{"id":325943,"date":"2026-04-11T05:25:31","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T05:25:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=325943"},"modified":"2026-04-12T07:07:52","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T07:07:52","slug":"martin-jay-when-escalation-is-a-game-played-against-you-and-you-have-no-cards-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/?p=325943","title":{"rendered":"Martin Jay: When escalation is a game played against you and you have no cards to play"},"content":{"rendered":"

Martin Jay \u2013 Strategic Review April 10, 2026<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Suddenly, it\u00a0would seem that there is\u00a0hope for peace in\u00a0the Middle East, or\u00a0at\u00a0least most of\u00a0it, as\u00a0Trump secured what he\u00a0believed to\u00a0be\u00a0a\u00a0deal with the Iranians. In\u00a0reality, of\u00a0course, it\u00a0was the Iranians who had the advantage all along and gave him the \u201coff ramp\u201d which he\u00a0desperately needed. The constant threats, with the most recent posting using foul language mocking Islam, all signalled that the U.S. president was losing his mind, tortured by\u00a0a\u00a0sense of\u00a0no\u00a0one listening to\u00a0him, like a\u00a0child in\u00a0the corner who is\u00a0forced to\u00a0be\u00a0naughty just to\u00a0get the attention of\u00a0adults. But there was a\u00a0point in\u00a0recent days \u2013 perhaps the social media post which used the \u2019F\u2019 word \u2013 where it\u00a0was clear he\u00a0lost all control, his threats were empty, and it\u00a0was Iran which held ALL the cards. And so\u00a0a\u00a0provisional deal was struck, which simply accepted a\u00a0list of\u00a0demands by\u00a0the Iranians as\u00a0a\u00a0basis for negotiations. This was probably the greatest military defeat in\u00a0modern times that any U.S. president has had to\u00a0endure in\u00a0office, and the humiliation for Trump is\u00a0axiomatic. What a\u00a0climbdown. From constantly playing a\u00a0role in\u00a0front of\u00a0the cameras as\u00a0the victor who is\u00a0in\u00a0control to\u00a0actually being on\u00a0the losing side which is\u00a0prepared to\u00a0do\u00a0almost anything to\u00a0get a\u00a0ceasefire. The recent military operation to\u00a0attempt to\u00a0seize uranium involving special forces and Hercules planes, which went horribly wrong when the mission failed and then the subsequent rescue mission also failed, was one final slap in\u00a0the face for Trump, who must have realised at\u00a0this point that all of\u00a0the military briefings that he\u00a0was given were bad and that most of\u00a0the people around him who are advising him have no\u00a0military experience at\u00a0all and are out of\u00a0their depth.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s actually worse than that.<\/p>\n

In\u00a0recent days, it\u00a0has transpired that what we\u00a0originally thought got Trump into the war in\u00a0the first place \u2013 an\u00a0out-of-control fixation to\u00a0bomb Iran no\u00a0matter what deal was offered, goaded by\u00a0Israel \u2013 was in\u00a0fact erroneous. There are credible reports now circulating that claim that Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff actually misunderstood what the Iranians had offered them when they were negotiating a\u00a0deal \u2013 a\u00a0deal which was much better than what was offered to\u00a0Obama and would have made Trump come out of\u00a0the negotiations a\u00a0winner. Many analysts at\u00a0the time were shocked that Trump\u2019s decision to\u00a0bomb Iran came about because, they thought at\u00a0the time, that Iran had made a\u00a0credible offer too soon and that the Trump team were not interested in\u00a0peace and so\u00a0were left in\u00a0an\u00a0awkward position, looking like fraudsters. In\u00a0reality, it\u00a0now seems, they simply didn\u2019t grasp what was being offered to\u00a0them, such is\u00a0their lack of\u00a0competence and their poor command of\u00a0the English language. The Iranians are all highly educated and speak English remarkably well, and yet it\u00a0would seem that the two sides were divided by\u00a0the nuances of\u00a0English. The two cronies that Trump sent were simply not bright enough to\u00a0really see the wood from the trees, and as\u00a0a\u00a0consequence the U.S. has lost the Straits of\u00a0Hormuz to\u00a0Iran now, the petrodollar is\u00a0on\u00a0the way out, a\u00a0new regime is\u00a0indeed in\u00a0place (but one which now favours a\u00a0nuclear deterrent), relations with GCC countries are irreparably damaged, and a\u00a0new powerful Iran has emerged from the ashes in\u00a0the region.<\/p>\n

