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On Saturday morning, President Donald Trump gave the surviving rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran another ultimatum: “Remember when I gave Iran ten days to MAKE A DEAL or OPEN UP THE HORMUZ STRAIT. Time is running out – 48 hours before all Hell will reign down on them. Glory be to GOD! President DONALD J. TRUMP.”’This follows the president’s announcement on March 26:
“As per Iranian Government request, please let this statement serve to represent that I am pausing the period of Energy Plant destruction by 10 Days to Monday, April 6, 2026, at 8 P.M., Eastern Time. Talks are ongoing and, despite erroneous statements to the contrary by the Fake News Media, and others, they are going very well. Thank you for your attention to this matter!
President DONALD J. TRUMP.”Just a few hours after he issued the Saturday morning ultimatum, however, Trump wrote: “Many of Iran’s Military Leaders, who have led them poorly and unwisely, are terminated, along with much else, with this massive strike in Tehran! President DONALD J. TRUMP.” It was unclear whether this meant that the 48-hour ultimatum was still in place or not, but the “massive strike” certainly removed any lingering doubt that Trump was in earnest.
Trump was in earnest. And so what will the rulers of the Islamic Republic do now? A great deal is riding on whether the rulers of Iran, whoever exactly they may be in the continued absence of the putative new supreme leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, decide to acquiesce to a deal with Trump. An agreement, any kind of agreement, between the mullahs and/or the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and the United States will not only end the present conflict. It will also ensure, at least for the immediate future, that the Islamic Republic will survive.
As much as its own people detest it, and as inhuman as it is toward them, the Islamic regime in Tehran has all the guns. The Iranian people, on the other hand, have neither weapons nor a leader, for anyone within Iran who dares to stand publicly against the regime is taking a tremendous risk, and anyone who looks as if he could emerge as the leader of a resistance movement is swiftly imprisoned and often killed.
Then there is the question of whether there is any real possibility that the Islamic Republic’s top dogs would honor the terms of an agreement with the United States even for a brief period. As The Complete Infidel’s Guide to Iran explains, the Islamic concept of taqiyya, lying to deceive one’s enemies, is a particularly Shi’ite concept, and the Islamic Republic of Iran is a Shi’ite nation, although a startling 2020 survey showed that a majority of Iranians are so disgusted with Islam itself after 47 years of the Islamic Republic that they don’t consider themselves Muslim anymore.
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