During the final high-level diplomatic meeting in Geneva on January 9, 1991, James Baker famously warned Iraqi Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz that if Iraq did not withdraw from Kuwait, the U.S. would use "devastating" force that would effectively return Iraq to a "pre-industrial state".


The message was delivered and Iraq was destroyed.

Now, let's see if Iran has learned some lessons from its neighbour, Iraq.

Asked by Axios whether he worried he would be harming innocent Iranian civilians, Trump said he thinks civilians who oppose their government would support such strikes to weaken the regime. "They are living in fear. They are afraid we are gonna leave in the middle of the war, but we are not going to leave," Trump said.

In an 8-minute phone call, Trump told Axios his envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are holding intense negotiations with the Iranians.

Two sources involved in the negotiations said the talks are taking place through Pakistani, Egyptian and Turkish mediators, but also through text messages sent between Trump's advisers and Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi.


"The negotiations are going well, but you never get to the finish line with the Iranians," Trump said.
He claimed that several days ago the U.S. and Iran were close to an agreement to hold direct negotiations.


"But then they said they will meet us in five days. So I said, 'Why five days?' I felt they were not being serious. So I attacked the bridge," Trump said, referring to Wednesday's strike on a bridge that connects Tehran with northern Iran.

Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf responds to President Donald Trump:

"Your reckless moves are dragging the United States into a living HELL for every single family, and our whole region is going to burn because you insist on following Netanyahu’s commands.

Make no mistake: You won’t gain anything through war crimes.

The only real solution is respecting the rights of the Iranian people and ending this dangerous game."

TICK.. TOCK⌛

Massive explosions shook Sharjah, UAE.

Trump: “We sent some guns, but the group that was supposed to give them, which I said would happen to my people, I said it, I called it exactly. We sent guns, a lot of guns. They were supposed to go to the people so they could fight back against these thugs. You know what happened? The people that they sent them to kept them. Because they said, ‘what a beautiful gun, I think I’ll keep it.’ So I’m very upset with a certain group of people and they’re going to pay a big price for that.”

The Kurds are now in a big trouble.

Asked if he's winding down or escalating in Iran, Trump: "I don't know." Depends what they do, he said. "They have til tomorrow." Iran is negotiating, "we think in good faith, we'll find out," he said. If no deal, every bridge burned and every power plant exploding starting 8 pm. Will take four hours, til midnight, he said.
Iranian regime leaders for 47 years have been been "bullshitting other presidents," he said, sending notes back and forth "like children."
US has an idea to charge tolls to traverse Strait of Hormuz, he said.
Trump said the "mark on NATO" will never disappear for refusing help. NATO's "a paper tiger." South Korea, Japan, Australia didn't help. KSA, Qatar, UAE, Bahrain were "excellent."
Rutte is "coming to see me on Wednesday," Trump told the reporters.

AP:

The U.S. military has halted all offensive operations against Iran.

Despite the announcement of a ceasefire, the Israeli Air Force continues to carry out strikes in Iran.

Iran, meanwhile, has fire several salvos of ballistic missiles at Israel since the ceasefire was reportedly supposed to take effect.

White House says Trump threw Iran’s 10-point plan in the garbage.

„Man kann an vielen Orten zu Hause sein, aber man hat nur eine Heimat.”

– Mario Adorf