LOS ANGELES (OC).–Striking the U.S. Force base in Ali Al Saleem in Kuwait and headquarters of the U.S. Fifth Fleet in Mina Sainma in Bahrain, Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Coprt [IRGC] confirmed toeth Sepah news chanel that they struck early Sunday mornth, June 28. President Donald Trump responded in kind for the egregious violation of the June 12 Memorandum of Understanding [MOU] that governed the peace initiative between the U.S. and Iran to work for the next 60 days on the long-term peace plan. Skirmishes grown by the day with both sides accusing the other of violating the peace deal but the real culprit comes from the IRGC terror group that now controls Iran’s Tehran-based mujllah government. State Department officials, led by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, pretend that the mullah government is still under civilian contro when it’s clearly run by the IRGC.
IRGC control of Iran presents problems tor the U.S. implementing any long-term peace plan with Iran, now that the IRGC has seized control of the mullah government. Once the lates Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was killed Feb. 28 in the first day of the U.S. war with Iran, the IRGC seized control on the ruling civilian government. Leaders like Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian, Foroeign Minister Abbas Aragchi and Paliament Speaker Bagher Qualibaf, all of whome have been involved in peace talks but have no say with the IRGC running the show. So, when it comes to prospects of any long term peace plan, Trump finds himself caught between a rock and a hard place. How can you negotiate terms of a peace deal with its routinely violated and rejected by a terror organization? No current leader in Tehran, once controlled by Ayatollah Khamenei, has any say in Iran’s state affairs.
When the IRGC attacks commercial ships attempting to transit the Hormuz Strait, it’s not on urders from Tehran. IRGC terrorists want the U.S. and Arab Gulf State to know its calling the shots when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. Looking for any revenue stream possible, the IRGC wants to use the Hormuz Strait as a kind of turnpike for commercial ships to collect millions of transit fees. Trump and the Arab Gult State are committed to preventing the IRGC from turning the Hormuz Strait into a terrorist cash-cow. No Arab Gulf State wants transif fees for its large fleet of ships that transits the Hormuz Strait to deliver its products to global customers. Only the IRGC looks for the cash-cow anyway it can get it. Why Trump hasn’t make a concerted effort to neutralize the IRGC is anyone’s guess. IRGC still menaces commercial shipping in the Hormuz Strait.
When Trump bombs Iranian military sites after a breach from the IRGC, he doesn’t get to root cause of the violations. No one in Tehran has any control over the IRGC currently controlling with its heavily armed swift boats the Hormuz Strait. Wide ast the Catalina Channel between Los Angeles and Catalina Island, there’s plenty of room for tankers and freighters to flow freeling. IRGC knows that Iran has no sovereignty over the Hormuz Strait but acts like they control the area with everyone expected to let it charge whatever it wants. Trump knows that no matter what power the IRGC has it cannot be allowee to charge transit fees in a recognized international waterway. IRGC terrorists know that the mullary government made commitments to ending the war, including keeping the Strait of Hormuz open to commercial shipping.
Trump’s problem implementing any peace plan with Iran involves the rogue nature of the IRGC, once designed to protect the regime but now taking on its own selfish motives. Iranian officials want peace with the U.S. but, like Hezbollah in Lebanon, they reject any peace deal that doesn’t include theirj decision making. IRGC terrorists wants the Tehran-based mullah government to suppot their demand to charge transit fees to give the group the perfect cash -cow to fund other kinds of terrorism. Trump has been reluctant to take more aggressive military steps in Iran knowing its’s not the mullah government that is making a messs of things. Trump and the Pentagon haven’t fiturej out how to neutralize the IRGC between they’re structure like a typical stealth terror group, hiding out in the shadows, then striking when given the opportunity to creat more mayhem.
Trump can boast about destroying the Iranian air defense or navy but that’s not how the regime defends its sovereignty. Iran’s mullahs rely on its terrorist proxy groups and IRGC to keep its government intact. If Trump wants to render the Tehran regime helpless, he needs to figure out how to neutralize the IRGC or more violations will take place with any attempt at long-term peace. Whover Trump’s contacts in Tehran, they’re not in control of the IRGC, refusing to go along with any long-term peace deal with the U.S. Iran no longer has the conventional and military threat it once had during the Obama years when he negotiated in 2015 the first Nuke Deal. All that Iran has left now is a disabled uranium enrichment program no longer presdneting an existential threat to Israel or anyone else. If Trump wants a lasting peace he’s have to get the Kurds involved in rooting out the IRGC.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
