{"id":325906,"date":"2026-04-10T07:25:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T07:25:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=325906"},"modified":"2026-04-12T07:11:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:11:26","slug":"trumps-apocalypse-now-is-a-busted-flush-iran-has-proved-it-and-china-knows-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=325906","title":{"rendered":"Trump’s ‘Apocalypse Now’ is a busted flush. Iran has proved it and China knows it"},"content":{"rendered":"

David Hearst \u2013 Middle East Eye April 9, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

US President Donald Trump has just given the world a masterclass in the art of dealmaking. You threaten armageddon<\/a> one minute, and cave in<\/a> to your enemy\u2019s main demands the next. This should go down in the textbooks of diplomacy.<\/p>\n

Iranians have good reason to come out into the streets and wave their flag today. Iran<\/a> is entering two weeks of negotiations, having notched up an impressive list of strategic wins.<\/p>\n

This is irrespective of how the 10 points<\/a> in the ceasefire plan are described. Trump called them a \u201cworkable basis<\/a>\u201d for talks. Iran and Pakistan<\/a> described them as guarantees for a ceasefire for two weeks only.<\/p>\n

Under these terms, Iran will keep enriching uranium<\/a>. If it has agreed to surrender its stock of highly enriched uranium, this is no great concession; it is what Iran offered in negotiations<\/a> mediated by Omani<\/a> Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi before the US<\/a> and Israel<\/a> attacked.<\/p>\n

Iran will continue to control the Strait of Hormuz, allowing a limited number of ships through during the period of the ceasefire. And it will continue to collect transit fees, along with Oman.<\/p>\n

Trump retweeted the statement<\/a> of Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, in which he said that for two weeks, safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz would be possible \u201cvia coordination with Iran\u2019s Armed Forces\u201d. This means that reopening the strait comes with Washington\u2019s recognition of Iran\u2019s authority over it.<\/p>\n

But that is not all. The price of peace with Iran is a binding pledge not to attack it again, the removal of all sanctions – both primary and secondary – and compensation for war damage.<\/p>\n

Of the 10 points, Iran\u2019s demand for the withdrawal of all US combat forces from the region is the most speculative. A withdrawal of US forces from Iraq<\/a> has been demanded by successive prime ministers in Baghdad for the best part of a decade, and it still has yet to happen.<\/p>\n

Netanyahu loses<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Whatever happens in Islamabad over the next two weeks, the fact that Trump pulled the rug out from under an intense campaign of US and Israeli air strikes is a major blow to the authority of the man who led him into this war, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.<\/p>\n

If his genocidal campaign in Gaza<\/a> spelt the end of Israel\u2019s moral authority over Europe, the war on Iran<\/a> could have the same effect on Israel\u2019s monopoly over Washington\u2019s policymaking in the Middle East. No longer will issues be seen in DC exclusively through Israel\u2019s lens.<\/p>\n

Every one of the predictions that Netanyahu pitched to Trump for over an hour<\/a> in the situation room of the White House – a room rarely used for meetings with foreign leaders – on 11 February proved to be false.<\/p>\n

That Iran\u2019s ballistic missile programme could be destroyed in a few weeks: Iran continued to fire ballistic missiles into the sixth week.<\/p>\n

That the regime would be so weakened it could not choke off the Strait of Hormuz: no ship has passed without Iranian permission and\/or payment.<\/p>\n

That the danger of Iran landing blows against US interests in neighbouring countries was minimal: Iran landed blows on US aircraft, radar systems and troops continuously in Kuwait<\/a>, Saudi Arabia<\/a>, the UAE<\/a> and Qatar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

That street protests inside Iran would begin again, and with impetus provided by Mossad and an intense bombing campaign, conditions could be fostered for the Iranian opposition to overthrow the regime: there has not been one defection either at home or abroad from the regime, and popular rage against the bombing has consolidated, not diminished, support for the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.<\/p>\n

The New York Times reported <\/a>that Netanyahu delivered his presentation in a confident monotone, as if he knew in advance that Trump had made up his mind.<\/p>\n

But the Israeli prime minister, who had campaigned for decades for a US strike on Iran and who saw Iran\u2019s hand in every act of\u00a0Palestinian<\/a>\u00a0resistance, cannot be so confident today that Trump has his back.<\/p>\n

Fates intertwined<\/strong><\/h2>\n

There is no dispute that Netanyahu was the man who led Trump into this war. If the war goes wrong, he is the man upon whose shoulders the entire Washington establishment – Republican and Democrat – will place the blame.<\/p>\n

Then there is Trump, whose erratic social media posts have stoked calls by members of Congress for his impeachment<\/a>. His Republican base remains silent, as they, too, can see the direction in which this president is leading them ahead of the midterm elections in November.<\/p>\n

The joint venture in Iran means that Trump has tied his fate politically to that of Netanyahu, and yet the polls<\/a> for both men in the US are nosediving<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The latest evidence is a Pew Research poll<\/a> conducted at the end of March. It found that 60 percent of US adults have an unfavourable view of Israel, up from 53 percent last year. A total of 59 percent have little or no confidence in Netanyahu to do the right thing, up from 52 percent last year, and the majority of adults under 50 in both parties rate Israel and Netanyahu negatively.<\/p>\n