Trita Parsi

And I think it's clear both sides.

Both the Iranians, as well as the president, need to find some sort of a face-saving exit from what is really a Mexican standoff right now.

Yes, the United States undoubtedly is more powerful than Iran, but a war would nevertheless be a lose-lose situation.

I think the president understands, and that's why he wants to get a deal.

Promo code BANNON.

I don't think that will work.

And I think part of the reason why it won't work is because I think the Israelis have convinced Trump that Iran is much weaker than it actually is.

Iran undoubtedly is weaker than it was two years ago.

But they have essentially convinced him that you can do these incremental attacks and the Iranians won't respond.

Reality is the Iranians have their backs against the wall.

They see no way out of this.

But any incremental thing that they don't respond to eventually will weaken them so much that they will lose anyways.

And once they have no defenses, the Israelis are going to go and blow that place up.

That's their expectation.

That's exactly what the Israelis did in Syria as soon as Assad fled the country.

They just went in and bombed everything.

So their best shot

paradoxically, is actually to strike back and strike back hard in order to hope that even though they are weaker, the United States has a lower pain tolerance because the population is not behind this.

And if they inflict significant damage on the US on the ships in the Persian Gulf, or whether it is going after oil installations in the region and close the Strait of Hormuz, shoot up oil prices, shoot up inflation in the United States and globally, the calculation is there is a chance of getting out of this.

is to actually destroy Trump's presidency before they lose the war.