On Friday President Trump delivered a speech at Mount Rushmore to kick off the nation's 250th anniversary celebrations, and in it he confirmed that everything regarding Iran - whether on the military or diplomatic fronts - have been paused to allow for the Islamic Republic to bury its late supreme leader Ali Khamenei.
Trump said Washington "knocked the hell out of Iran" and that the country was "dying to settle". He also made comparisons between the lengthy Iran conflict and the brief US operation to overthrow Maduro of Venezuela.
"We beat Venezuela in one day, and we knocked the hell out of Iran," he said. That's when he claimed that the current US posture and pause in action is all about allowing the Iranians time to conduct a week-long funeral for the slain Khamenei, killed during the opening day of Operation Epic Fury.
"We gave them a week off for a funeral because we're nice," he said.
Bloomberg NewsThe funeral ceremonies began in Tehran on Friday, with government representatives from dozens of countries paying respects, and with the public multi-city procession in full swing on Saturday, amid a heavy Iranian security presence.
While the US administration is touting its Iran 'excursion' as a 'win' - the reality is that it is looking more like a quagmire with each passing week.
Iran is no closer to abandoning its nuclear program, it is proclaiming its own control over the Strait of Hormuz under Iranian protocol, and its ruling clerics and IRGC military apparatus are firmly in place. Trump and White House officials had from day one vowed a rapid engagement, saying repeatedly i
