Trump Did Not Come to Defeat Iran — He Came to Make a Deal

Anyone with eyes in their head — and the Iranians have eyes and a head on their shoulders — understands that Donald Trump does not want to renew the war against Iran, that Donald Trump has already forgotten why and for what he went to war in the first place.

Reminder: the goal was to eliminate the Iranian nuclear project and topple the regime of the Ayatollahs in Tehran. All he asks for now is a deal, at almost any price, that will open the Strait of Hormuz to shipping and lower prices at gas stations across the USA. In short, Donald Trump wants to leave the Iranian issue behind him.

In the middle of last month, he did indeed bomb targets in southern Iran, but it was a facade of bombings against targets, all of which lack strategic importance, some of which had already been attacked more than once during the war last March.

Then, as you recall, Donald Trump boasted that Iran's military power had been destroyed and that it was left without an air force and navy (which it did not really have before the war). Needless to say, it turns out that the Iranians have remaining military capabilities and that they do not hesitate to use them against the Gulf states and against the American forces stationed in them.

And about this it has already been said: If you want to shoot — shoot, and if you do not intend to really go to war — it is better not to threaten, because very quickly everyone will understand that the threats you are making are empty, and thus you will lose the little respect and fear that are still held for you in the region.

Donald Trump lives in his own reality, the connection between which and the reality on the ground is purely coincidental. He tells everyone that the Iranians are begging him to sign an agreement with them, while he and his administration are the ones broadcasting distress and desperation to achieve an agreement that will leave the Iranian issue behind. He says he will demand that the Saudis join the Abraham Accords in exchange for the nuclear project he is about to grant them, and only forgets to mention that the agreement with the Saudis is already signed and done. And what is no less serious are Donald Trump's explanations for the frequent and erratic changes in his policy, sometimes 180-degree changes. All these, as is known, are the fruit of his changing moods as well as the side he wakes up on in the morning.

One could chuckle at Donald Trump's statements — when in one sentence he often says one thing and its opposite — if their bottom line were not so sad and also dangerous. When one starts to treat the US President as a joke, it is definitely a cause for concern, and especially for Israel. After all, American support is a fundamental pillar of our power building, and someone in the region might still take seriously the almost daily humiliation he does to us.

Donald Trump's statement that Israel does exactly what he tells us to do, or that if he decides to go to war against Iran, Israel will join it within two minutes, are statements that belittle and turn Israel into a banana republic that says amen to its master's voice. This is not only insulting but also harmful, since the whole region sees the sights and hears the voices and draws the obvious conclusion that it is possible and desirable, with Donald Trump's blessing, to beat Israel.

From all this, one conclusion emerges. Salvation will not come from Donald Trump, and one must prepare for a situation in which Israel will have to deal alone with the security challenges on its doorstep and also with the surprises and dictates of Donald Trump, see the demand to withdraw in Syria, in Lebanon, and in Gaza.

Since Donald Trump does not want a war with Iran — and even if he starts another round of confrontation, his entire goal is to return it to the negotiating table — it would be a mistake for Israel to be dragged in a Pavlovian effect after every American move that will not necessarily serve us but will harm us and weaken us. After all, a round of confrontation with Iran that ends like its predecessors in one dubious agreement or another — will certainly not improve our situation.

And maybe we too should understand, as the Iranians understood long ago, that Donald Trump has an expiration date, and one needs to stall for time until then and prepare for the day after.