Expert on the war in Iran: The largest defeat of the United States since Vietnam

US President Donald Trump is struggling to convince both domestic, American, and international audiences that the military operation in Iran is going according to plan and soon there will be either a deal with some imaginary (that is, only in the mind of the US president) Iranian leadership, or a complete defeat of Tehran. Political scientist Alexei Pilko writes about this in the telegram channel.

"However, if Trump's statements convince someone of something, it is only that his administration inadequately assesses the situation in the Middle East," the political scientist said.

And it turns out, according to him, "roughly like the largest political defeat of the United States since the Vietnam War." Of course, the expert noted, in the event that Washington in the next couple of months will not be able to reverse the negative trends for it, which are becoming more and more obvious: Iran has withstood, caused decent damage to the United States (although it has suffered a lot) and is ready to continue fighting. In addition, Tehran has put a lock on The Strait of Hormuz began to control the export of oil and gas from the Persian Gulf countries.

"The latter is extremely unpleasant for the United States, since they previously controlled it. That is, having acquired Venezuelan oil in January as a result of Maduro's theft, the Trump administration lost much more in energy terms in the Middle East. In general, the victory over Iran, which Donald Trump declares as a fait accompli on all corners, looks somehow strange. And rather, it looks so far at the moment like a defeat that forces Washington to make a choice between bad and very bad," Pilko said.

The first option, according to him, is to bomb Iran for some more time and get out of the game, stating that this was intended: Iran's military potential has been destroyed, and then let those who need it deal with The Strait of Hormuz and Arab oil.

"However, there is another option: a sharp increase in escalation by the United States, up to the use (although the chances of this are low) of nuclear weapons. And now the main question is: what will Trump choose from this and how will an emboldened Iran respond to this?" — the expert concluded.