Trump wants Iran to surrender and become rich

Donald Trump is offering Iran a future of prosperity and wealth, provided the mullahs and ayatollahs drop out of the scene and hand over the government to a nice, peace-loving, western-orientated, democracy enthusiast who will transform the country's prospects. It is as they say, a big ask. Trump will want a hand in the choice of new leader. Another big ask. It all seems unreal except that the US president genuinely believes that you can bomb a country into democracy. I expect a large percentage of the Iranian population, especially the younger generation, would be very happy to have their country back and live a life that is closer to western democracy than Islamic autocracy. But to get there, the clerics who now the country with the backing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps will have other ideas. They have made it clear they are not going to surrrender to Trump's wishes, let alone consider total capitulation, as he has been demanding. If that remains the case, then it means poor Iran and the poor Iranian people who just want peace will face more and more bombing and more and more destruction. Peace is, unhappily, a long way off, thanks to the extreme clerics who run the show.