Trump: Converting Iran from a negotiating tortoise to a negotiating hare

American Thinker 

A major shortcoming in America today is a general lack of appreciation for its history. It is a gap in knowledge suffered not only by young students but by many of our politicians as well. Most recently, this was evidenced by a naive Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), infamously known as “AOC,” who claimed our American Revolution was fought against the billionaires of that time. Ironically, it was a millionaire of that day—British-born American merchant and patriot Robert Morris—who helped finance the war on behalf of the colonists.

This lack of knowledge includes not only the history leading to the American Revolution 250 years ago but to our more recent history as well. Fortunately, however, in negotiating an end to the war with Iran, kudos must be given to the administration of President Doanld Trump for taking the history of our past negotiations with Tehran into account.

As far as international agreements are concerned, the mullahs would be hard-pressed to identify one with which they have complied since coming to power in 1979; this includes the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) negotiated with Iran by President Barack Obama. The mullahs drew out those talks to milk them for all they could, reflected by the fact they took two years to conclude.

The JCPOA was finally reached and signed in July 2015. It resulted in the U.S. releasing at least $50 billion in Iranian funds that had been frozen. It is not difficult to imagine where a large portion of these funds ultimately was invested.

Ironically, Iran has demonstrated not only that it will violate international agreements, but its own domestic laws as it acted contrary to a fatwa (Islamic ruling) against its development of nuclear weapons supposedly issued by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in the mid-1990s.

Other measures had been initiated previously by the West to disrupt Iran’s nuclear weapons program, including cyberattacks (such as Stuxnet), and economic sanctions. While they delayed Iranian progress, they failed to end its effort to build a nuclear arsenal. Obama claimed a diplomatic solution would be the only way to stop it. In reaching the agreement, he assured us JCPOA would limit Tehran’s technology solely to peaceful purposes.

Interestingly, only after the agreement was reached was it discovered Obama had failed to reveal the secret side deals he made to accommodate Iran’s demands. Outrageously, one of these included allowing Tehran to inspect itself to verify compliance, providing its own soil samples for testing.

Because JCPOA did not do what Obama said it did and because Tehran was exceeding its uranium enrichment levels in violation of the agreement, Trump withdrew from it in 2018. He reimposed the “highest level of economic sanction(s)” and vowed to impose sanctions on “any nation that helps Iran in its quest for nuclear weapons.” He added, “The Iran deal is defective at its core. If we do nothing, we know exactly what will happen.”

It was such knowledge that motivated Trump to recognize the only option in getting Iran to surrender its nuclear arms program was the military one. Such action has, once again, brought Iran to the negotiating table. However, now that the mullahs have suffered a devastating and humiliating military defeat, Trump will not allow them to draw out the discussions as they did with the JCPOA talks. His guidelines for a peace agreement seek to force Iran’s conversion from its usual tortoise-paced talks to the faster pace of the hare.

As U.S. and Iranian diplomats negotiate for a peace agreement, Trump has already demonstrated just talking will not dissuade him from continuing to strike military targets in the country. In reaching an agreement, he has placedlimits on the mullahs ability to manipulate negotiations by imposing his own goals and timeline.

First, Trump demands Iran must open the Strait of Hormuz, providing the world economy with some breathing room. Second, it must simultaneously agree in writing to surrender its uranium stockpile. The two sides will then have thirty days to hammer out a process for doing this. Accordingly, Iran will not be left with a limitless timeframe to draw out negotiations to secretly undertake efforts to improve its situation on the ground. Trump has already communicated this mindset to Tehran as U.S. attacks against it have continued as it continues to stall.

It is imperative every measure be taken in the current negotiations to absolutely ensure Iran’s nuclear arms program is totally derailed and prevented from ever getting back on track. The reason is that under its theocratic leadership, the country has used every trick in the book to hide its nuclear progress. Our failure to guarantee its end now will only cause the mullahs to seek other avenues for achieving their goal. Such will always be the goal of a theocratic extremist Iranian regime. And, should it successfully achieve that goal, we should recognize that the regime will demonstrate its success by using such a weapon.

Like the Aesop fable of “The Tortoise and the Hare,” the mullahs have long embraced a slow pace in negotiating resolutions to buy themselves time, going slow and steady to win the race. A successful conclusion to the war by Trump forces them into the position of hare, sprinting toward an inevitable loss.