Despite Trump's threats about sendinga second Carrier Group to the MidEast, Secretary of War (Defense Dept) Pete Hegsethsaidthis week at an event in Maine that "President Trump has been clear to Iran,he wants a negotiated settlement. I think it would be a wise choice for them to take him up on that deal. The world saw America's capabilities, peace through strength deterrence in action."
But to be expected, he hyped American military capabilities in the Middle East. "...Peace through strength, deterrence in action.We were out of Iran before Iran even knew we were there. No other country can do that" - in reference to the June war in which US bombers hit three Iranian nuclear sites with bunker-busting bombs.
This has been met with an Iranian military warning that US assets in the region will be targeted in such a 'next round scenario'. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps official Aziz Ghazanfari, a deputy head of the Guard’s political department, hasreviewedthat in the context of Oman-based indirect negotiations with the US, Iran was presented with four demands thatwent beyond the nuclear issue.
The key sticking point is Iran's conventional ballistic missile arsenal.Israel wants complete disarmament or at least a monitored reduction in range. So far, Israel is represents the hard line position, which has clearly influenced some officials in the Trump administration.
The AFP has newly published the below infographic:
But amid the military and political pressure, Iran is not going to give up the one thing it considers its first line of defense: the ability to hit back in the event of an Israel-US attack.
Hegseth in his latest comment on the issue warned Tehran it would be a "wise choice" to accept Trump's offer. All of this makes an attack in the next couple days unlikely - however, there areclear signs of a continued Pentagon build-upin the region.
As for where diplomacy stands, Iranian analyst and long time observer of Iran’s nuclear dossier,Hassan Beheshti-Pour, says that the real substance "lies in the technical options quietly circulating, not in public rhetoric". Among theseoptions:
As wedetailed earlier, Iran is offering to dilute its enriched uranium if Washington agrees to remove all sanctions on the country.
This week the head of Iran's Atomic Energy Organization, Mohammad Eslami, isstrongly signaling Tehran is ready to play ball, even if it is on Washington's terms - and after a history of the US side breaking its word (starting with the first Trump admin's unilateral pullout from the JCPOA nuclear deal).
Source: ZeroHedge News
