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Source: https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/22268/iran-strategy
Iran's Strategy
(Gatestone Institute) Dr. Majid Rafizadeh - Iranian leaders delight at the prospect of continuing negotiations. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's tone has been deliberately reassuring, projecting confidence and a sense that diplomacy is moving in the perfect direction. From the Iranian regime's perspective, any talks are preferable to sanctions, sustained military pressure, and the threat of escalation. Iranian leaders know that the Trump administration is willing to use force, impose maximum pressure, and act unilaterally if it believes diplomacy is being abused or exhausted. Faced with this reality, Tehran has every incentive to appear cooperative, compliant, and eager to continue discussions, even if it has no intention of making the slightest concession. Iran's strategy is clear. The regime sees negotiations as a tool for delay. Every additional round of talks, every agreement to meet again, every statement about "progress" or "positive momentum" buys the regime more breathing space. If Iran can drag negotiations across months and years, it no doubt hopes to reach a moment when U.S. pressure weakens, priorities shift, or its leadership changes. Iran is the same Islamic Republic that has been negotiating with foreign powers for more than four decades. Iran's regime has mastered the art of procedural diplomacy: how to slow talks without collapsing them, how to offer symbolic concessions while protecting core interests, and how to appear reasonable while remaining fundamentally intransigent.