While Trump foolishly tries to make a "deal" with Islamic clerics, the clerics arm loyalist Muslims and teach them how to use arms. This is part of the consequences of giving them all this fuckin wasted time. They're not wasting it, we are.
The goal should NOT be a "deal." The goal should be regime change and removing islamist influence from the country completely.
The Kruds fucked everybody. Probably at the encouragement of the deep staters in the CIA.We cannot force a regime change unless we send in ground troops and that is the line Trump will not cross. The US military is not weak. Our leaders are weak. Our people are weak. and of course politics trumps everything else.
We bombed Iraq for 100 days until we ran out of high value targets. But we could not change the government until we went in with troops and hunted down Saddam. It is no different in Iran. The plan to liberate Kuwait was the right one. Overwhelming force from air, ground and sea. Our allies will never support us again in a war like that.