A corollary to “I grab ’em by the pussy and they let me do it because I’m a star…”
That’s how bullies always operate. On the schoolyard, the big bully shoves the smaller kid to the ground and takes his lunch money. If the kid tries to fight back the big kid gives himself permission to beat the shit out of him.
Like all bullies, Trump wants Iran to say, “Please stop! We’ll do anything you want! Just please don’t hurt me!” so he can rub it in and humiliate them, which is his ultimate joy in life. They are not going to do that. What they will do remains a mystery but they’ll do something. The smart move would be to inflict some economic harm rather than violence. Trump would have a much harder time dealing with that. But they’re weakened, unstable and pretty nuts. It could go either way.