The Mullahs Caught In Their Own Trap

The irony is that Iran's chief diplomat, Abbas Araghji, boasted on the book market about teaching the 'strength of diplomacy.' His diplomatic 'talents' were useless against the common Israeli-US will to put an end to the mullahs' regime. Diplomacy has indeed never been the strong suit of Iranian regimes, for whom the term has meant, for ages, procrastination and duplicity, while secretly, the nuclear program continued despite endless chatter and other agreements.

Also impossible, because the chances of an Iran-US agreement were minimal, even insignificant, given Israeli will and a large part of the American pressure groups and think-tanks American think-tanks wanting to put an end to the regime once and for all. Also considering that the latter, with its ballistic program - coupled with its nuclear project - capable of reaching Europe, Russia, and China, was becoming a threat to the entire world.

The massive and bloody repression of last January's anti-Khamenei popular protests was undoubtedly the direct justification legitimizing American intervention, even if aid to the Iranian people is probably not truly a priority for the US administration - JD Vance's cynicism was clear enough in this regard. In fact, Trump played the Iranian game to the end. For the first time, the mullahs, the masters of political tempo, could not impose their rhythm on the USA. The Persian cunning did not work.

By massing an impressive armada around Tehran while giving diplomacy a 'chance,' the US president thereby invalidated any possibility of an agreement in itself. The Iranians were ordered to choose between unconditional capitulation through diplomacy - via the dismantling of their ballistic and nuclear programs and the end of the export of the revolution beyond their borders, that is, in essence, the collapse of the very essence of the regime and the Revolutionary Guards - and strategic suicide through a military rush forward. In the end, even this choice was not given to them: they face surrender at the end of a total war triggered by the USA, even if this will allow them to adopt a victim stance and justify their suicidal all-in by the ongoing aggression.

In other words, Trump did not give the Iranian leaders enough time to patiently weave the fabric of their survival by negotiating indefinitely while waiting for better days, a hobbyhorse of totalitarian regimes. They are now confronted with what is undoubtedly their absolute fantasy - martyrdom - and their most terrifying nightmare - their downfall. One should therefore expect them to combine the two in a suicidal deluge of fire, which is characteristic of millenarian cults facing the prospect of their own destruction. Undoubtedly, they think that a war of attrition, which would cause the most harm and destruction possible to their enemies, will allow them to hold on until the storm passes - and, consequently, to save their heads. Or that other parallel events, such as the fallout from the Epstein affair or a US public opinion uprising against the war, will do the job for them. In short, they will continue to gamble on time, just as the USA and Israel will want, for the same reasons, to finish as quickly as possible.

It is therefore a war of time. Provided, simply, that it does not open the way to the end of times. After all, Megiddo is indeed at the heart of the conflict…