cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/47584733

Trita Parsi May 18, 2026

We should first recognize that restarting the war amounts to an admission that Trump’s previous escalatory gambit — the blockade of the blockade — has failed. That, in turn, was itself an admission that the war had failed. Which was an admission that the threats of war in January had failed. As I have argued before on my Substack, this relentless search for an escalatory silver bullet capable of bringing Iran to its knees is not unique to Trump; it has become a defining pathology of American Iran policy for decades.

Although negotiators have made meaningful progress on several fronts, talks have thus far failed to produce an agreement, largely because of irreconcilable differences over Tehran’s highly enriched uranium stockpile. And as Washington has come to realize that the blockade is backfiring, a new and dangerous dynamic has emerged: both sides now believe another round of fighting will strengthen their hand in the negotiations that follow.

  • chellomere@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    Trita Parsi is a co-founder of NIAC, which pretends to represent Iranians in the US but is actually the Islamic Republic of Iran’s mouthpiece. You should realize that everything he says is propaganda.

    • mrdown@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      5 hours ago

      I don’t see you when a source is saudi backed iranian outlet. Trump own words threaten restarting war.

    • Kabe@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      Propaganda or not, do you have any substantive criticisms of what he’s saying here? FWIW, I’ve found his commentary during the current conflict to be pretty reliable.