Trita Parsi

So it seems to have been a scenario in which he tried something very big.

It was an absolute disaster.

They managed to make sure that much of it is not known to the public.

Instead, there's this story about the saving of two pilots, which may have been true.

But even if it was true, it seems to have been a success within a larger failure.

And then after that, you had the ceasefire.

So we've seen this pattern going for broke, not working, and then having to back off.

And I think the China trip was absolutely crucial right before he goes to China and was hoping.

And remember, the FDD crowd sold this to Trump by saying, not only will there be a massive problem inside of Iran, but also this is going to create problems for the Chinese and the Chinese will then turn and put pressure on Iran to back down.

Okay, so first Iran has to crumble.

And secondly, the Chinese were supposedly going to put pressure on Iran.

The first part completely false.

Iran should have crumbled four weeks ago, according to the calculations of FDD.

But also right before Trump arrives in Beijing, Iranians and the Chinese strike a deal.

And Chinese ships are allowed to go through the Strait of Hormuz.

The details of it, we don't know.

Did the Iranians just allow that entirely?

Or did the Chinese agree to some sort of a payment system?

Unclear.

But it essentially meant that by the time Trump arrived in Beijing, the Strait was already open for the Chinese ship.