U.S. president orders new strikes in latest exchange of blows

 

 

WASHINGTON - U.S. President Donald Trump’s struggle to extricate himself from the unpopular Iran war has hit a new roadblock with the latest exchange of attacks between the two sides, leaving him with few good options and a faltering ceasefire.

Trump declared that an interim agreement to end the conflict was "over" and ordered fresh strikes on Wednesday after Iran targeted U.S. military sites in Bahrain and Kuwait following the U.S. bombing of Iranian targets in response to attacks on tankers in the Strait of Hormuz.

More than three weeks after the signing of a “memorandum of understanding” to begin a truce between the U.S. and Iran, the flare-up has highlighted the difficulties Trump faces in forging a comprehensive peace deal and a face-saving exit from the war.

 

His choices are limited and mostly bad, analysts say.

Any heavy escalation beyond tit-for-tat strikes could risk a return to full-fledged war, even though Trump insisted on Wednesday that the latest events would end “very quickly” as global oil prices spiked around 7%.

However, backing down in the face of Iranian defiance could add to Tehran’s sense that it can assert leverage over the world’s most important oil-shipping channel, anytime it sees fit.

Trump may be hoping he can bomb Iran back to the negotiating table for talks about the fate of its nuclear program, which he set as his main war objective, but most experts see little sign that Tehran will make the kind of deep concessions he is seeking.

 

“Trump has put himself in a box,” said Aaron David Miller, a former Middle East negotiator for Democratic and Republican administrations. “Whether through military or diplomatic means, he doesn’t look likely to gain much from Iran.”

TRUMP UNDER PRESSURE

Trump’s pursuit of an exit plan has come as he faces pressure to permanently end a war that has killed thousands, inflicted economic pain at home and driven down his approval ratings just months ahead of November’s U.S. midterm elections.