“Iran has never won a war or lost a negotiation,” President Donald J. Trump, January 2020.
Earlier this week President Trump raged in a post to Truth Social
The Iranians responded by saying, “We’ve lost the keys,” and allegedly left the talks in Pakistan.
Yet, two days later the Islamic nation of Pakistan, that has proposed itself as a mediator ever since Operation Epic Fury began, in its role as neighbor to the Islamic Republic of Iran, offered a lifeline to the terrorist Ayatollahs.
Just hours before President Trump’s deadline that “A whole civilization will die tonight,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested Trump to extend his deadline of Tuesday night, citing progress in negotiations.
“To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open the Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture,” Sharif said in a post on X.
The President has apparently agreed, posting to many laudatory comments
So, what exactly, does the Iranian 10-point proposal say?
Agreeing to anything remotely resembling the Iranian proposal would represent a stunning US strategic defeat because Iran never controlled the Strait of Hormuz before the war. It is unimaginable that President Trump would leave Iran in control of the Strait and the Persian Gulf.
It is likewise unimaginable that President Trump would abandon the #1 war aim of the United States: The complete and permanent dismantling of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
So, what prompts the cease fire?
One obvious point is that President Trump has been adroit at manipulating the narrative to help hold down the price of oil on the world market, and the announcement quickly drove down the price of oil.
Another point to consider is that the US forces necessary for the capture of Kharg Island, the Islamic Republic’s main oil terminal and economic heart, may not yet be in place. So, a two-week hiatus in military action would not prohibit the US and Israel from completing the preparations and intelligence gathering necessary to successfully execute that mission at a time of our choosing two weeks in the future.
Then there is the remote possibility that rumors swirling around Washington, fanned by a CNN story already labeled “fake news,” that Iran has actually agreed in principle to Trump’s demands:
With some remaining conditions under negotiation for two weeks.
However, the veracity of that story looks increasingly unlikely given that the Islamic Republic has yet to actually honor the cease fire it just claimed to accept.
In his powerful prime time address updating the world on the status of Operation Epic Fury President Trump said, "I didn't need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So, we have regime change and the big thing we have is they're not going to have a nuclear weapon… We have had full regime change," and, "I'm dealing with a very good chance that we'll make a deal because they don't want to be blasted anymore."
Killing General Qasem Soleimani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Army Chief of Staff Abdul Rahim Mousavi, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force Gholamreza Soleimani, and others, does not defeat the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih.
This ideology, based on Shia “Twelver” Islam, is the motivating force behind Iran’s drive to acquire a nuclear weapon and to sow terror and chaos across the world. Killing Iran’s leaders does not defeat this ideology because another adherent of Wilayat al-Faqih will step up to take their place.
Failing to defeat the Taliban’s ideology of Sharia-supremacism is why Afghanistan’s former government was quickly defeated after Joe Biden precipitously withdrew our forces. So, we can kill Iranian leaders down to the point that sergeants are running the army and the clerks are running the government and they are not going to change their goal of acquiring nuclear weapons and their stated policy of death to the two Satans, the United States and Israel, because we have not defeated the ideology that motivates them.
Defeating and replacing the ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih is a necessary condition of “winning” the war and achieving a lasting peace with a new Iran. Until a truly secular government made up of Wester-oriented Iranians committed to peace is in place the war the Islamic Republic declared 47 years ago on America and the West will continue.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com. A veteran of over 300 political campaigns, he served as a staff member or advance representative for some of America’s most recognized conservative political figures, including Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin and Jack Kemp. A member of American MENSA, he served on the House and Senate staff and on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle. Rasley is a graduate of Hanover College and studied international affairs at Oxford University's Worcester College. Rasley has lived, worked and travelled extensively in the Muslim world, including staffing Vice President Quayle on official visits to Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
Earlier this week President Trump raged in a post to Truth Social
The Iranians responded by saying, “We’ve lost the keys,” and allegedly left the talks in Pakistan.
Yet, two days later the Islamic nation of Pakistan, that has proposed itself as a mediator ever since Operation Epic Fury began, in its role as neighbor to the Islamic Republic of Iran, offered a lifeline to the terrorist Ayatollahs.
Just hours before President Trump’s deadline that “A whole civilization will die tonight,” Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif requested Trump to extend his deadline of Tuesday night, citing progress in negotiations.
