Iran Cries "Uncle"?

Asks President Trump For An Immediate Ceasefire

Iran may have decided that further exchanges with Israel were not worth it.

Between repeated aerial assaults and some behind the scenes cajoling by various Gulf state leaders, Tehran appears to have decided that it has had enough war for now.

Gulf leaders and their top diplomats worked the phones all weekend, speaking to each other, to Tehran, Washington and beyond in an effort to avoid a widening of the conflict as longstanding enemies Israel and Iran intensified their attacks in their biggest ever confrontation.

Iran is willing to be flexible in the nuclear talks if a ceasefire is reached, one of the Iranian sources said.

The war has quite clearly not gone well for Iran, with increasing amounts of civilian infrastructure getting hit during Israeli attack waves. Video from this morning shows the headquarters building for the Iranian state news agency on fire after the most recent Israeli assault.

This reiterated my assessment from last night, that Iran is, at this juncture, completely defenseless.

Iran-Israeli War: Who Will Win?

Operation Rising Lion has driven home for Iran one very grim reality: the country cannot protect itself from aerial assault.

Israel has been able to launch daylight bombing raids on Iran with impunity, a reality that is sure to sow at least as much chaos as the the bombing raids themselves.

If President Trump is able to secure a ceasefire agreement, his peacemaking credentials will be greatly enhanced. That could pay dividends in other conflicts such as Ukraine.

If Iran is serious about being willing to actually negotiate on ending its nuclear weapons program, a major source of Middle East instability could be permanently removed.

For its part, Israel stands to reap the geopolitical benefits of having gone toe to toe with Iran and largely prevailed. Iran show of weakness becomes a most daunting show of Israeli strength.

Will there be a ceasefire? I, for one, certainly hope so!