Name one time sanctions have worked. And relaly by worked I mean caused a regime to collapse or otherwise change. I can think of one: South Africa. And they were an ally not an enemy so they don't count. Sanctions against allies work great. Israel would collapse in a day if the US seriously floated sanctions.

USSR? Sanctions werne't the primary cause.

North Korea? The Kims have ruled for 60 years with no end in sight. So really we're just starving North Koreans for literally no reason. How has that "worked"?

Russia? That's funny. Russia has been weeks away from collapse for 3+ years now. It's not happening. Russia is going to sit on the Ukrainian territory they have until the West gets bored and the West will get bored. It's a war of attrition and Ukraine will run out of fighting men first. This was my prediction in 2023 after the last serious Ukrainina counteroffensive failed. The Iran situation makes this even more likely because Europe will need Russia's energy exports and that situation is only getting worse.

Iran's leadership? Whatever Iranians think of their leadership, they despise the US and Israel more. As always happens, factions unite against foreign invaders, particularly colonizers. Iranians remember well what the US has done to them.

There are actually two schools of thought on Iran:

1. they should've developed a nuke so they'd be left alone like North Korea. The Ayatollah who got assassinated actually had a fatwa against doing it. Many view this as a strategic error. Many think the region would actually be much more stable if Iran had a nuke because it would restrain Israel's child murder regime [1]; or

2. Closing the Strait is like a nuke but it's a nuke they can use. As such they don't need a nuke.

As for the pain, the US is torching the international order they've spent 70 years building at a rapid pace. NATO, the Island Chain Strategy for China, Taiwan, even the status of the US dollar as a reserve currency are all unravelling. The big winner here is China who simply has to... do nothing.

As for Trump, Israel and Iran, you kind of contradict yourself here. You say Bibi whispered in his ear. This is true and has been true for every president since at least Reagan. Only Trump was dumb enough to take the bait. I'd also love to know when you think Trump has ever restrained Israel. You might be tempted to argue the Gaza "ceasefire" but it wasn't really. The Gazans are still being bombed and starved, just not quite so much. Is that restraint? Not really. They've just moved their bloodlust to Lebanon with zero consequences.

As for the rumors about what Trump was about to do, yeah that's all bullshit. It's just market manipulation for personal profit and to desperately try to keep oil below $100/barrel.

I will agree DJT wants out of this situation. And he also thought he could do a decapitation strike like in Venezuela. And he could end it today but doing so requires breaking with Israel and he just won't do it. Not yet at least.

And yes, time is on Iran's side. I imagine much like North Korea, if this went on for 60 years there'd still be people insisting that Iran was weeks away from collapsing.

[1]: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/nuclear-armed-iran-would-b...