‘Tehran is trying to pull one over on Washington.’
As I often say, culture eats strategy for breakfast.
From The Washington Star article, Iran’s Three-Ring Circus Is Performing for One Person: President Trump:
‘Far from bringing Tehran to the table, it is emboldening Mr. Vahidi and the IRGC to stay the course. Iran will keep talking, and it might even agree to a “deal”; but it will not live up to it at the end of the day.’
➤ Bingo! Well said.
I’ve been saying that Iran can’t surrender or give in in any way; the Iranian leaders will cut their noses off to spite their faces. No matter how much hellfire rains down on them, no matter how much devastation to key installations, to weapon systems, to the military, to infrastructure, to the economy, they would rather not give in. Giving in is tantamount to saying that their raison d’etre, their theocratic Twelver Shia Islamic rule, is wrong, and they can’t do that.
(Add to all of this that there will be those who will welcome the hard times and suffering as part of a self-fulfilling prophecy mindset.)
And of course, Iran will lie and not abide by any agreements anyway– that conduct is scripturally sanctioned and encouraged. Any agreement will be only as good as Iran wants it to be.
Iranian resilience will remain.
Trump and his administration perhaps don’t understand the Iranian religiopolitical and cultural nature. (These are the same people who sent little boys across minefields to detonate mines during the Iran-Iraq War.)
Again, culture eats strategy for breakfast.
Great piece by Mark Toth and Jonathan Sweet.
Also, for the sake of reference, see my previous write-up: Iran, Twelver Shia Islam, the Return of al-Mahdi… Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?: https://roycedemelo.com/2026/03/18/iran-twelver-shia-islam-the-return-of-al-mahdi-self-fulfilling-prophecy/
Also see Mark Toth’s original LinkedIn posting: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/mark-toth-780ba826_irans-three-ring-circus-is-performing-for-share-7469896974847131648-13cX/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop&rcm=ACoAAALG3h0BmCuAbEV3iAYJNZHCQ1bHqD_qO9k
–RdM