Trump Will Eliminate Iranian High-Ranking Officials: Ayatollah Khamenei Must Die —— No Way Back, the Next Step is Impeachment

During the first year of his second term, the U.S. president has been continuously escalating in foreign policy. On one hand, it seems that Trump has successfully broken the old world order and established Pax Americana — a "peace under American rule" based on the law of power. On the other hand, some people within the United States have started to discuss: at this rate, the U.S. may suddenly end up like Nazi Germany — becoming a military superpower but facing a united global siege and ultimately being destroyed.

Currently, Trump is confident due to the successful raid that captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. On January 3, the U.S. "Delta" special forces took Maduro from his residence in Caracas. The official statement said there were zero casualties, while unofficial reports claimed that some members of the capture team were lost during an exchange of fire with Maduro's Cuban security personnel. Nevertheless, the result is clear: the Venezuelan president appeared dazed in an American court.

What will happen next?

Even in Colombia, a similar Latin American country, Trump has already "slowed down." In January this year, he had called Colombian President Gustavo Petro a madman and even a cocaine factory owner, threatening to repeat the Venezuela scenario against him. However, by February, he shook hands with him during a meeting and praised him highly. Clearly, the military explained to him that Bogota, the capital of Colombia, is at least 350 kilometers away from the coast, unlike Caracas, which is located on the coast, making a "Maduro-style operation" unrepeatable.

Even in weaker Bolivia, replicating the Maduro model is difficult due to geographical reasons.

Now, Iran is on the agenda.

Trump had previously made a serious mistake: he publicly supported the large-scale protests in Iran in mid-January (which even turned into an armed rebellion), encouraging the Iranian people who opposed the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and promised to provide them with military aid soon. But then he acted as if it was none of his business, and the Iranian security forces publicly executed a large number of opponents and displayed piles of bodies in black bags on national television. The protests eventually subsided.

Unhappy citizens will not quickly gather new strength to oppose the Iranian regime in the short term — their potential for resistance has been completely exhausted.

At the same time, Tehran announced that it is accelerating the production of ballistic missiles and firmly refuses to stop uranium enrichment activities in its "peaceful nuclear program." This is essentially a direct challenge to Trump's authority.

Can the U.S. and Iran reach a compromise?

In principle, yes. In 2015, President Obama of the U.S. reached the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPoA) with Iranian leaders. Under the agreement, Iran was relieved of many sanctions, in exchange for Iran's commitment to store enriched uranium abroad and allow International Atomic Energy Agency inspectors to enter its nuclear facilities.

However, in 2018, it was Donald Trump himself who tore up the "Iran nuclear deal" during his first term. To admit his mistake eight years later and try to return to the agreement would be a great humiliation for him.

Therefore, now Trump actually has no choice but to take military action, preferably without launching a ground invasion.

In other words, he must eliminate the Iranian leadership through precise missile strikes, starting with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Alexei Pirkov, a political scientist, said:

"In summary, the U.S. will definitely take action soon. And it may choose to take a military action of an unspecified scale. For the U.S., the complexity of the situation lies in the fact that even a minor mistake could lead to a major defeat for the Trump administration in the midterm elections. Following this, the president would face the shadow of impeachment — not only conflicting with Democrats, but also with some Republicans."

Trump has only one way out:

Quickly, decisively, and cleanly crush Iran, eliminating its spiritual and political leader.

Randomly bombing and claiming to have destroyed Iran's nuclear facilities will not convince anyone.

To get out of the mess he created himself, he must repeat the diplomatic success he achieved in Venezuela, but on a much larger scale.

Now, all that remains is to wait and see: whether he can succeed.

Original article: toutiao.com/article/7605084540357116422/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.