[Salon] Oman Talks Just a Fig Leaf for Total Neutering of Iran

[Chas Freeman <cwfresidence@gmail.com>]

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/oman-talks-just-a-fig-leaf-for-total?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=1351274&post_id=187040314&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=false&r=210kv&triedRedirect=true&utm_medium=email

Oman Talks Just a Fig Leaf for Total Neutering of Iran

Simplicius  2/7/26

A new round of Iran talks has kicked off in Oman, with Trump claiming they are “going well”.

We’ve already established how it’s been clearly implied by Trump’s renewed threats against Iran’s “nuclear” capabilities that Operation Midnight Hammer was a total failure, or a con job. The US administration does not even attempt to keep its stories straight anymore, simply crafting narrative impromptu as necessary.

But what has become obvious is that the latest stunt is an attempt by the roi fainéant orange not to eliminate the threat of Iran’s nuclear capabilities, but rather to entirely neuter its conventional strike potential at the secret behest of Israel.

The main demand apparently being pushed by the US is for Iran to completely give up its long range ballistic missile capabilities, which would absurdly give Israel total leverage and dominion over its arch-nemesis: it is essentially calling for Iran’s complete surrender to Israel, given that this capability represents Iran’s only true asymmetric deterrence against the terrorist aggressor-colony.

https://archive.ph/wM1m5

But U.S. and European officials say that in talks, they have put three demands in front of the Iranians: a permanent end to all enrichment of uranium, limits on the range and number of their ballistic missiles, and an end to all support for proxy groups in the Middle East, including Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis operating in Yemen.

As you can easily imagine, such a laughable ‘compromise’ would result in Iran’s complete destruction and has virtually no chance of being honored. What it reveals is the slow-witted treachery of Israeli policymakers as they wag their loyal US dog into gradually stripping Iran of any self-defense abilities so that Israel could then cut the throat of Iran’s leadership without fear of retaliation, turning it into another failed state like Syria which can be bombed at will.

The despicable American golem will of course do his abject duties as bidden by his master in Tel Aviv.

All beneath the parodically shrill kvetch-fest of the Ziocon muppet gallery:

Western assets continue to assemble while Israeli lobby pressure mounts on Trump to flush the last vestige of American sovereignty down the toilet in starting another war on behalf of a hostile foreign power—one that has done far more harm to the US than Iran could do in several lifetimes.

The United Kingdom on February 6 deployed six F-35 Lightning II stealth fighter jets to RAF Akrotiri in Cyprus, according to flight tracking data.

The fighter jets departed RAF Marham in eastern England and were supported by Voyager aerial refueling tankers from the Royal Air Force during the transit.

The deployment came as the United States, the UK’s closest ally, continues to escalate against Iran. Since last month, President Donald Trump has repeatedly threatened the Islamic Republic over a deadly wave of protests and alleged plans to execute prisoners. Recent weeks also saw a massive U.S. military buildup in the Middle East. -Southfront

The desperation is so palpable, it’s clear that Trump has no plan apart from trying to generate as much internal chaos as possible in order to further provoke unrest which can be blamed on the “blood-soaked Iranian regime”.

Trump’s blind loyalty to Israel has already destroyed the final remnants of his own credibility, as well as that of his Republican party, but this final act of aggression threatens to do something far worse: destroy any remaining credibility of the so-called US military ‘juggernaut’—which is why a direct attack still has a slightly worse than 50 per cent chance of happening, though the signals continue mounting.

Of course, these demands could be part of Trump’s now-infamous usual strategy: demand big things up front, then take the given compromise while still ‘hand-waving’ the media and public into the illusion that the full demands were met. It could also be a way to buy time while appeasing his Israeli masters—in essence, demonstrating his loyalty to the cause with the demands while hoping the drawn-out ‘negotiations’ process can yield some new offramp that would obviate the need of a full attack.

We’ve come to see how the current administration relies entirely on pliant illusions to weave favorable narratives. In Venezuela, for instance, it’s funny to see just how quickly the drug cartels and their Caribbean boat shipments conveniently ‘disappeared’ soon as Trump bagged Maduro.

On a scale of 1-10, how believable does this sound?

US’s entire foreign policy has been hijacked by unprincipled buffoons and fanatics alike (just listen to Kegseth’s jingo-prattle), who base the entirety of their world-views on “vibes” and chauvinistic platitudes rather than learned historical realities.

Example: The Epstein files had revealed just how smugly callous and unintelligent “chief strategist” Steve Bannon’s racial anti-Chinese rhetoric truly is:

How sad it is that Epstein here demonstrates greater acumen and a better grasp on reality than the addled old slavering grundoon. Epstein was forced to correct his orgulous chum’s mistaken superiority complex, proving himself more aware than the so-called “experts” who enjoyed key sinecures in US presidential administrations:

Probably not a great signifier for your intellect when a dabbling flesh-dilettante eclipses you on your own metier of geopolitics.

