Ending the war immediately and reopening the Strait is the best case scenario. But, as far as I can tell—and I don’t really know since the Admin won’t release the text of this “deal,” here is what my congressman is defending:
-Iran now knows it can control the Strait of Hormuz at any time and cripple the global economy.
-The Trump Admin achieved none of its core objectives: Iran still possesses its highly enriched uranium, most of its ballistic missile and drone arsenal, and will almost certainly continue to support proxy groups.
-The U.S./Israel regime change strikes killed thousands of innocent Iranian civilians AND Iran now has a younger, more hard-line Supreme Leader and a more powerful IRGC solidly in power.
-If the reports about the unfreezing of assets/sanctions relief/reconstruction fund are true, Iran will have access to WAY more money than it ever got from the JCPOA and most of it FROM the United States.
-Trump could have strengthened a JCPOA-like deal through negotiations but he didn’t try and his negotiating team was too JV to understand the stakes.
-America did an astronomical damage to its standing in the world and material harm to poor and developing economies all over the world, which are facing fuel crises and famine for the next several months as a direct result of the war.
-We still don’t know the full damage to U.S. military bases in the Middle East because the Pentagon is covering them up, but safe estimates put this at ~$100B in direct costs, including literally years worth of strategic munition stockpiles evaporated.
All of this while the hardworking folks of the Treasure Coast and Northern Palm Beaches are gripped by a cost of living crisis, are being stripped of their healthcare, and their clean water crisis persists.
Rep. Brian Mast: "Ok, maybe they do end up getting $20 billion, let's say. Let's say we're still $300 to $500 billion ahead considering we destroyed their navy, destroyed their air force ... "
(So American taxpayers paid both to bomb Iran and then for Iran's reconstruction ... )