“To allow diplomacy to run its course, I earnestly request President Trump to extend the deadline for two weeks. Pakistan, in all sincerity, requests the Iranian brothers to open the Strait of Hormuz for a corresponding period of two weeks as a goodwill gesture,” Sharif said in a post on X.
The President has apparently agreed, posting to many laudatory comments
So, what exactly, does the Iranian 10-point proposal say?
Agreeing to anything remotely resembling the Iranian proposal would represent a stunning US strategic defeat because Iran never controlled the Strait of Hormuz before the war. It is unimaginable that President Trump would leave Iran in control of the Strait and the Persian Gulf.
It is likewise unimaginable that President Trump would abandon the #1 war aim of the United States: The complete and permanent dismantling of Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
So, what prompts the cease fire?
One obvious point is that President Trump has been adroit at manipulating the narrative to help hold down the price of oil on the world market, and the announcement quickly drove down the price of oil.
Another point to consider is that the US forces necessary for the capture of Kharg Island, the Islamic Republic’s main oil terminal and economic heart, may not yet be in place. So, a two-week hiatus in military action would not prohibit the US and Israel from completing the preparations and intelligence gathering necessary to successfully execute that mission at a time of our choosing two weeks in the future.
Then there is the remote possibility that rumors swirling around Washington, fanned by a CNN story already labeled “fake news,” that Iran has actually agreed in principle to Trump’s demands:
- Permanent commitment to not possessing nuclear weapons
- Handing over enriched uranium to the International Atomic Energy Agency
- Allowing the Agency to monitor all nuclear infrastructure
- Permanently halting uranium enrichment inside Iran
- Reducing missiles in range and number
- Immediately abandoning support for militias and proxies in the region
- Ceasing strikes on regional Gulf energy facilities
- Immediately reopening the Strait of Hormuz without conditions or fees
- Lifting all sanctions imposed on Iran
- Cancelling the mechanism for reimposing UN sanctions
- US support for the Bushehr nuclear power plant on the condition that it be under direct American oversight
With some remaining conditions under negotiation for two weeks.
However, the veracity of that story looks increasingly unlikely given that the Islamic Republic has yet to actually honor the cease fire it just claimed to accept.
In his powerful prime time address updating the world on the status of Operation Epic Fury President Trump said, "I didn't need regime change, but we got it because of the casualties of war. We got it. So, we have regime change and the big thing we have is they're not going to have a nuclear weapon… We have had full regime change," and, "I'm dealing with a very good chance that we'll make a deal because they don't want to be blasted anymore."
Killing General Qasem Soleimani, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Ali Larijani, Defense Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh, Army Chief of Staff Abdul Rahim Mousavi, Intelligence Minister Esmail Khatib, commander of Iran's Basij paramilitary force Gholamreza Soleimani, and others, does not defeat the Islamic Republic of Iran’s ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih.
This ideology, based on Shia “Twelver” Islam, is the motivating force behind Iran’s drive to acquire a nuclear weapon and to sow terror and chaos across the world. Killing Iran’s leaders does not defeat this ideology because another adherent of Wilayat al-Faqih will step up to take their place.
Failing to defeat the Taliban’s ideology of Sharia-supremacism is why Afghanistan’s former government was quickly defeated after Joe Biden precipitously withdrew our forces. So, we can kill Iranian leaders down to the point that sergeants are running the army and the clerks are running the government and they are not going to change their goal of acquiring nuclear weapons and their stated policy of death to the two Satans, the United States and Israel, because we have not defeated the ideology that motivates them.
Defeating and replacing the ideology of Wilayat al-Faqih is a necessary condition of “winning” the war and achieving a lasting peace with a new Iran. Until a truly secular government made up of Wester-oriented Iranians committed to peace is in place the war the Islamic Republic declared 47 years ago on America and the West will continue.
George Rasley is editor of Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com. A veteran of over 300 political campaigns, he served as a staff member or advance representative for some of America’s most recognized conservative political figures, including Ronald Reagan, Sarah Palin and Jack Kemp. A member of American MENSA, he served on the House and Senate staff and on the staff of Vice President Dan Quayle. Rasley is a graduate of Hanover College and studied international affairs at Oxford University's Worcester College. Rasley has lived, worked and travelled extensively in the Muslim world, including staffing Vice President Quayle on official visits to Saudi Arabia and Indonesia.
