Donald Trump’s decision to extend the ceasefire with Iran created some frustration among those who support the war. Iran has never been a reliable negotiating partner, so why keep offering more chances for a deal?

Trump would likely take a deal if he could verify compliance, especially one that transfers the “nuclear dust.” However, Trump understands that air strikes are less likely to produce his real objective in the war—regime change—than the blockade of Iran. 

The Iranian regime spent 47 years attempting to immanentize their peculiar, apocalyptic eschaton. The mullahs pursued nuclear weapons to start an apocalypse that would produce the messianic Twelfth Imam and spread their tyranny across the globe. Trump is now trying to immanentize the regime’s eschaton by forcing the cracks between its factions to produce a collapse.

The blockade may well provide the best catalyst for regime change, which is the only real guarantee for security and peace in the region. Trump can afford to wait out the IRGC and let economic strangulation take its course.