Quote · The Rest Is Politics: US
196. Trump’s Iran Deal: One Big American Failure?
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Scaramucci Steelmans — Then Dismantles — the White House Position
At 11:46 · chapter starts 10:00
Scaramucci insists on fairness and presents the White House's strongest argument: the Strait reopens, oil prices have already responded, and the $300–$400 billion in frozen Iranian assets create mutual incentive for a final deal [1] — Anthony Scaramucci "Scaramucci steelmans the White House position: the strait reopens, oil prices fall, and $300–$400 billion in frozen Iranian assets give bot…" 07:34 . The administration will claim the ongoing nuclear talks are the holy grail and that they still plan to achieve Iranian denuclearisation — at a price. But Scaramucci can't sustain the steelman for long. He estimates the war cost a couple of hundred billion dollars directly and around $700 billion in global economic disruption, all while leaving America's Gulf-state alliances destabilised and China — and possibly Russia — meaningfully stronger. The central question he poses: has the United States just reduced itself to a Western hemispheric power?
America bombed Iran but left nuclear-armed North Korea untouched. Every country watching — South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia — just learned the same lesson: the only guarantee against American military action is a nuclear weapon of your own.
Countries like South Korea, Japan, and Saudi Arabia may now conclude they need their own nuclear deterrent, since North Korea (which has nukes) was not attacked while Iran (which didn't) was.
Scaramucci estimated the Iran war caused roughly a couple hundred billion dollars in direct costs and a $700 billion disruption to the global economy.
