At this point, there are very few people in Britain who think Donald Trump is acting in anyone’s interests besides his own. As such, the following post from Reform UK’s Nadhim Zahawi might be the most embarrassing thing he’s ever said:
Important thread below. Many suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome insist the President has no strategy on Iran. The analysis below suggests otherwise, his strategy is working and could force meaningful concessions from Tehran.
For decades, the Iranian regime has used… https://t.co/5CVvQoLPMN
— Nadhim Zahawi (@nadhimzahawi) August 22, 2026
Humiliation ritual
The full post from Zahawi reads:
Important thread below. Many suffering from Trump Derangement Syndrome insist the President has no strategy on Iran. The analysis below suggests otherwise, his strategy is working and could force meaningful concessions from Tehran.
For decades, the Iranian regime has used proxies to destabilise the region and turn sovereign nations into states beholden to Tehran. It has also relentlessly pursued the capability to build a nuclear weapon. That era may now be over.
The combination of [Donald Trump], [Marco Rubio], and [Scott Bessent] may go down as one of the most effective foreign-policy teams in modern American history. Previous administrations enabled Iran to wreak havoc across the Middle East, destroying countless lives and livelihoods.
You don’t need to be a military genius to see that the US and Israel’s war on Iran has been a disaster. Ways in which it’s been a disaster include:
- The completely unnecessary loss of life.
- Iran has held off the US with significantly less costly weapons, exposing the global defence industry for the racket it is.
- The US and their allies are running out of interceptor missiles that could leave them exposed.
- Iran has more leverage now than ever following its closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
- The war is incredibly unpopular with American voters.
- Trump’s constant flip-flopping on the ceasefire deal with Iran has made the US look clownish and untrustworthy (which it is).
- We’ve already experienced inflation as a result of the war with more set to come.
Only a buffoon could look at this situation and think there is a “strategy” at play.
Further humiliation
Zahawi was responding to a thread from researcher and analyst Hamidreza Azizi. We know that Zahawi didn’t actually understand what he was reading, because Azizi responded as follows:
Not necessarily. And that’s where the whole discussion about strategy becomes important, because a strategy has to take into account various possible futures, i.e., scenarios. People like Ghalibaf and Pezeshkian are those who were already in favor of a diplomatic solution. They were the ones engaged in the negotiations and the signing of the MOU, and they are still defending it. You don’t need more pressure to push them toward concessions.
The challenge is that the failure of the MOU has already strengthened the hand of the hardline core around Mojtaba Khamenei, who believe that no diplomatic agreement with Trump — or with the United States more broadly — can last. What they are pushing for within the system is greater escalation, especially given the upcoming midterm elections in the United States, so that Trump feels the pain and is forced either to withdraw or make further concessions.
One can reasonably question the logic and eventual success of such an approach, but this is the reality among a powerful faction within the Iranian establishment. So, differing views within the Iranian leadership should not be mistaken for a general tilt toward a diplomatic solution. The outcome could be exactly the opposite.
Reform — Sucking up
Trump’s war on Iran is incredibly unpopular with Britons; as is Trump himself. If Nadhim Zahawi thinks it’s in his best interests to suck up to the man and his disastrous war, we’re certainly not going to stop him. In fact, we’d encourage him to do so. We’d even say doing so makes him just as much of a strategic genius as Trump.
Featured image via Henry Nicholls / Andrew Harnik
By Willem Moore
From Canary via This RSS Feed.