Trump's death spiral of threatening Iran | About That

Donald Trump has just threatened to end the Iranian regime again.There may come a point when we are no longer able to be reasonable, he wrote over the weekend.If that happens, the Islamic Republic of Iran will no longer exist.Why does Trump keep threatening to destroy Iran only to pull back and say talks are going very well?We have a deal.But then next thing you know, he's threatening to destroy Iran all over again.

Well, let's work backwards.Trump's most recent threat to erase Iran's entire theocracy came paired with actual violence.United States aircraft just struck Iranian missile and drone storage locations and coastal radar sites for violating the ceasefire agreement again.U .S.Central Command posted video of these strikes.

But what was the ceasefire violation, again, Trump was mentioning?Well, according to CENTCOM, 10 Iranian military targets at multiple locations were hit for Iran's drone attack on MT Kikoo.Motor tanker Kiku is a Panama flagged vessel transporting about 2 million barrels of oil through the Strait of Hormuz.According to the U .S., Iran put a drone on a collision course with it and it hit.

So according to the U .S., Iran broke the ceasefire.But let's keep working backwards.Why would Iran attack a Panamanian ship during a ceasefire?Well, to this day, there is an unknown central strip of the strait that may be dotted with mines.

So while Iran had full control of the strait, it would force ships to take this very narrow route, hugging the Iranian shoreline.But Washington has been promoting a different lane, a southern one, further from Iran's reach, hugging Oman's shoreline.

According to shipping traffic data, motor tanker Kikou was taking this second, more southern route.And this is provocative to Iran.Its top diplomat has issued an explicit warning, in fact, saying this would increase tensions.And when Trump said this Iranian attack on the Panama flag tanker was a ceasefire violation again, he was referring to yet another attack that happened the week before.And various media have all pointed to the same shipping traffic data showing that this vessel, too, was sailing the southern route off Oman.and the U .

S.attacked Iran back after that incident, too.This is the cycle of perceived provocations, attacks, retaliations, and the two countries flip -flopping between blaming the other and promising a new round of talks to smooth everything back out again, which is where things stand today.But the last time this death spiral hit rock bottom, when Trump last threatened to kill all Iranians, a whole civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again, that was in April.And it wasn't rock bottom, because now we're almost July.And the cycle continues.