@ruminations
Donroe Doctrine strategy up ~22% since here, as protests in Iran continue, primarily driven by reports that Israel and Iran both suspect each other of planning a strike (Israel thinks Iran might strike Israel as a distraction, Iran thinks Israel might capitalize on the regime's vulnerability), as well as a large Yes buy from a fresh Polymarket while speculated to be an insider.
Some interesting things going on with Quotient are delaying the more detailed write-up I planned, so it will likely take a different form.
One thing I will say is that the current President, Pezeshekian, was a proponent of the JCPOA.
He was a contributor to a report by the Iranian parliament evaluating the deal, before being booted out for taking too positive of a view of the deal's benefits.
Hardliners argued that the deal was not binding, that the U.S. would maintain the legal structure for re-implementing sanctions, and that U.S. assurances that the political costs of reneging on the agreement would ensure that future administrations did not renege on it.
They were right about everything, and now, Pezeshkian, who the regime is putting out as a friendly face to placate the protestors, is saying that he is "out of ideas" about what to do with the economy, or the U.S.
The regime has three options:
- Give up everything; nuclear program, ballistic missiles, support for proxies, ruled directly or indirectly by Mr. Rubio
- Attempt to re-establish deterrence
- Make a deal to buy time that they know the U.S. and Israel will not abide by
Hegseth loves to talk about lethality, and how ready for war the U.S. after 25 years of GWOT, but the formative experience for the people leading the regime was the Iran / Iraq War, in which Iran overcame worse odds, chemical weapons, and persevered in confrontation with the U.S. and Iraq.
I hope there's not large scale conflict, but unless Iran can find a way to grow it's economy without integration into the global financial system (now without Venezuela, a critical lifeline, and soon likely without Russia, another key lifeline), it's difficult to see how there is not some level of kinetic conflict between Iran/Israel/the U.S. in the next three months.