This audio is a bit more than eleven minutes. It is worth listening to for Heather Cox Richardson’s view of Trump’s agreement with Iran. She points out that before the war, the Strait of Hormuz was open, and Iran was burdened by heavy sanctions.
The agreement opens the Strait for 60 days, after which Iran and Oman will decide how it is managed. Richardson suggests that Iran intends to control the Strait and impose tolls.
The U.S. agreed to help raise $300 billion to rebuild Iran and also unfreeze Iran’s bank accounts.
And, most significantly, all sanctions on Iran will be removed.
This is a very good deal for Iran.
Maybe Trump should have sent experienced diplomats to negotiate, instead of Jared Kushner and Howard Lutnick, both real estate developers.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I think it is always a good idea to put governmental decisions in the hands of brigands and real estate developers. Let’s make the world safe for plutocracy.
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It’s a slipshod deal with lots of potential holes in it. It seems as though Trump has had enough, and he is ready to dispense with it. It was a fabricated war based on pretense, and ending is the same. The only difference is it cost Americans billions for no gain, and it lost the lives of service members as well as others in collateral damage. Obama’s deal was much better! Israel continues to bomb Lebanon with impunity despite the agreement, but at least it served as a distraction from the Epstein files.
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Iran deserves reparations for our overthrow of Mossadegh, our imposition of the dictatorship of the Shah, our draconian sanctions when they restored self-governance and our current unprovoked war. If USrael doesn’t want to pay, then stop attacking Iran and meddling in their affairs.
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THE REASONS WHY Trump’s war on Iran failed militarily land with a big thud at the feet of Little Petey Hegseth.
The New York Times revealed the panicky meetings held in the White House Situation Room on how to squelch the roaring call even from the MAGA faithful for release of the Epstein Papers. Out of that panic came the idea of launching a war against Iran. After all, the thinking went among Trump’s “Brain Trust”, voters of all affiliations hate Iran’s leaders, many of Iran’s citizens are ripe to replace their leaders, plus Iran’s military can’t possibly compete with the mighty U.S. armed forces. If the U.S. launched a sudden “Shock & Awe” attack, a la what was done to Iraq, it would make good TV, crush Iran, and make Trump a hero — hero enough so that his refusal to release the Epstein papers would be brushed aside.
When Hegseth presented the plan to Pentagon generals, he was met with stiff resistance. Generals pointed out that Iran for more than a decade has been anticipating just such a massive attack by the U.S. and made many preparations. Iran had become a hardened target, especially to air and missile attack by building weapons factories and storage arsenals deep inside of mountains where the only kind of bomb that could destroy them was nuclear bombs. Hegseth was told that Iran’s estimated arsenal of strategic missiles and drones numbered more than 40,000. That wasn’t what Hegseth wanted to hear, and heads rolled, being replaced by stooges who accompanied Hegseth to meetings with Trump, telling Trump what he wanted to hear. The war was greenlighted.
The Shock & Awe bombings and missile attacks filled American TV screens with spectacular explosions for days. Exuberant declarations were made by Hegseth and Trump about how they had “obliterated” Iran’s military capability. Then a “funny” thing happened: Iran began bombarding the infrastructure in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman with wave after wave of missiles and drones. Satellite photos show that U.S. military bases in those nations were also hit hard. When German Chancellor Friedrich Merz saw the satellite photos, he said, “The U.S. has been humiliated.” Those photos haven’t been shown on U.S. media because Trump has threatened to pull the broadcast license of any media that shows them.
The U.S. CIA reported that Hegseth’s “Shock & Awe” had barely dented Iran’s well-protected arsenal of drones, missiles, and missile launchers. The CIA estimated that 75% to 80% remained fully operational. That’s more than 30,000 drones and tactical missiles ready to rain down on U.S. bases and ships and on allied infrastructure. Moreover, the U.S. had expended so many of its defensive missiles against the incoming Iranian missiles and drones that it could barely continue to defend U.S. bases and could not offer any defense to the infrastructure of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, and Oman.
