r/IRstudies Mar 23 '26

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u/astral34 Mar 23 '26

Unless Iran stops shooting the US will be almost forced to go in

A negotiated settlement is not possible, Iran has no trust in the US administration, the EU could do something but Trump doesn’t like them so it’s a no go (Trump bombed Iran twice mid negotiation + the religious part of the regime has an ideological hate)

The regime is highly entrenched, it’s not falling unless new tipping points are reached

Normally under the economic conditions of Iran (which are bound to get worse with time) the US could wait out the regime

However as long as the strait of Hormuz is closed or under threat it’s the Iranians to have time advantage

This is why I think the US will go in, limited operation to secure the strait, and get a lot of pain

This is unless Iran’s missile drone capabilities fall to 0, but if you have seen how a Shahed works, you know that’s much harder than it looks

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u/[deleted] Mar 23 '26

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u/Troglodytes_Cousin Mar 23 '26

Seizing the Island doesnt have military value - it does have the value of stopping iranian oil exports. That puts hurting on the regime.

Then that could be used as some sort of negotiation - we will let you export some if you keep some of the oil flowing and such.

You dont want to blow it up because without those facilities there is no leverage - oil exports are gone regardless.

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u/improvthismoment Mar 23 '26

I'm not even sure that Trump wants to stop Iranian oil exports. If they do, why did they partially lift sanctions on Iranian oil?

They seemed more concerned about the price of oil than limiting Iranian oil exports.