Trump is going to pay an enormous cost for his defeat

Posted on

Trump is claiming he won the war in Iran, which I stress is not over as yet; it is just on hold.

But then the FT reported this today:

The Trump administration is prepared to allow the establishment of a $300bn investment fund for Iran if Tehran agrees to a final settlement to end the war that includes a nuclear deal.

A senior US official said Washington had discussed the possibility of sanctions relief and “a big $300bn fund to rebuild their country”. The incentives would be connected to Iran's “performance” adhering to the memorandum of understanding that is to be formally signed in Switzerland on Friday.

They added:

A person briefed on the talks said the establishment of the fund would be contingent on a final settlement that is part of the MoU and would follow an extension of the ceasefire by 60 days, the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and further negotiations on a nuclear deal.

Let me put this in context. $300bn is as close as makes no difference, one third of US annual defence spending. This is a massive sum to spend to ensure that Iran does what it was already doing before 28 February this year, by keeping the Strait of Hormuz open and taking part in nuclear monitoring.

Victors do not pay reparations of this sort.

Victors do not pay losers to do what they were already doing.

I continue to doubt that this war is over: Israel will ensure that it is not. But what we do know is that Trump and Netanyahu have, between them, convincingly proved the folly of both war and imperial ambitions in the world as it is now.

This saga has not ended yet, and I suspect that no one at the G7 believes that, excepting Trump, but what they will know is that Trump is going to pay an enormous cost for the defeat that is now rolling his way.

PDF of article


Thanks for reading this post.
You can share this post on social media of your choice by clicking these icons:

There are links to this blog's glossary in the above post that explain technical terms used in it. Follow them for more explanations.

You can subscribe to this blog's daily email here.

And if you would like to support this blog you can, here:

  • Richard Murphy

    Read more about me

  • Support This Site

    If you like what I do please support me on Ko-fi using credit or debit card or PayPal

  • Archives

  • Categories

  • Taxing wealth report 2024

  • Newsletter signup

    Get a daily email of my blog posts.

    Please wait...

    Thank you for sign up!

  • Podcast

  • Follow me

    LinkedIn

    LinkedIn

    Mastodon

    @RichardJMurphy

    BlueSky

    @richardjmurphy.bsky.social