Word of the Month: Trump’s fantasy-inspired quagmire
By: Majid Siadat
When Mr. Trump started this latest war of aggression against Iran, he expected another short, sharp adventure – Venezuela style. Trump’s limitless ego enabled Netanyahu to sweet-talk him into believing a fairy tale: Iran would become the stage on which Trump proves American hegemony is invincible.
Luckily for us all, the Iranian regime’s resilience proved far more solid than Trump’s fantasies. The mirage of limitless American hegemony has been shattered. Even the most enthusiastic US proponents of military might had to reassess how to end the nightmare in the Persian Gulf.
Trump seems to have grudgingly recognized that bombs alone may not give him the win he craves. He extended the initial ceasefire several times, repeatedly threatening Iran (and the world) with Armageddon before finally declaring the ceasefire open-ended. At the time of writing, that ceasefire continues but is extremely fragile. Will it hold?
Meanwhile, the world economy is contracting, famine stalks ever greater swathes of the globe, and Iranian society becomes increasingly paralyzed as Iran and the US continue to play chicken. Both regimes are sticking to maximalist demands, gambling that they can outlast the other.
Iran hopes that the resulting extreme pressure on the world economy, together with rising inflation and internal election pressures in the US, will make Trump blink first.
At the same time, Trump has repeatedly stated that the Iranian economy is on the brink and expects the Iranian regime to collapse. What he doesn’t seem to recognize is that the regime’s extreme brutality enables it to keep in check internal pressures in the short term.
Iran’s economy has suffered immensely under half a century of the Islamic Republic’s misrule. But it is hard to foresee another uprising in Iran in the immediate future. The Iranian regime has unashamedly brutalized its people and will have no compunction in doing so again.
IRAN: View from the LEFT April 2026 N0.76
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