These are the types of people that have driven foreign policy for the United States for a while now—long gone are the days of the actual shrewd colonial villains the likes of Kissinger, ones that at least saved a modicum of respect for their enemies. On second thought, Kissinger too was known for his famously crude remarks about both Indians and Chinese alike; guess America isn’t deserving of a better class of villain, after all.

Either way, the whole administration’s lost the plot, with even Trump allies now suggesting the president has gone around the bend.

https://www.politico.eu/article/donald-trump-florida-robert-fico-eu-summit-nato/

Slovakia’s prime minister told EU leaders at a summit last week that a meeting with Donald Trump left him shocked by the U.S. president’s state of mind, five European diplomats briefed on the conversation said.

Robert Fico, one of the few EU leaders to frequently support Trump’s stance on Europe’s weaknesses, was concerned about the U.S. president’s “psychological state,” two of the diplomats said. Fico used the word “dangerous” to describe how the U.S. president came across during their face-to-face meeting at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida on Jan. 17, according to two of the diplomats.

Granted, Fico vehemently dismissed the above claims, calling them total fabrications by Politico—though “five diplomats” did allege to have heard his aghast remarks.

Getting back to Iran, satellite images have shown that the nation has restored many of its facilities damaged in the previous American strikes last year—click to enlarge:

And Iranian MP Mahmoud Nabavian has again made a claim that Trump has already been trying to work out another hoax-strike to give himself an easy off-ramp, just like last time:

Before the negotiations, Trump reportedly sent Iran a message through an intermediary country, saying: “Let me strike 2 locations in Iran—you respond, and then it’s over” — Iranian parliamentarian Nabavian

We announced we would strike any company or base that bears the name of America ... we will certainly inflict 3,000–4,000 casualties on you.

An Iranian outlet validated the above.

Recall Nabavian is the very same MP who had stated last year that the Fordow strike was a fake, and that Trump sent Rubio to negotiate a backdoor deal to exchange phony strikes between the two countries. It’s impossible to know for certain how true it is, but it’s highly likely all kinds of backroom deals are at least being attempted amidst ongoing negotiations. Hell, the negotiations in Oman themselves were conducted in backdoor—or indirect—fashion, given that the American and Iranian delegations did not even meet face to face, but rather exchanged messages from different rooms with Omani foreign minister Badr al-Busaidi acting as intermediary to relay each side’s riposte.

Now we must wait and see if Trump’s erratic ADHD-like foreign policy style flits him to another ‘shinier’ endeavor, or whether he continues riding the Iranian handbasket straight to Jahannam. Particularly with midterms coming up, Trump would be keen to avoid any protracted military involvements, which Iran most certainly promises to become unless another phony exchange is agreed upon—which is not out totally of the question, as it serves each side’s interests well. It appears the fake strikes are Trump’s go-to resort in being able to finagle his Israeli bugbear out of itself cajoling the US into full-scale war; it allows Trump to placate his owners with a performative horse trade, until the next swell of pressure again restarts the carousel six months down the line.

One of the likely reasons for Israel’s desperation is that the Gaza war has reached a kind of impasse: the final hostage was recently released, and Israel no longer has any real useful justification to continue its conquest, with the global community—for now—tying the terror colony’s hands. In the meantime, Israeli reports continue seeing Hamas reconstituting itself, with one from weeks ago stating:

Israel’s security establishment is closely monitoring the military buildup trends of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, in anticipation of a potential shift to Phase B of the conflict.

According to intelligence estimates published on Galei Zahal, about three months after the ceasefire agreement, the terror group is continuing to rebuild its capabilities, defying the strict restrictions.

Israel is stuck in a snafu of its own making, unable to realize its plans, with Hezbollah and Hamas still proving to be intractable problems. As such, Israel appears to have shifted strategies to try and cut off the “head of the snake” entirely in order to solve its issues, hoping the fall of Iran will mean the demise of its proxies. The international community may have tied Israel’s hands vis-a-vis Gaza, but gives it free reign to strike Iran at whim, given that Gazans are widely accepted to be innocent victims, while Iranians are portrayed as evil “antisemitic” aggressors. In short, Israel is writhing in agony, unable to find solutions to any of its geopolitical issues as its enemies slowly reconstitute.

That being the case, Israel resorts to the only thing it knows best: more chaos and destruction via its favorite puppet.

P.S. It’s now been confirmed Iran has received Russian Mi-28 attack choppers. First known photos and video with Iranian desert camo:

What other goodies might have been delivered?

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