{"id":91914,"date":"2026-04-26T08:23:04","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T07:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=91914"},"modified":"2026-04-26T08:23:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T07:23:04","slug":"clear-thinking-peaceful-sanctions-and-deliberate-messaging-are-required-no","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2026\/04\/26\/clear-thinking-peaceful-sanctions-and-deliberate-messaging-are-required-no\/","title":{"rendered":"Clear thinking, peaceful sanctions, and deliberate messaging are required no"},"content":{"rendered":"

There is news as I write this morning that Donald Trump\u00a0might have been subject to a shooting incident last night<\/a>, but the details are unclear, and whilst I condemn all violence and attacks on anyone in a position of power, that is not why I am interested in Trump this morning.<\/span><\/p>\n

I am, instead, much more interested in the fact that, during the course of yesterday, Trump cancelled\u00a0<\/a>JD Vance's visit to Islamabad, Pakistan, which<\/span>\u00a0would have permitted the resumption of peace talks with Iran.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s excuses appear to be weak. The suggestion was made that too much time is being expended on these talks with too little progress.<\/p>\n

The implication that these talks are taking place far too close to Iran, because Pakistan is its neighbour, was apparent in what was said. It would seem that Trump thinks that is just too far to go for peace.<\/p>\n

And Trump claimed these talks were unnecessary because the USA held all the cards in this negotiation, when, glaringly, nothing could be further from the truth. It is Iran that has everything to gain from the delay. The US can only look weak and compromised, and, meanwhile, the rest of the world looks on, confused and angry at the consequences of American inaction.<\/p>\n

Trump has suggested that Iran can \u201ccall us any time they want\u201d, hinting in the process that he thinks that it is Iran\u2019s job to concede in this war, but the reality is very different indeed. Although Iran is undoubtedly suffering as a consequence of what is happening and will be suffering a high cost as a consequence of this, the reality is that the US cannot recommence hostilities without deeply prejudicing its own strategic military reserves.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, without success in delivering peace, the likelihood of the world turning both on the USA and, particularly, on Israel (as I note in this morning\u2019s video<\/a>), as the two states that are creating mayhem, economic pain, and real suffering for countries around the world as a direct, and totally avoidable, consequence of their gross folly can only grow.<\/p>\n

What happens now?<\/p>\n

As I predicted late last week,<\/a> very little will happen now. Trump did exactly what I expected. He called off the talks, offering a lame excuse at best for his inaction and dithering, and all because this process of perpetuated stalemate is the only strategy he has left.<\/p>\n

My fear and expectation are that this stalemate will continue for some time to come. That is precisely the reason why it falls to others to take action at this moment, and they have all the options available to them. A sanctions regime on Israel is the best available action. At a purely strategic level, with the goal of delivering world stability, this is now essential. At an ethical level, it is completely justified.<\/p>\n

Such coincidences do not always occur. When they do, they must be acted upon.<\/p>\n

If this does not happen, the cost of this war might grow considerably beyond even the worst current expectations.<\/p>\n

Clear thinking, peaceful sanctions, and deliberate messaging on the unacceptability of the actions of both Israel and the USA are required now. Tolerance of what they are doing can only represent failure.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There is news as I write this morning that Donald Trump\u00a0might have been subject to a shooting incident last night, but the details are unclear,
 Read the full article…<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,203,75],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-91914","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-corruption","category-fascism","category-usa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91914","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91915,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91914\/revisions\/91915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}