Plain stupidity by\u00a0Trump and his unique style of\u00a0running the presidency using friends and sycophants as\u00a0advisers has got him to\u00a0a\u00a0place where even Sky News calls a\u00a0\u201cmassive strategic defeat\u201d for the U.S., as\u00a0now the ten-point plan not only calls for reparations but also includes the withdrawal of\u00a0all U.S. troops from the region and all sanctions to\u00a0be\u00a0lifted against Iran.<\/p>\n

For the U.S. to\u00a0lift sanctions, it\u00a0has to\u00a0be\u00a0backed by\u00a0Congress, which is\u00a0unlikely to\u00a0do\u00a0so, although there are some observers who say they might back it\u00a0just to\u00a0spite Trump. In\u00a0reality, it\u00a0will be\u00a0UN sanctions which will have to\u00a0go, but the real blow to\u00a0the U.S. is\u00a0that the petrodollar is\u00a0finished and that America\u2019s influence in\u00a0the region has been taken over by\u00a0Iran. Tehran is\u00a0the new regional power, all thanks to\u00a0the sensational stupidity of\u00a0Trump and his airhead cronies.<\/p>\n

But there\u2019s more stupidity to\u00a0come.<\/p>\n

Barely a few hours after the plan was accepted by Trump, it transpired that the Americans believed that the ceasefire doesn\u2019t cover Lebanon. J.D. Vance told journalists that this was probably down to a \u201cgenuine misunderstanding by the Iranians\u201d, despite it being clearly written in one of the points: \u201cend to all hostilities in the region\u201d.<\/p>\n

Ceasing hostilities against all resistance groups in\u00a0region<\/em><\/p>\n

And so\u00a0Lebanon, and what Netanyahu is\u00a0doing there \u2013 deliberately creating a\u00a0forever war there with Hezbollah so\u00a0he\u00a0can continue to\u00a0stay in\u00a0power and evade corruption charges \u2013 is\u00a0now the most important part, if\u00a0not the Achilles heel, of\u00a0the deal. What are we\u00a0to\u00a0make of\u00a0the explanation of\u00a0J.D. Vance? Is\u00a0it\u00a0a\u00a0ruse to\u00a0trick the Iranians, so\u00a0that Israel can be\u00a0rearmed? Is\u00a0all that Trump needs a\u00a0pause of\u00a0a\u00a0few weeks before he\u00a0believes he\u00a0can come back with an\u00a0even more hare-brained plan to\u00a0\u201cinvade\u201d Iran? It\u2019s unclear, although critical observers are beginning to\u00a0realise the level of\u00a0incompetence and rank ineptitude on\u00a0the American side and are starting to\u00a0use the \u201cidiot\u201d argument to\u00a0explain most of\u00a0these grey areas. As\u00a0was brilliantly summed up\u00a0by\u00a0a\u00a0former CIA director on\u00a0live TV, Trump was called \u201ca\u00a0pathological liar, corrupt and incompetent\u201d whose reliance on\u00a0sycophants who only tell him what he\u00a0wants to\u00a0hear got him into the mess he\u00a0is\u00a0in\u00a0today. Trump\u2019s blundering in\u00a0Iran has made Tehran richer and more powerful than it\u00a0ever was before and will leave it\u00a0still able to\u00a0process uranium. Trump played the escalation game all along with Iranians who were much smarter and always one step ahead, who ultimately turned the same game against him. Tiny Lebanon now takes centre stage.<\/p>\n

—<\/p>\n

Martin Jay is an award-winning British journalist based in Morocco where he is a correspondent for The Daily Mail (UK) who previously reported on the Arab Spring there for CNN, as well as Euronews. From 2012 to 2019 he was based in Beirut where he worked for a number of international media titles including BBC, Al Jazeera, RT, DW, as well as reporting on a freelance basis for the UK\u2019s Daily Mail, The Sunday Times plus TRT World.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The ceasefire brokered by Pakistan clearly stipulates: \u2018Ceasing hostilities against all resistance groups in region\u2019. Yet the Trump administration uttered hardly a word to reprimand Israel after its bloody strikes on Lebanon. Did the Epstein files account for Trump\u2019s silence? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":39262,"featured_media":299374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[61,58,37],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-325943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-Commentary","category-Current_Affairs","category-Israel_Anti-Semitism_Zionism_and_US-UK_allies"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/39262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=325943"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325943\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":325945,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/325943\/revisions\/325945"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/299374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=325943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=325943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=325943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}