Are Trump Regime Hardliners Heading for War on Iran?
by Stephen Lendman (stephenlendman.org – Home – Stephen Lendman)
Was the Trump regime’s JCPOA pullout and harsh sanctions prelude for something far more aggressive – aiming to weaken and try toppling Iran’s government forcefully?
Most world community nations oppose Trump’s unacceptable and illegal toughness on Iran.
Israel, its lobby, the Saudis, and their key regional allies support US hardline extremism on a nation threatening no others. More on this below.
Trump and regime ideologues in charge of his geopolitical agenda are recklessly one-sided for Israel, as well as disdainful of world peace, Palestinian rights, and rule of law principles.
They aggressively pursue endless wars in multiple theaters, likely prepared plans to attack other countries, sold out Palestinians to Israel and its lobby, and aim for regime change in Iran and Syria by whatever it takes to achieve their objectives.
Endless US launched war in Syria rages. Is aggression on the Islamic Republic coming? Will Trump regime hardliners dare embroil the region in something far more dangerous than already?
Will they risk direct confrontation with Russia if it intervenes in case of war on Iran, as it did to combat terrorism in Syria, its own security interests at stake!
Reckless US aims could launch WW III by accident or design, risking use of nuclear weapons for the first time in earnest, putting major cities and other sites at risk of mass destruction, along with killing most of their people.
Nuclear immolation or radiation poisoning are horrible ways to die. The latter causes severe vomiting and diarrhea, dizziness, headaches and unconsciousness, at times seizures, convulsions and tremors, as well as loss of voluntary muscle function control – then death in around 48 hours after extreme pain and suffering.
That’s what nuclear war is all about, along with threatening humanity’s survival. Attacking Iran would be madness, a nation able to hit back hard against US regional and Israeli homeland targets.
What’s unthinkable is possible, the entire region and beyond at risk if Trump regime hardliners go this far.
They aim to create a coalition of key NATO partners, Sunni Arab regimes, and Israel to replace Iranian sovereign independence with ruthless pro-Western puppet rule – much like fascist brutality under Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
The stakes are huge, the odds long against Trump’s political, economic, and financial strategy against Iran succeeding.
His reckless agenda could negatively affect dollar strength as the world’s reserve currency, driving more nations to increasingly trade in their own, bypassing the dollar, weakening it, what Washington wants avoided above all else.
Dollar hegemony is the source of US strength. It facilitates corporate takeovers, finances militarism, endless wars, and America’s global empire of bases.
Large dollar inflows into US Treasuries finance the nation’s budget deficit. As long as world central banks buy US dollars and they dominate international trade, its hegemony is preserved.
Nations increasingly trading more in their own currencies could prove a game-changer longer-term. China’s introduction of the petro-yuan was a shot across the bow.
Russia is gradually shifting away from dollar transactions – short of abandoning them altogether.
On Monday, Sputnik News reported that “(a)s relations with the West deteriorate, Russia and China are discussing new measures to boost cross-border trade using each other’s currencies.
Russia’s First Deputy Chief of Staff Sergei Prikhodko called the move in this direction “an urgent task due to the US sanctions,” adding:
“(I)t’s essential to have new mechanisms to conduct mutual settlements between the economic entities of both countries. We presume that the transition to settlements in national currencies will significantly reduce sanctions risks and the dependence of bilateral trade” on US dollars.
Last spring, Iran switched from dollars to euro transactions. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei welcomed the change, saying “the dollar has no place in our transactions today.”
Venezuela abandoned the dollar in international transactions, switching to euros, yuan, and other convertible currencies, along with greater use of gold and the petro cryptocurrency – backed by oil, gas, gold and diamonds.
Dollar weakness may happen because US recklessness increasingly turns allies into adversaries – what Trump regime extremism may best be remembered for one day in hindsight.
Economic war can be a losing strategy if pushed too far for any reasons. The US is playing with fire, operating recklessly against Iran, Russia, China, North Korea, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Somalia, Venezuela, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other countries it seeks control over by tough tactics.
De-dollarization is long overdue, an idea whose time has come, how things may turn out longer-term because America is its own worst enemy. The same goes for Israel.
Dollar hegemony is far from over, but steps taken by China, Russia, Iran, Venezuela, and other countries threaten its dominance as the world’s reserve currency longer-term.
When other US strategies fail, greater war than already is most likely, including possible global war with nukes, the ultimate nightmare scenario.
A Final Comment
The world community largely opposes Trump’s anti-Iran agenda, including his unlawful JCPOA pullout last May and multiple rounds of unilateral sanctions – Monday the harshest ones imposed.
Israel and AIPAC welcomed his reckless extremism. Netanyahu called new sanctions on Iran a “courageous, determined and important decision” – hyping an “Iranian threat” that doesn’t exist.
Israeli war minister Lieberman called new Trump regime sanctions a “bold decision…the Middle East has been waiting for” – for Israel, the Saudis and their partnered states, no others regionally or elsewhere.
An AIPAC press release continued to hype nonexistent Iranian “nuclear ambitions” and its nonexistent “regional aggression.”
Fallout from Trump’s actions remains to be seen. Iranian President Hassan Rouhani was likely right Monday, saying “(w)e should break the sanctions very well, and we will do that.”
My newest book as editor and contributor is titled “Flashpoint in Ukraine: How the US Drive for Hegemony Risks WW III.”
