Originally Posted by
Ninthace
What I was suggesting is that you put yourself in the position of the Iranian government.
I can and did. The Ayatollah, unlike you, has smarts. He is an experienced political leader. He knows not to make empty threats, and not to make threats he can't carry out, so him threatening to flatten Washington serves him
not at all. The threat that he did make (in response to Mr. Trump's threat) was (intelligently) quite vague, and he can fulfill it
in a variety of ways locally since there are plenty of Americans in the area, as well as American allies. He can pick and choose how he wants to respond, and he'll do so with his home audience, and perhaps others, in his calculations on what that response is.
Since you seem to have missed it the first time, and why I don't have to imagine anything, this is his counter threat:
In a statement on Monday, Khamenei stated, "If they commit any mischief, they will surely receive a strong reciprocal blow."
Well phrased, and within his capacity to carry out credibly.
For him to threaten to flatten Washington, as not-so-clever-you suggested, is risible.
You are free to go back to your fairy tales, and your pearl clutching. You have let DJ Trump get inside your head, rent free. (That's on you).
I don't do that. I'll tell you why.
His most consistent character trait, in politics, for the last ten years (since he began his run in the GOP primaries in 2015) is bombast and hyperbole.
I am pretty sure that the Ayatollah recognizes the same traits that I do, and also appreciates that Mr. Trump has a consistently displayed a negative attitude about Iran and its political leadership. That the Ayatollah chooses to retain the "no direct talks" position (which has been consistent for any number of years regardless of who our President is) is well within his discretion to do.
It's an explicitly hostile attitude to take when the offers of direct communications are made (and they have been over the years) but the Iranian leadership have their own reasons that they are satisfied with so far.