In other words, the Trump Administration attempted every diplomatic and economic option at its disposal, but Iran doubted Trump had the intestinal fortitude to back that up with any other credible threat if Iraq continued to reject diplomatic and economic approaches.
Iraq provoked POTUS by attacking the Iraqi embassy and the US military responded 13 hours later by taking out their George S. Patton.
I wonder what Iran’s next move is going to be, given their next move was clearly going to be an escalation of their PREVIOUS military provocation.
The press has the perspective of a goldfish. They won’t acknowledge what happened literally less than 24 hours prior.
Mount Rushmore may end up being the B team. They may need a new place for the A squad, which currently only has one member.