Iran responded to the White House this week with a list of conditions for restarting negotiations. President Trump pushed back, posting: “I have just read the response from Iran’s so-called ‘Representatives.’ I don’t like it — TOTALLY UNACCEPTABLE!”
The response included five conditions: ending the war across the region, lifting sanctions, releasing frozen Iranian assets, compensation for war damages, and recognizing Iran’s sovereignty over the Strait of Hormuz.
One thing was noticeably absent: nuclear concessions. Tehran has made it clear that the nuclear issue won’t even be discussed until the war itself is settled.
Iran isn’t about to give up its right to nuclear enrichment. Qatar’s former prime minister may have summed up Iran’s reasoning best when he recalled an Iranian official telling him: “Ukraine handed over its nuclear weapons, and look what happened to it.”
Iran looks around and sees nearby nuclear-armed countries (Israel, Pakistan, India), yet somehow it’s the only one expected to hand over its leverage and rely on international promises instead.
With Trump’s rejection of Iran’s core demands, we’re once again back at square one. And while this keeps the obvious geopolitical problems ongoing, there’s an issue on the administration’s side: the War Powers Resolution clock has been ticking.
In an attempt to reset the clock, this may be what prompted the Pentagon to consider renaming “Operation Epic Fury” to “Operation Sledgehammer.”
In the end, it may not have been needed because on Wednesday, the Senate failed to pass the Iran War Powers Resolution.
So we continue on…
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