Welcome back friends! Yesterday we began with a glimmer of hope. Indeed, there is hope for the Iranian people, but dealing with the Iranian regime is a whole different story!

I’ve been troubled by what appears to be a lack of understanding of the Iranian regime by the American administration. Sure, President Trump doesn’t do things like most presidents, but if his #1 envoy (non-cabinet member), Steve Witkoff, is any indication, it certainly seems like the administration is missing the mark with Iran. While willing to give some space to President Trump because of his ability to get things done, that space is evaporating and doubts are raised as to exactly what he realizes regarding the Iranian regime.

I don’t need to reinvent the wheel. A recent post by Delvin Alirezza on X (and reposted on Amir Tsarfati’s Telegram) hit the nail on the head. Here is Steve Witkoff’s statement in an interview with Lara Trump:

The president is curious as to why – I don’t want to use the word capitulated, but why they [Iranian regime] haven’t capitulated. Why under this pressure with the amount of naval power over there, why they haven’t come to us and said we profess we don’t want a weapon…

Here is how Delvin Alireza responded on X:

The answer to Witkoff's question is simple: Trump and his team fundamentally misunderstand who they're dealing with.

This is not a government that represents its people or its nation. The regime ruling Iran is a band of radical Islamist ideologues who have no genuine attachment to Iran as a country - they merely occupy it. Iran is their vehicle, not their homeland. Their loyalty is to an apocalyptic ideology, not to Persian civilization, not to Iranian people, not to Iranian soil or its vast natural resources.

They don't "capitulate" under pressure because nation-states capitulate - they calculate costs, weigh national interest, protect their people. These men do none of that. They have slaughtered their own citizens by the thousands, plundered the country's wealth, and sacrificed generation after generation on the altar of an ideology that was imported into Iran, not born from it.

Asking why they haven't come forward to say "we don't want a weapon" misses the entire point. A weapon - or the threat of one - is the only thing keeping this stateless theocracy in power. It is their leverage over the world and over their own population.

You cannot negotiate with a group that views the destruction of Iran itself as an acceptable price for ideological survival. Until Washington grasps that distinction - between the Iranian state and the occupying force running it - every diplomatic effort will hit the same wall. 

Amen to that! We’ve said for years (since Obama’s JCPOA negotiations) that you cannot negotiate a political solution to a religious belief system. It’s like mixing oil and water. Beyond that, you cannot successfully negotiate with a regime who openly, blatantly, and repeatedly states they want you dead! Not to mention Iran has consistently broken previous such treaties and agreements in very short order. They notoriously say one thing and do another. Why would they do anything differently now?

I agree: it is nonsense to negotiate with Iran. The point is not whether or not the US should bomb Iran. The point is STOP playing their game! They will “negotiate” until they wear down their adversary and the adversary gives in for the sake of a deal…just like Obama did.

Message to the administration: Iran smells weakness. Read the room! (It also wouldn’t hurt to understand Bible prophecy!)