"President Trump said that that took him by surprise when Iran started to attack the Persian Gulf countries or close down the Strait of Hormuz. I don't think President Trump, in his own words frankly, understood what he was getting into. Iran telegraphed from the beginning that it planned to regionalize the conflict."
"At a time when the regime's survival is at stake, Larijani's decades of domestic and foreign policy experience make his loss a significant blow. For a revolutionary regime whose political ideology is premised on martyrdom, the central question is whether these assassinations will ultimately extinguish the ideology or help revive it."
Three weeks into the U.S. and Israel's war with Iran, the path to resolution remains unclear. President Trump declined to declare victory, indicating the conflict's complexity. Iran has regionalized the conflict by closing the Strait of Hormuz, through which approximately 20% of the world's crude oil and natural gas passes. Trump was reportedly surprised by Iran's response, despite Iran telegraphing this strategy from the beginning. The war began as a war of choice without imminent threats, but circumstances have shifted significantly. Israel killed Ali Larijani, head of Iran's Supreme National Security Council and expected adviser to newly appointed supreme leader Mojtaba Khamenei. Larijani's death represents a significant blow to the Iranian regime during a critical period for its survival.
Read at www.npr.org
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