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Iran at the table: Smiling, stalling, surviving

1 min Antoine Khoury

US-Iran indirect negotiations resumed Thursday in Geneva for a third round, described by Tehran as "intense and serious." 

Tehran's playbook is well known © Mena Today 

Tehran's playbook is well known © Mena Today 

US-Iran indirect negotiations resumed Thursday in Geneva for a third round, described by Tehran as "intense and serious." 

A senior Iranian official, speaking anonymously, suggested a framework deal could be within reach , provided Washington agrees to separate nuclear issues from other matters.

A signal Washington would be wise not to take at face value.

The Iranian Trap

Tehran's playbook is well known: isolate the nuclear file to better preserve its other instruments of power, ballistic missiles, proxy networks, regional destabilization. Accepting this separation would amount to offering Iran a partial sanctions exit without demanding any meaningful change in behavior.

That is precisely the trap Washington must avoid.

The United States must hold firm around three non-negotiable, interconnected demands: a complete halt to its military nuclear program, an end to ballistic missile development that threatens the entire Middle East, and a full severance of financial and military support to its proxies :  Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis.

These three pillars are inseparable. There can be no horse-trading, no isolated concessions. Iran must accept a comprehensive peace package, or face the consequences.

Should diplomacy fail, the military option stays on the table. Washington's massive military deployment in the Gulf is no coincidence. It is a message.

Tehran must choose: the negotiating table or maximum pressure. It cannot have both.

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Antoine Khoury

Antoine Khoury

Antoine Khoury is based in Beirut and has been reporting for Mena Today for the past year. He covers news from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey, and is widely regarded as one of the region’s leading experts

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