism has worked.

The people of Iran will be left with a job half done without the space needed for an uprising.

A new leader with good reason to ideological hate Israel and the US will realise the only method of future deterrence of Iran is through acquiring a nuclear weapon as their conventional weapons were obliterated. Iran will now do everything possible to acquire such a weapon.

This is a time for resolve Mr. President. There is still a chance to destroy this regime maybe with limited target ground troop assaults. The world actually will be safer if you continue.

The mention below of the institute led to a comprehensive book on the secret development of the programme. It was published in 2021.

Sounds like a good read, maybe we’d be better if we read it to understand the risk. The main problem being the secret part of course.

"The most comprehensive unclassified recounting of Iran's nuclear aspirations ever written...careful, meticulous recitation of the full reality of Iran's efforts."-Wall Street Journal

It seems everyone has something to say, not least the IRGC on how much they’re not developing weapons but who’d trust them? It’s kind of existential people don’t just take them on their word. If there’s a secret programme as the book suggests then it should be understood.

We might have been better able to both assess and mitigate the risk as it stands right now if we hadn't bombed them. Accusing Iran of being untrustworthy when we bombed them in the middle of negotiations is a bit rich. Maybe they aren't but we have no moral authority here.

It covers 2003 to 2021 and a secret programme in that time. Despite all the talks and contracts they did it anyway.

Btw excuse my ignorance why is Russia benefiting in this.

In addition to the substantial sums being made on oil sales as US sanctions are eased, the US sale of weapons to Israel means fewer weapons for Ukraine. It's a win for Russia on two fronts.

I couldn't find the link to the book, could you post it again?

I'm interest in how an author/journalist knew more about Iran's weapons program than US intelligence and the IAEA who were allowed in for weapons inspections, something they are not allowed to do in Israel.

Look up the institute and click on Iran at bottom list of countries.

The author is

David Albright is an American physicist and a weapons expert who is the founder of the non-governmental Institute for Science and International Security, its current president, and author of several books on proliferation of atomic weapons.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/france-italy-open-talks-with-iran-securing-safe-hormuz-passage-ft-reports-2026-03-13/

France and Italy reportedly in talks with Iran to secure safe Hormuz passage.

He appears to get his information from IAEA reports, satellite images and other news articles. The IAEA have been doing quarterly inspections and acknowledged that Iran had 60% enriched uranium in 2024. That's not news. Whilst the production rate had increased the stockpile of 60% hadn't due to down blending to 20%. They also said it would take about a week for them to enrich to WGU (above 90%) but nearly 18 months later they still don't have one. I would suggest that given they were bombed in June last year they might have made it a priority if they intended to make a bomb rather than use their enrichment capabilities as a deterrent.

His NGO doesn't list it's donors on the website. I'm talking about organisations rather than individuals which I wouldn't expect to see. For a man concerned with nuclear non-proliferation he seems to lack any curiosity about Israel's nuclear weapons but he's very interested in countries with nuclear weapons where the people have brown faces. There are no European or North American countries on the list of ones he's written articles and reports about.

A report from the UN in words I cant better:

Rhetoric demands scrutiny. When public life begins to romanticize militarization, it becomes easier to sanitize what militarization does: it maims, it rapes and it kills. The language grows cleaner as the reality grows dirtier. The latest reporting from the United Nations leaves no room for evasion. The Secretary-General’s report on conflict-related sexual violence verified more than 4,500 cases in 2024.

press.un.org/en/2026/dsgsm2028.doc.htm

Rhetoric demands scrutiny.
This should be the mantra for everyone today.

That sounds like rhetoric.
Sometimes mantras are dangerous things.

'make America great again'. ??

"Sometimes".

Agree with the romanticization of militarization. Nowhere is this seen more in my opinion than in the inane speeches of Hegseth . Yesterday he said "no quarter no mercy for our enemies" this is a war crime and against the Geneva Convention. The language being used is like a video game which hoodwinks the masses into ignoring the death and destruction it causes in reality.

Yes, Russia is getting a big financial boost, if Iranian oil supply infrastructure is attacked though that is a big financial negative for China (as is attacks on various infrastructure across the ME where they have loads of investment) that does not bode well for US/China relations?

Agree with most of that, but the leader they killed, how many families did he send to their deaths, or deny them their father, brother, mother because they were too outspoken?

I saw someone comment somewhere that he talks like a tough guy character written by a 15 year old which sounds pretty accurate. It's as if he lacks the emotional maturity to comprehend the seriousness of the situation.

Sometimes he's unintentionally funny. I think it was yesterday he said that the SofH was open and the only thing stop ships going through was the Iranians firing at them.

Yes, like saying anyone can go into space if they have a rocket. The latest is calling for UK and other nations to send ships to keep it open, Iran must be stockpiling the drones and rockets aimed at the S of H as we speak?

Complete suicide mission for anyone that goes along with this crackpot idea

Yep, maybe countries will just go back to Russian oil instead? An almost funny political dilemma for the likes of KS to fumble their way through, more or less a Yes Minister script, the mounting loss of life is far from funny of course.

Starmer has already said that the UK will not lift sanctions on Russia. He will not risk helping Putin's war machine

The YouTube channel "What's going on with shipping" is an excellent source of information about anything to do with shipping.

https://youtube.com/@wgowshipping?si=MIuklHQSoTYcP3g1

One of the major challenges with shipping in the S of H at the moment is not just the danger but no one can get war risk insurance, or it's too expensive, which is usually calculated as a percentage of the insured asset. Which means the cost of the ship plus cargo. Pre conflict the price was running at 0.25%, now, if it's offered at all, the rates are starting at 1.5% with some reports of rates as high as 7.5%. As a reference bulk carriers cost between 20 - 100 million dollars and can carry, depending on size, between 400,000 and a million barrels of oil. Container ships start at 150 million dollars. Insurance is charged per journey.

Iran don't actually have to do anything except create the perception of increased risk.

Doesn"t make any difference if the US is lifting sanctions, Russia is back in the money whatever KS says, at what point does the rise in costs here make his position untenable?

They are going to throw missiles and drones at anything they class as an enemy, I don"t think they are bothered about perceptions?

Quite possibly but my point was that they don't need to attack every ship that attempts to transit. They can effectively close the strait by making it seem too risky. I don't think they are wasting munitions unnecessarily so perception matters.