AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta Conservative media often direct a lot of ire at the “mainstream press” for getting it wrong — and they are often right. But it is only fair to acknowledge that conservative media get it wrong, too.
And when it comes to President Trump’s disastrous attempt this year at playing war chief, a whole lot of conservatives got it wrong, this author included.
Following the president’s signing last week of his “Memorandum of Understanding” with Iran — an agreement good for 60 days until Washington and Tehran strike a “final deal” — there’s nothing left except to concede that the U.S. was done in by a few mines. Iran actually forced a desperate White House to the negotiating table simply by flexing what muscles it has left over the Strait of Hormuz.
The largest, most powerful, and best-funded military in the history of the world, despite inflicting massive destruction and suffering minimal casualties, was somehow defeated by a shipping channel. Our British cousins must be having flashbacks to the Suez Canal.
The most astonishing thing about the White House’s capitulation in Iran, beyond the Islamic Republic’s victory in the face of a clear power disparity, is that the White House obviously jumped into the war with no real consideration or plan for the possibility that Iran might block the Strait of Hormuz. This despite U.S. military strategists warning for decades about this exact scenario.
This is where conservative media, this author included, owe everybody, and most especially CNN, an apology.
In March, CNN published a hard-to-believe exclusive, claiming that “Top Trump officials acknowledged to lawmakers during recent classified briefings that they did not plan for the possibility of Iran closing the [Strait of Hormuz] in response to strikes.”
In response, I suggested that there was “no need to consider the [story’s] sourcing or the outlet” because “this claim is completely unbelievable on its face.”
Boy, was I wrong.
The cable network later updated its reporting to explain that “Trump administration officials briefed lawmakers on long-standing military plans to address a major disruption to the Strait, according to one official, but that multiple sources familiar with the session said there was no indication there were any near-term solutions.” I criticized this framing as well, given that the clarification was way off from the first claim.
Again, I apologize. CNN’s sources were clearly correct. This iteration of the Trump presidency is exactly as inept as advertised.
Everything the U.S. has done in this conflict — from Trump’s impotent screaming on social media to the administration getting jerked around in negotiations to its eventually agreeing to hand Iran everything — points to one painful and embarrassing reality: The White House went to war with no plan to counter or neutralize Iran’s most important asset.
Thus, after months of military action by the U.S., in which the Iranian navy, leadership, and Revolutionary Guard were reduced to rubble, the White House has signed an agreement that allows Iran to keep its nuclear and ballistic missile programs.
The U.S. has also agreed to lift its naval blockade of Iran, to terminate “all types of sanctions,” to waive sanctions on oil sales, and to make “fully available for use the frozen or restricted funds and assets of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
On that last point, it’s important to note that the deal states explicitly that “such funds, whether retained in the original accounts or transferred, may be fully usable for payment to any ultimate beneficiary designated by the Central Bank of the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
In other words, the deal allows Iran, the world’s number one state sponsor of terrorism, to designate any beneficiary for the unfrozen funds. Use your imagination.
The White House also agreed to head up a fund with Gulf states to pump at least $300 billion into Iran for “reconstruction” and “economic development.”
In return, the U.S. gets little more than Iran’s solemn oath that it will not build a nuke.
The agreement also temporarily reopens the Strait of Hormuz, but only until such time as Tehran decides to shut it down again, because Iran can do that and there is nothing anyone, not even the U.S., can do about it.
This is key. Don’t be fooled into thinking this agreement has anything to do with the stated U.S. goals at the outset of the war. It has nothing to do with degrading Iran’s nuclear weapons program. The “understanding” is no more complicated than a desperate play to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and toss away America’s leverage to end Iran’s nuclear weapons program.
This is an unbelievably bad deal. It could only have been devised by the type of man who would lose money as a casino owner.
And if you don’t think the deal stinks, just remember that when details about its text were first leaked, its architects — most notably Vice President J.D. Vance — claimed the information, which would eventually prove true, was merely “Iranian propaganda.” In other words, it’s a deal so great that its designers had to lie about it to sell it.
Meanwhile, Iran still has thousands of missiles, with billions of dollars in sanctions relief coming soon, which will undoubtedly be used to rebuild its arsenal and fund its terrorist proxies.
The memorandum is a humiliation for the U.S. A theocratic death cult responsible for thousands of dead Americans is being handed everything but the kitchen sink.
And the only thing the U.S. has to show in return is a document that amounts to an unconditional surrender, along with the loss of 13-plus U.S. servicemen.
Happy 250th anniversary.
Becket Adams is a journalist and media critic in Washington.
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