Those nations, seeing that they would be unprotected from massive Iranian attacks if they continued to allow Trump to launch airstrikes from U.S. bases in their territories, told Trump that he could no longer do so. Without the ability to stage and launch massive airstrikes from land bases, Trump had to declare a ceasefire, because the limited number of air strikes that could be launched from carriers was insufficient and vulnerable. Trump’s “gracious” cease fire wasn’t his idea: His allies ordered him to do it.
And, there was no chance that the U.S. could replace its expended defensive missiles in anything less than two to three years, even producing them at a flat-out pace. HERE’S HOW BAD THE SITUATION ACTUALLY IS — The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) reports that the U.S. military has EXPENDED HALF OF ITS INVENTORY of key missile/drone defense weapons that will take years to replace, putting the United States at risk of NOT BEING ABLE TO DEFEND ITS OWN BASES, let alone defend oil fields in Arab nations.
Below is the CSIS accounting of critical weaponry that Hegseth used up and how long it takes and the taxpayer cost to replace them:
JASSM (Joint Air-to-Surface Cruise Missile). Cost: $2.6 million each. 900 fired in Iran war at a cost of $2,340,000,000 (billion). Time needed to replace weapons: 2 years.
PrSM (Precision Strike Missile Surface-to-Surface ) Cost: $1.6 to $3.5 each, depending on model. 1,100 fired in Iran war at a cost of between $1,760,000,000 and $3,850,000,000 (billion). Time needed to replace weapons used: 2 years.
SM-3 (Standard Missile-3, defensive anti-missile/anti-drone) Block IB Cost: $10 to $15 million; Block IIA Cost: $28 to $36 million. 250 fired in Iran at a cost between $2,500,000,000 and $9,000,000,000 (billion). Time needed to replace weapons used: 5 years.
SM-6 (Standard Missile-6, defensive anti-missile/anti-drone) Cost: $3.9 to $5.3 million per missile. 350 fired in Iran at a cost between $1,350,000,000 and $1,855,000,000 (billion). Time needed to replace weapons used: 4.5 years.
THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defense defensive anti-missile/anti-drone) Cost: $12 to $15 per missile. 250 fired in Iran at a cost of between $3,000,000,000 and $3,750,000,000 (billion). Time needed to replace weapons used: 4.5 years
Patriot PAC-3 (Patriot Advanced Capability-3 defensive anti-missile/anti-drone/anti-aircraft) Cost: $3.7 to $3.9 per missile. 1200 fired in Iran at a cost between $4,440,000,000 and $4,680,000,000 (billion). Time needed to replace weapons used: 3.5 years.
And then Trump just cuts and runs, cutting Iran an MOU deal that gives Iran more than $300,000,000,000 to rebuild its barely damaged military defense and to make its military arsenal even stronger. Ironically, this war has made Iran the leading military power among Arab nations. Iran will rule the region, including the nations that the U.S. depends on for oil.
ADDING TO THIS MESS — China had been watching the U.S. transfer defensive missile systems from U.S. bases in Japan, Okwinowa, and the Philippines to replenhish the weaponry expended at U.S. bases and ships around Iran. The bases around the South China Sea now have barely enough capability to defend themselves, let alone oppose a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. THAT’S WHY when Trump visited China, Xi Jinping told Trump to his face that had better not try to stop any action that China takes in the near future against Taiwan. Xi spoke from a position of strength because Trump’s Iran war had weakened the U.S. in the Pacific.
IF CHINA TAKES TAIWAN, the entire United States economy will implode because all the key U.S. industries are dependent on computer chips that come only from Taiwan. Cars today are rolling computer centers with dozens of microprocessors in them. Car production will cease without Taiwanese chips. If car production stops, the steel industry stops, and all the hundreds of suppliers to the car industry shut down. It’s a domino effect throughout the entire U.S. economy. And Trump’s war against Iran has made that likely, because Xi is on record saying that 2026 is his target year for taking over Taiwan. Trump’s only hope of staying in power is to prevent the midterm elections from taking place. He is planning just that.
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