US - Iran Peace agreement Part 3

[TopPocketFind]

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/conflict-in-the-middle-east/5535141-us-iran-peace-agreement-part-2https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/conflict-in-the-middle-east/5535141-us-iran-peace-agreement-part-2

"In a series of tweets, Trump defended his mental fitness and boasted about his brains, saying he is “like, really smart” and “a very stable genius.”" - AP Jan 7 2018

And now some 8 years later, some people are suggesting that we are seeing this " very stable genius" at work. That this serial bankrupt and convicted fraudster started a war against a sovereign state on the pretense of "freeing the people" of an oppressive Government on the other side of the world, of regime change and no nukes: but all the time it was a ploy about getting inward investment to the USA from oil rich nations.

Well thank goodness he is a very "stable genius", and not the thick as mince knob he comes across as.

And well done to E Jean Carol

You forgot the part where the inward investments flow into companies his family just miraculously happen to already own or have shares in.

Trump genes are amazing. Even marrying into the family, by osmosis makes people instant financial geniuses at spotting investment opportunities. <Don't mention insider trading or bribery>

At least some people on this thread seem to agree that inward investments flowing from Gulf countries to the US could be more than just "stuff he spouts".

Always hard to separate fact from fiction with Trump. But I do get a real sense that he is exasperated trying to negotiate with Iran due to the different factions with different agendas and has had enough. He could be serious about expanding strikes on Iran next week (or earlier, his timeline isn't necessarily truthful).

And well done to E Jean Carol
Yes, plaudits for her persistence. There's a trail of many without her financial and other support resources and not in the public eye, who have not even been able to try to get justice for their treatment from Trump's illegal practices.

GCC and other world leaders would do well to follow her example.

Inside the 24-hour sprint to convince Trump to drop his plans to toll Strait of Hormuz

https://edition.cnn.com/2026/07/14/politics/trump-toll-strait-of-hormuz

"he wisely determined that the United States should be reimbursed for our many years of protecting ships transiting this waterway."

Retrospective tax. That's a new one for me.

It seems that Trump was pacified by, as the White House official said, "our Gulf allies" who "offered to provide investments into the United States, which the President found preferable.”

It's like promising a child a sweet if they behave for a bit.

If huge amounts of financial investment can be compared to a sweet, yes.

How d builfing oes a nation attract inward inestment ? A question worth asking, Especially as the UK is only a week from having a new PM.

Do we :

A - Work onbuilding an econemy that is tanrustworthy and will produce good returns on investments made to the mutual benefit of all.

B - Act like a madman, and tell them we will tax every item shipped in and out by sea at 20% of the value, unless they invest in us.

I daresay if Burnham chooses B, that all the pro Trump people will be jumping with joy.

The UK is nothing like the US (thank God) and one of the hardest things to imagine in the world is Burnham taking lessons from Trump.

.

Trump yesterday

"We're being very careful with the civilian population, as you know. But I said, 'You better make a deal. You're not going to have anything left.'"

You can understand why Rubio is keen to dismantle the international criminal court

Earlier, Donald Trump renewed threats to strike Iranian bridges and power plants if peace talks did not resume.
“Next week it gets really bad for them. We’re going to knock out all their power plants. We’re going to knock out all their bridges unless they get to the table and negotiate,” the US president said.

Iran's response:
Iran has fired missiles at targets across the Middle East in retaliation for a seven-hour wave of US strikes.
Tehran targeted American bases in Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain overnight on the fourth day of renewed fighting between the US and Iran, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said.
The Islamic Republic said it had struck logistics, fuel and military equipment facilities used by the US navy’s Fifth Fleet in Bahrain.
The attacks were carried out in response to US Central Command saying it had struck dozens of military targets near the Strait of Hormuz to “further degrade Iran’s ability to threaten commercial shipping and civilian crews”.
Telegraph

The war is going well, I see. Don't civilians use power from power plants? And yes @TopPocketFind The Venezuelan venture is not the only reason why the US is now pushing to dismantle the ICC.

A wheat storage silo in Iran’s southwestern city of Hoveyzeh was struck by US projectiles early on Wednesday, according to the state broadcaster IRIB, citing local authorities.

And food suppies targetted as well!

It will be classified as a war crime I believe if the US strike power plants.

Neither side seems to worry too much about that, unfortunately.

The IRGC also guilty of war crimes of course. Such as recruiting and mobilizing children as young as 12 into a military campaign, according to Amnesty International.

https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/04/iran-recruitment-of-child-soldiers-as-young-as-12-amounts-to-a-war-crime/

Can't you condemn the US without the whataboutery?

We all know about the IRGC.

Today's Morten cartoon in The Times shows Trump floundering in the water while a vessel, instead of helping him, has a man saying to the captain "I think he's offering us safe passage through the Strait".

picture=1000 words

https://www.thetimes.com/comment/cartoons/article/morten-morlands-times-cartoon-july-15-2026-0cj9ffwws

I tried to archive it but wasn't allowed.

We all know about the IRGC and we all know about the US because both sides' (war) crimes and misdemeanours are in the news. We all know about Trump yet he is discussed endlessly on here.

Just for balance and to stop this thread becoming an echo chamber, I like to mention that both sides do bad things. They've both hit water desalination plants for example - the IRGC hit a Kuwait power and water desalination plant, while Iran’s foreign minister accused Washington of setting a precedent when they attacked a desalination plant on Qeshm Island.

I condemn both sides for the war crimes they commit and will accuse the US of more war crimes if they hit power plants next week. I have condemned them in the past for this sort of thing and am quite happy to condemn them again next week if Trump follows through on his latest threat.

An echo chamber?

I expect the US to be better than Iran but under Trump that expectation has nearly all but vanished.

Just because people may expect Trump to be better than the IRGC leader - whoever he is - that doesn't mean we need to obsess over Trump to the exclusion of criticism of the other side too.

I have plenty of criticism for Iran and the IRGC

You choose to ignore that.

A leader of the US calling for extermination is not an obsession, it is horror.

Yes that is a horror but again you are focusing on Trump's crazy words rather than Iran's. Both sides have threatened the other with death; Iran has been doing it for decades.

An article from November 2025:

Iranian lawmakers chanted “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” in parliament on Tuesday as they marked the anniversary of the 1979 seizure of the US Embassy in Tehran, state media reported.

www.iranintl.com/en/202511042838

There is nothing new about Iran's rhetoric, it's very much expected to hear those comments.

Trump is very different to previous presidents in what he is saying out loud. That is why I focus on him much more.

Is that so difficult to grasp?

I'm not just talking to you, my comments are to everyone on the board by the way. What you do is just what you do.

There really is no need to use demeaning language like - is that so difficult to grasp? The Trump obsession is clear on this board but I'm not particularly focusing on you when I observe it.

There really is nothing wrong with a balanced approach in blaming both Iran and the US for the shit show these negotiations have turned into. Yet it always seems to upset someone when I point out there are 2 sides preventing peace from being achieved via peaceful negotiations.

You do not upset me but you do annoy me with your hints that I/we don't condem Iran enough for your liking.

Disclaimer gate was an example of that.

The use of the word obsession tells me a lot of how you perceive me/us.