U.S. President Donald Trump has begun to realize that the war with Iran could drag on, and Washington may fail to achieve its goals, The Washington Post reports, citing White House sources.
"Trump is said to have recognized that a ground attack or other military escalation might lead the U.S. into a quagmire. It has dawned on the White House, as critics have been warning, that wars in the Middle East are easy to start but hard to stop," the report reads.
According to the report, Trump administration officials see three possible scenarios as the U.S. tightens its economic grip:
First, the regime could be overthrown, an outcome they think is more likely to occur once the bombing has stopped than before;
second, Ghalibaf or some other new leader could decide to cross what the Trump team has pitched as a “golden bridge” into a new future;
or, third, hard-liners in the IRGC could try to break the blockade or launch other strikes to force more U.S. concessions.
