Trapped In An Apocalyptic War In The Middle East With No Easy Way Out

We are locked in a steel cage with Iran and nobody can seem to find the key. But if we don’t find a way out, the global economy is going to collapse, global food production is going to decline precipitously, and it is likely just a matter of time before someone uses weapons that should never be used under any circumstances. President Trump sent Iran a 15 point plan to end the war this week, but the Iranians just laughed at it. The Iranians have no intention of ending this war until “its own conditions are met”…

Iran has rejected a US proposal to end the war and set out conditions for any ceasefire, Press TV reported on Wednesday, citing a senior official.

“Iran will end the war when it decides to do so and when its own conditions are met,” the official said, adding: “No negotiations will be held prior to that.”

“Iran’s defensive operations will continue until its conditions are met,” the official said, describing the US proposal as “excessive.”

So what do the Iranians want?

They are asking for five things to happen before they will even begin negotiating…

• A complete halt to “aggression and assassinations” by the enemy.

• The establishment of concrete mechanisms to ensure that the war is not reimposed on the Islamic Republic.

• Guaranteed and clearly defined payment of war damages and reparations.

• The conclusion of the war across all fronts and for all resistance groups involved throughout the region.

• Iran’s exercise of sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz is and will remain Iran’s natural and legal right, and it constitutes a guarantee for the implementation of the other party’s commitments, and must be recognized.

The U.S. and Israel will never pay for the damage that they have done inside Iran.

And Israel will certainly not stop fighting against Hezbollah.

But that last one is the kicker. There is no way that the Trump administration will ever agree to Iranian control of the Strait of Hormuz.

So there will be no negotiated settlement no matter how much the Trump administration may want one.

One Iranian spokesperson is mocking us by suggesting that U.S. officials are simply negotiating with themselves…

The Iranians are eagerly anticipating the appearance of the Mahdi, because he is supposed to come during a time of great chaos and war.

So why would they surrender if they think that the Mahdi is about to show up?

To them, that wouldn’t make any sense at all.

They are trapped in this war by their own ideology.

They are absolutely convinced that they are going to win, and they have just released a video that depicts the Statue of Liberty being blown up by an Iranian missile…

A crazy Iranian AI-generated video shows a missile blowing up the Statue of Liberty — and also references the Epstein scandal and lefty anti-war talking points

The minute-long clip, which ends with the ominous slogan “One vengeance for all,” has been attributed to Iranian state broadcaster IRIB and was later shared by Russian regime outlet RT.

Sequences invoking Native American dispossession, the dropping of the atom bombs on Japan, the Vietnam War, and more recent Middle Eastern conflicts are featured in the video, casting the US as the world’s enemy.

The U.S. is trapped in this war as long as Iran continues to paralyze traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and as long as Iran continues to attack our allies in the region.

On Wednesday, the White House announced that President Trump is ready to “unleash hell” if a negotiated settlement is not possible…

President Donald Trump is prepared to “unleash hell” if negotiations with Iran fail, the White House said Wednesday, after Tehran rejected an initial U.S. proposal and thousands of American troops were enroute to the Middle East.

“Iran should not miscalculate,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at a briefing, adding that if Iran refuses to make a deal to end the war, “President Trump will ensure they are hit harder than they have ever been hit before.”

I don’t know if they got the memo yet, but negotiations have already failed.

So what is Trump planning to do that he is not doing already?

Right now, thousands of U.S. troops are on their way to the Middle East…

Donald Trump is massing a 7,000-strong ground invasion force on Iran’s doorstep after the Islamic regime snubbed a 15-point peace plan with a series of ‘ridiculous’ demands.

Pentagon chiefs ordered around 2,000 paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne Division to the Middle East last night to join some 4,500 Marines already en route to the region.

The President is prepared to pull the trigger on a full-scale invasion if Tehran continues to rebuff his diplomatic overtures, according to members of his inner circle.

Needless to say, 7,000 troops would not be nearly enough for a ground invasion of Iran.

When you add together the IRGC, the Basij forces, the regular Iranian army and the Iranian reserves, it comes to a grand total of more than a million fighting men.

7,000 U.S. soldiers may be enough to take Kharg island or a couple of smaller islands in the Strait of Hormuz, but then those soldiers would be sitting ducks as the Iranians endlessly bombard them with drones and missiles.

In the end, we would see a lot of dead American service members.

Over the past couple of weeks, Iran has been working hard to reinforce Kharg Island’s defenses…

Iran has been laying traps and moving additional military personnel and air defenses to Kharg Island in recent weeks in preparation for a possible US operation to take control of the island, according to multiple people familiar with US intelligence reporting on the issue.

The Trump administration has been weighing using US troops to seize the tiny island in the northeastern Persian Gulf — an economic lifeline for Iran that handles roughly 90% of the country’s crude exports — as leverage over the Iranians to coerce them to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, CNN has reported.

But US officials and military experts say there would be significant risks involved in such a ground operation, including a large number of US casualties. The island has layered defenses, and the Iranians have moved additional shoulder-fired, surface-to-air guided missile systems known as MANPADs there in recent weeks, the sources said.

I don’t think that taking Kharg Island would be a wise move.

It would not reopen the Strait of Hormuz, and it would not force the Iranians to capitulate.

So why do it?

It was really easy to start this war, but there is no easy way out.

As long as the Iranian regime exists, it is going to continue to threaten traffic through the Strait of Hormuz.

They have made that very clear.

So if the U.S. and Israel want to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, either they will have to give the Iranians everything that they are asking for, conduct a full-blown ground invasion to overthrow the regime, or use nuclear weapons (which should be unthinkable).

At this stage, all of those options are completely unacceptable to the Trump administration.

The Iranians understand that they are the ones with the leverage now, and they are going to be ruthless.

The U.S. and Israel will continue to pummel Iran from the air, but that won’t change the state of play.

Approximately 93 million people live in Iran, and the regime has had 47 years to deeply embed itself in every element of Iranian society.

Trying to get rid of it now will be exceedingly tough.

But allowing it to block traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is intolerable, because that will crash the global economy.

We are caught between a rock and a hard place, and our choices are only going to get even more difficult in the days ahead.

Michael’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com, and you can subscribe to his Substack newsletter at michaeltsnyder.substack.com.

About the Author: Michael Snyder’s new book entitled “10 Prophetic Events That Are Coming Next” is available in paperback and for the Kindle on Amazon.com. He has also written nine other books that are available on Amazon.com including “Chaos”, “End Times”, “7 Year Apocalypse”, “Lost Prophecies Of The Future Of America”, “The Beginning Of The End”, and “Living A Life That Really Matters”. When you purchase any of Michael’s books you help to support the work that he is doing. You can also get his articles by email as soon as he publishes them by subscribing to his Substack newsletter. Michael has published thousands of articles on The Economic Collapse Blog, End Of The American Dream and The Most Important News, and he always freely and happily allows others to republish those articles on their own websites. These are such troubled times, and people need hope. John 3:16 tells us about the hope that God has given us through Jesus Christ: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” If you have not already done so, we strongly urge you to invite Jesus Christ to be your Lord and Savior today.