The bellicose, “America First” nationalism of President Trump might spark conflicts all over the world, but the hottest of hot spots is Iran. That’s where any one of three or four flashpoints (including Israel’s airstrikes against Iranian forces in Syria, U.S.-Iran naval clashes in the Persian Gulf, potential cross-border strikes from Iraq into Iran, and more — could trigger a much wider war. One of the big foreign policy questions facing the Democrats’ 2020 field is: Will you speak out against Trump on Iran?
Nearly all Democrats support returning to the U.S.-Iran accord, also known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that was signed by President Obama, which Trump abandoned. But far too many Democrats buy into the notion that Iran poses a dire threat to American interests in the Middle East.
In a widely circulated piece on Tom Englehardt’s TomDispatch, published today, I provide an analysis of the possibility of war with Iran.
The Dreyfuss Report 
About a year ago, I wrote a blogpost along these lines:
http://www.raednerian.org/index.php/item/69-the-coming-american-assault-on-iran
So far I correctly called the 2018 election result and Pelosi’s recent coming out against impeachment, though the (probably inadequate) Mueller Report hasn’t yet dropped.
We’ll see if I’m right that tensions will rise sometime in late 2019, and by Spring (or whenever airstrikes are easiest to manage given the weather) the Trumpists launch an air campaign – one of those “home by Christmas” sorts of things.
They’re not subtle, the Trumpists. And they’ll note that every time a US President uses military force, a jump in the polls follows. Were I his strategist, I’d be planning for a “successful” wrap-up a month or so prior to the convention, followed by a shift to military measures to “secure” the border against “invasion.” Then the voter suppression campaign begins in full.
Hope I’m wrong. But it certainly looks to me as if most everyone is underestimating how far Trump will go, egged on by his racial nationalist base.
Thanks for covering the issue – too bad most of the media is once again asleep at the wheel.
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