Post by Clemens Chay

With approximately six hours before Trump's 8PM ET deadline — issued in an expletive-laden post threatening "Power Plant Day and Bridge Day" for Iran — the Strait of Hormuz has become the pressure point that may define this entire campaign. In my latest piece for Observer Research Foundation Middle East, I argue that Trump's shifting aims and elastic timelines have collided with a chokepoint he cannot spin away. Unable to credibly declare victory while Tehran still holds the global economy hostage, the administration has quietly narrowed its objectives to what it can more plausibly claim: degrading Iran's conventional military capabilities. The economic repercussions are severe and global. But perhaps most telling is Trump's latest threat — that "a whole civilization might die tonight." It is the statement of a president who has run out of measured options. The walls are closing in. Read the full piece here:  https://lnkd.in/gca7yF4h