When I defend Iran, I attract a few foreigners who cannot tolerate the slightest criticism of my homeland.
I refuse to infantilize my government or blind myself to their faults because they adequately defended the country.
I called the demands “maximalist” because they are exactly that:
Iran wants the US out of the region, it wants to have an unmolested unclear program, it wants total sanctions relief, it wants to toll a previously open waterway (no one else does this), it wants to keep its network of militias, and much more.
These are unworkable demands. There is no middle ground to be negotiated. Iran is not offering a starting point, Iran is stating its terms, as if America surrendered unconditionally.
That may feel good as an Iranian with national pride, but America did not surrender. It can pick up the fighting tomorrow, God forbid.
If Iran is unwilling to compromise, the differences won’t be settled in conference rooms, they will be meted on the battlefield, at the cost of Iranian lives.
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شرقزده sharghzadeh
@sharghzadeh
Anyone who expected otherwise was naive.
Iran’s maximalist demands are a non-starter. x.com/tparsi/status/…