Trump more and more resembles the Sorcerer’s Apprentice, from Fantasia, where Mickey Mouse starts something that he can’t control.

During negotiations, Trump and Netanyahu cast the spell of death and destruction with their cowardly assassination of Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and savage bombing attacks, culminating in a strike on a school, killing 170 children.

Indeed, Trump set in motion the machinery of death and destruction without a way in which to stop it, although he is trying. “I THINK THE (IRAN) WAR IS VERY COMPLETE, PRETTY MUCH”, CBS reported, citing an interview.

But Trump doesn’t get to decide when the war ends, and neither does Israel. Iran has been preparing for this conflict for decades and they will have a say. Here’s how a senior Iranian political official responded: “Trump is seeking, through intermediaries, to connect with us and Washington to end the war, but at the same time, he claims the opposite. Trump states in interviews with American media that there is no specific timeline for ending the war, which contradicts the messages he is sending to us.”

Since WWII, the US has attacked and destroyed scores of Third World countries who have antiquated weapons and poorly trained militaries. The US is accustomed to being so much stronger that they can negotiate a meaningless treaty, or they can simply leave.

Not this time.

As Iran continues to pummel US bases in the Gulf States and continue to rain down ballistic missiles on Israel, they will be the ones who will set the terms. And Iran could reshape the Middle-East and torpedo the petrodollar system, claims heterodox economist, Michael Hudson.

“Iran has announced that it will fight until it achieves three aims to prevent future wars. First and foremost, the United States must withdraw from al its military bases in the Middle East. Iran already has destroyed the backbone of radar warning systems and anti-aircraft and missile defense sites in Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain, preventing them from guiding U.S. or Israeli missile attacks or attacking Iran. Arab countries have bases or U.S. installations will be bombed if they are not abandoned.

The next two Iranian demands seem to far-reaching that they seem unthinkable to the West. Arab OPEC countries must end their close economic ties to the United States, starting with the U.S. data centers operated by Amazon, Microsoft and Google. And they not only must stop pricing their oil and gas in U.S. dollars, but disinvest in their existing petrodollars holdings of the U.S. investments that have been subsidizing the U.S. balance of payments since the 1974 agreements that made to gain U.S. permission to quadruple their oil-export prices.

These three demands would end U.S. economic power over OPEC countries, and thus the world oil trade. The result would be to dedollarize the world’s oil trade and re-orient it toward Asia and Global Majority countries. And Iran’s plan involves not only a military and economic defeat for the United States, but an end to the political character of the Near Eastern client monarchies and their relations with their Shi’ite citizens.”

Crazy, huh?

I’m positive that Trump didn’t see this scenario coming. I mean, the number of shocking tactical errors by Trump and his team of morons are piling up and are having an impact. The failure to see that killing Khamenei, who has now been replaced by his son, a hard liner who has always wanted Iran to have a nuclear deterrent, was a major act of stupidity. 

The war against Iran is far from over. Trump is increasingly unhinged and the water is rising fast.

Update: Geopolitical analyst Pepe Escobar lays out the new realities.

“For all practical purposes, the Strait of Hormuz is blocked because of panicky Western insurance withdrawal. Not because Tehran blocked it.

China receives 90% of total Iran crude oil exports; that represents 12% of total Chinese imports. The key point is that China still has access to Iranian exports as well as Saudi, Emirati, Kuwaiti, Qatari and Iraqi exports: that’s because the strategic partnership Tehran-Beijing is iron-clad, meaning that Chinese-bound tankers can cross the Strait of Hormuz back and forth.

Beijing-Tehran negotiated a bilateral safe passage, operational since last Friday, in what for all practical purposes is a multilaterally-closed crucial maritime corridor. It’s no wonder that more and more tankers are now texting on their transponders the magic words Chinese Owned (italics mine). That’s their naval diplomatic passport.”