No deal Don Quixote!

No deal Don Quixote!

Iran’s semi-official Tasnim news agency said “excessive” U.S. demands had hindered reaching a deal. Not surprisingly, the US wanted the Strait to be opened and for Iran to give up its enriched uranium. Iran said no and Trump blasted:

“Effective immediately, the United States Navy, the Finest in the World, will begin the process of BLOCKADING any and all Ships trying to enter, or leave, the Strait of Hormuz.”

“I have also instructed our Navy to seek and interdict every vessel in International Waters that has paid a toll to Iran. No one who pays an illegal toll will have safe passage on the high seas.”

“Any Iranian who fires at us, or at peaceful vessels, will be BLOWN TO HELL!”

I thought the strait was already blockaded. So this is a double blockade? It seems that the Iranians let two vessels through that paid fees in Chinese yuan. Seems like the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps “imposed a de facto ‘toll booth’ regime in the Strait of Hormuz, requiring vessels to submit full documentation, obtain clearance codes and accept IRGC-escorted passage through a single controlled corridor.” Iran has said it wants to impose a toll on all ships passing through the strait under a long-term peace deal.

The president said no deal and our own blockade “will begin shortly. He said Iran “will not be allowed to profit off this Illegal Act of EXTORTION.” But I thought once Trump said that extortion was okay so long as he got a cut?

“They want money and, more importantly, they want Nuclear,” he said. “Additionally and, at an appropriate moment, we are fully ‘LOCKED AND LOADED,’ and our Military will finish up the little that is left of Iran!” The Iranians called that threat “stupid”.

BTW, the New York Times says that Iran would consider a US blockade of the Strait an act of war. Really? Then what does it consider what has been going on the past four weeks?

What is confusing is that the navy’s idea of a blockade doesn’t seem to align with the president’s. Trump said the blockade would target all ships trying to enter or leave the strait while US Central Command is saying that they would only target ships going to or from Iranian ports. CENTCOM is also saying that international vessels would have freedom of navigation to transit the strait. I am waiting to see what China will do – other than send weapons to Iran – since it is Iran’s largest trading partner and dependent upon its oil.

What has gone practically unnoticed in all this have been the humorous tweets by Iranian embassies mocking the president. Here is what some of them said regarding his profanity laden tweet on Easter demanding that Iran open the strait. 

The embassy in Zimbabwe said on X: “We’ve lost the keys.” 

The embassy in South Africa in South Africa said “Shh… the key’s under the flowerpot. Just open for friends.” 

The embassy in Bulgaria responded “Doors open for friends. Epstein’s friends need keys.”

In London, the Iranian embassy posted a Persian poem by Rumi about the dangers of placing a sword in the hands of a madman, accompanied by quote attributed to Mark Twain: “It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”

تیغ دادن دَر کَفِ زَنگیِ مَست بِهْ که آیَد عِلم، ناکَس را به دَست عِلم و مال و مَنصَب و جاه و قِران فِتنه آمَد دَر کَفِ بَدگوهَران مولانا مثنوی معنوی

The embassy in India tweeted “Swearing and throwing insults are how sore loser brats behave. Get a grip on yourself, old man!”

The Iranian embassy in Austria placed an “18+” graphic over a screenshot of Trump saying “POTUS has stooped to an unprecedented level of begging, laced with bitter, hollow rudeness and threats,” and the embassy issued a “further warning: shield all minors under 18 from exposure to Trump’s rhetoric.”

The embassy in South Africa also said “Humanity must know what kind of creatures are leading the American people” and urged US officials to “seriously think about the 25th amendment, Section 4”, referencing the US constitutional provision for removing a sitting president deemed unfit for office. 

Lastly, In Moscow, the Iranian embassy shared a Russian illustration showing Trump as Don Quixote charging at a windmill on a horse, with a sidekick shouting, “Boss, it’s just a windmill!”

Проблемы, которые выдумки Нетаньяху принесли Трампу и его перемещенному слуге Дон Кихот и Санчо Панса, нападающие на ветряную мельницу