Trump said there would be additional sanctions levied against Iran.
His biggest problem is the EU is still trading with Iran for oil. If he takes a “wait and see” attitude about a retaliatory strike, there may be a possibility he can bring the EU into line with sanctions.
Iran is already on the brink of collapse, this could push it over the edge. The populace aren’t happy with the Mullahs. This takes the “Great Satan” meme away from them.
Trump knows the Mullahs would like nothing more than to show dead Iranians to the world press. They would then escalate by firing a missile at one of our ships and we’d be in a shooting war which the Democrats would use going into the 2020 election.
Trump is giving the Mullahs the option to use diplomacy. Going forward, anything they do could have disastrous effects especially coming out of the G20 summit next week.
Trump’s stated goal is to re-negotiate the Obama/Iran Nuclear treaty. If he succeeds in getting a better one than Obama negotiated...goodbye Uncle Joe. Biden would be toast.
I don’t doubt Trump would level Iran if need be, but he is playing the long game right now and while we lost a 130-million dollar drone, no lives were lost.
The Dem’s are in a no-win situation. They can’t criticize the President or else they are seen as “hawks.” If he causes the collapse of Iran, it will have been done through diplomacy, and if the Mullahs up the ante, the Navy is already on station.
Like he said...time is on his side.
I agree with sanctions, but its wishful thinking that Iran is about to collapse. Cant wait for it to happen, but they have been under sanctions for decades, as has NK. Both despotic regimes are still there. Both abuse their own people and export terror or provide arms to terrorists.
Normally I am a glass half full guy, but regarding Iran being on the brink of collapse, I'm going to bet it will only happen with catastrophic military defeat in response to one of their foolish attacks. Otherwise, so far their own people haven't figured out how to overthrow the regime yet.