Dueling Blockades
Iran has fired on a vessel in the Strait of Hormuz.
AP (“Iranian gunboats fire on tanker in Strait of Hormuz as Iran reimposes restrictions“):
The dueling blockades in the Strait of Hormuz lurched into uncharted waters on Saturday. The United States pressed ahead with its campaign to choke off Iranian ports and Iran reversed an initial move to reopen the waterway, firing on a ship attempting to pass.
Confusion over the critical chokepoint threatened to deepen the energy crisis roiling the global economy and push the two countries toward renewed conflict, even as mediators expressed confidence a new deal was within reach.
Iran’s joint military command said on Saturday that “control of the Strait of Hormuz has returned to its previous state … under strict management and control of the armed forces.” It warned that it would continue to block transit through the strait as long as the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports remained in effect.
Two gunboats from Iran’s Revolutionary Guard opened fire on a tanker transiting the Strait of Hormuz, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said on Saturday. It reported the tanker and crew as safe, without identifying the vessel or its destination. TankerTrackers.com reported vessels were forced to turn around in the strait, including an Indian-flagged super tanker, after they were fired on by Iran.
Meanwhile . . .
I certainly am.
Why would he keep declaring victory when Iran can so easily take it away from him? Is it dementia? Or his native stupidity? Is Hegseth and or his ‘negotiators’ lying to him? Is he insane? Is he trying to manifest victory? Is this some kind of fantasy or hallucination? Even by the very, very low standards Trump has set, this makes no sense.
It feels to me like some combination of the above – some dementia, a great deal of stupidity, and underlings toadying – but I think underneath it all is fear. He’s a moron but he has good instincts for power, its waxing and its waning. He knows he’s stepped in a bear trap, he keeps trying to shake it off and he can’t, and it scares him. Now, a raccoon in a similar spot would chew its leg off to escape. Trump’s cankles are too meaty to chew through, so he’s going to have to find a scapegoat. Could/should be Bibi, but I imagine he’ll drive the bus over Vance some more. It won’t make any sense, but then, what does?
@Michael Reynolds: I think he believes he has a bigger megaphone. At least with some of the people of the world. The message will have very little impact with the people of Iran, for instance, but that doesn’t matter.
He still has the biggest megaphone in the US, so he’s gonna use it to tell people we won. And there will be people who believe it, along with people who will say it whether or not they believe it.
@Michael Reynolds: “Why would he keep declaring victory when Iran can so easily take it away from him?”
He’s gotten more from ‘always be lying’ than all but a few dozen people in his lifetime.
And remember, even now, with the whole sh*tstorm, the media still treats him better than Biden.
@Michael Reynolds:
Desperate attempts to maintain his self-image (mainly) with a more than a bit of insider trading thrown in.
I’m good with him lying about winning, but then you’re supposed to quit. And he didn’t. Why did he maintain the blockade of Iranian ports after they opened the Strait?
I don’t know, all I can think is “Schrödinger’s Strait”
Man, those Iranians can do so much with 0% of a navy. Imagine if they had 1% of it!
His whole career, he has simply said what he wants to be true. He is now doing that with Iran, but the problem is that, unlike Trump steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump wine, or Trump University, there are profound consequences to these fabulations.
@Michael Reynolds:
Wishcasting. He/we’re are living in a García Márquez moment of magic realism. If he wishes hard enough the people that matter will believe it, therefore it’s true. Creating his own reality or alternative truth has been the MO of his life and he usually gets away with it, particularly when he’s president because of the leverage. Mostly his opponents move on, with Iran that’s denied him as they have the leverage. It also shows in the futility of his attacks on the Pope, someone with whom, he has no leverage.