DC Edit | US Must Get Iran To Table To Strike Peace Deal

This is a war that US President Donald Trump started on the orders of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and which he can end completely on his own. Mr. Trump needs the Iranians to come back to the table to achieve any deal that could stop the war altogether and find a way out of the biggest energy crisis to grip the world.

It was the mixed messages in Mr. Trump’s megaphonic announcements to the media or his public comments on Truth Social that prevented the resumption of talks that collapsed in Islamabad last week. As the prospect of a restart loomed, with Iran willing to return to the table, Mr Trump put in the shovel and, as a result, a cloud hung over the resumption of peace talks.

Given the Iranians’ deep distrust of Americans, war-like moves such as an economic blockade and the seizure of an Iranian ship, no matter how questionable its record, were akin to pouring oil into troubled waters. While the United States desperately needs relief from oil prices that have more than doubled to $4 a gallon, the attitude towards negotiations has reversed, with Iran no longer showing any urgency to begin negotiations and the President’s approval rating being inversely proportional as the midterm elections approach.

Mr. Trump’s reiteration of threats to civilization and his statements about the bombing of Kharg Island and power plants snowballed so much that the negotiating environment could only go from bad to worse. Even before talks resumed, Mr. Trump was touting Iran’s willingness to hand over more than 1,000 pounds of enriched, near-nuclear-grade uranium.

Iran appears to have drawn a clear red line on uranium and has repeatedly reiterated that it is not willing to surrender in a war it has not lost despite being hit 13,000 times by imperialist bombs. It is Iran’s much-underrated resilience that has brought America to the point where it must make significant concessions if negotiations continue.

Negotiations cannot be easy, given that there is no clarity among Iran’s many as to whose voice has real authority to make decisions: the theocracy, now supposedly under a wounded Ayatollah, or the executive branch, led by the President and backed by the head of the legislature, although there are suspicions that it is the Revolutionary Guard that is currently making all the decisions in Iran.

First, the ceasefire, which is scheduled to end tonight American time, needs to be extended to address core issues such as Iran’s interference in the right of free passage through the Strait of Hormuz. One blockade is as bad as another, and this is also true of the US economic blockade, but this had to come about in response to Iran using the choke point as a powerful bargaining chip.

Iran’s resistance may have taken its toll from the power of asymmetric warfare with drones. What this decision does to some extent invalidate is Mr. Trump’s view that American air and sea power is an overwhelming force that he can use at will, assuming it will stop Iran from gaining nuclear weapons capability. It is time for everyone to understand that war will not solve this problem or other problems arising from the outbreak of hostilities. Sit down at the table and start talking, that is the only message that all peace-loving parts of the world can say.