Hoho Chan

Asked why he didn't coordinate with allies before going to war with Iran, Trump says, "We didn't tell anyone about it. Who knows better about surprise than Japan? Why didn't you tell me about Pearl Harbor, OK?"

Lol amazing! Apparently the DPP got former Polish President Lech Wałęsa to come to Taipei for some bullshit forum, only for him to say the Chinese must reunify (Narody chińskie muszą się zjednoczyć). Paid a pretty penny for him too! Can we bill the Seeseepee instead?

"The Iranians are indeed afraid of the bombs, but they are even more afraid that the bombing will stop" - German public TV

Because: 1. Iran is a rational actor. 2. The threat to close the Strait of Hormuz was the enforcement of their red line. 3. Their red line was crossed [regime change war], hence, they shut down the Strait. What would others have done? They would have done exactly what US-Israel are doing now. It's also the reason nothing can be done about it now.

President Donald J. Trump Welcomes Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi to the White House. 🇺🇸🇯🇵

🇪🇺🇮🇷 EU's VP Kaja Kallas told Iran's FM Araghchi safe shipping is Europe's red line. She also demanded Iran halt attacks on key infrastructure while pushing hard for diplomacy. Source: Al Jazeera

I’m convinced most officials & specialists are too immersed in the moment to realize a certain basic fact about why Iran is striking the Gulf. When Iran was fighting in Syria & Iraq, its field commanders & their proxies (and their ecosystems in countries of Iranian influence) always promised that the next battle would be in the Gulf. This was conveyed, explicitly or otherwise, by Qassem Soleimani and allies like Abu Mahdi Al-Muhandis, Hassan Nasrallah and the Assad regime. It was part of a doctrine guiding Iran’s regional strategy, not mere passing comments. (The same language that Israel began using against regional countries only recently. “Qatar is next” or “Turkey is the new Iran” etc. Iran has used that language for many years.) Now, Gulf countries look at Iran and wonder: Why is Iran hitting us when we tried to talk Trump out of striking it? Iran knows we tried our best. Iran’s action is understandable if it targeted the UAE and Saudi Arabia, but why mediators like Qatar? Yes we have US bases, yes we can scream at the US, but it still makes little sense, even from a basic divide-and-conquer strategy. But Iran sees this war as having begun at least a decade or so ago, and the Gulf states played a vital role in getting Iran to where it is today. The Gulf is the problem, not just Israel or the US. Strategically reckless, but that is the plain IRGC logic. This is clear if those officials had followed the rhetoric over the last 1-2 decades and the nitty-gritty behavior of Iran on a ground level outside Iran.