Iran is not doing itself any favors. Following the UN General Assembly, Iran left a negotiating team led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi behind in the United States, supposedly to engage Secretary of State Marco Rubio in negotiations. As of Monday, Secretary Rubio has had enough, and, noting that the Iranian delegation had "outstayed their welcome," ordered them out of the country.
Now, Iran faces the other side of the coin again.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio abruptly ended talks and ordered the Iranian delegation to leave the U.S. after negotiations stalled, yet again, with no clear sign of a breakthrough more than seven months into the conflict.
And now, President Donald Trump is directly warning Iran it's "possible" he will go harder with strikes in the Middle East after the midterm elections in November and revealed the U.S. military has significantly rebuilt its arsenal in recent months.
The latest messaging from the White House and State Department signals an increasingly strained diplomatic track, after days of negotiations failed to close the gap between Washington and Tehran over the terms of ending the war.
Here's the thing: Secretary Rubio, as usual, was correct in this action. There is literally no reason to allow these people to remain in the United States. The regime, no matter who it sends to any meeting, is not, will not, and never has negotiated in good faith. They will not keep any agreement struck. They will lie to the American negotiators and they will lie to their own people. It is becoming increasingly apparent that the only way out is through; that the only way we will see a real end to this problem is with the final ending of the Islamic Republic. That's not to say the USA should engage in nation-building; we've seen that show before and know how it ends. But we can engage in nation-wrecking, and leave it to the regular people of Iran to take their own country back.
President Trump also seems to be on the verge of some new "kinetic action," or as we said back in my day, blowing things up.
Asked in an interview with Time whether he would "ramp up bombing after the midterms," Trump replied: "Possible."
Further pressed on whether such an escalation was under consideration, the president declined to discuss potential targets but said the U.S. had spent months rebuilding its arsenal.
"We have a lot of weapons. You know, we’ve been stocking up for the last six months," Trump said.
Trump also used the word "possible" when asked whether he "might annihilate Iran."
We've done it before. Just ask anyone who lived in Stuttgart or Frankfurt in 1945. I've seen those cities, and there's good reason why there are few buildings that pre-date the end of World War II; it's because in May of 1945, in those cities, there was scarcely one brick atop another.
The talks seem to founder on a couple of things: Iran wants the blockade lifted so they can start shipping oil again, but the Islamic Republic isn't meeting the administration's conditions on its nuclear program. President Trump, speaking to the UN General Assembly, made ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon a key point in his remarks, as he has repeatedly since this entire thing began. Now, it would seem, that at least the Secretary of State isn't inclined to waste any more time, and the president is reconsidering his options.
In the end, Iran has two possible courses of action as far as the USA is concerned: They can deal with the Secretary of State — or they can deal with the Secretary of War. Those are their options, and the clock is ticking.