With the Biden administration essentially pausing work on ceasefire negotiations to end the war in Gaza, Israel’s fresh assaults on Hezbollah in Lebanon this week are adding another layer of complication, making prospects for a near-term deal all the more difficult – if not impossible – at least while the bombs are falling.
In recent days, senior US officials had largely stopped making a vigorous push on the ceasefire negotiations, sources told CNN, having determined there is currently no political will on either side – Hamas or Israel’s – to end the conflict.
Even as President Joe Biden and top aides refuse to abandon the effort entirely, a senior Democrat close to the White House summed up the sentiment among some officials involved in those deliberations this way: “We can’t want this more than they want it.”
The US is keeping Iran out. If the US even suggests it won’t invade Iran in response, Iran would eliminate Israel within an hour of that statement being made. They proved they can defeat the iron dome, cheaply even.
Bombing campaigns are surprisingly ineffective at winning wars. Iran could possibly kill some people but it would be very far from winning that way. Not in an hour, not in a decade