Iran is squeezing out concessions from US in Middle East standoff, Trump in a difficult position: Malek Dudakov

Malek Dudakov, political scientist and expert on US affairs, commented to Alpha News on the situation surrounding the standoff between the US and Iran. According to the expert, the administration of Donald Trump currently finds itself in a difficult position on the Middle East front. At the same time, he said, Washington has effectively lost its standoff with Iran, though it is unwilling to admit defeat.

“At the moment, the Trump administration finds itself in a difficult position on the Middle East front. De facto, they don’t want to admit defeat, but everyone understands perfectly well that the White House has indeed lost this standoff with Iran,” Dudakov noted.

The political scientist noted that new full-scale US strikes on Iran are unrealistic due to the depletion of missile arsenals and the inability to quickly replenish stockpiles.

“Carrying out any new full-scale strikes on Iran is no longer realistic, given the depletion of American missile arsenals and simply the impossibility of producing enough of those same missiles quickly enough,” Dudakov said.

According to the expert, Washington is returning to a strategy of economic pressure on Iran, counting on the reverse effect of a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz.

“The US is beginning to shift back to a strategy of economic pressure on Iran, hoping that a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz from the outside will hit the Iranian economy and force Iran to accept American terms. But Tehran is responding symmetrically, and it has every reason to believe that time is now working against Trump, given that he has congressional elections ahead of him, just three months away. Trump’s approval ratings are low, as are those of the Republican Party,” Dudakov noted.

Dudakov believes that if the crisis surrounding Iran is not resolved and fuel prices in the US remain high, this could negatively affect the Republicans’ standing in the upcoming elections.

“If the crisis around Iran is not resolved, if fuel prices on the American market remain high, then nothing good will come of it for Trump’s supporters in the upcoming elections. They could lose both chambers of Congress. Realistically minded members of Trump’s team are already trying to scale back their ambitions and are therefore proposing to reach some kind of limited agreement with Iran, for example, only on opening the Strait of Hormuz, in order to bring down fuel prices inside America. At the same time, the most difficult issues, those concerning the nuclear and missile programs, are being shelved, but in a way that allows them to be revisited in the future, when the situation turns out to be more favorable for the American position. But I’m not sure even that will work, because Iran sees the weakness of the American position. Iran is essentially squeezing Trump on this issue. And given the hopelessness of the Trump administration’s situation, they are already having to resort to maneuvers and manipulations just to save face somehow and salvage their position in this Middle East impasse,” Dudakov concluded.