Trita Parsi

A surrender would require a full consensus.

And there's no way they could ever get that in that system, particularly if you don't have a strong Supreme Leader that can actually push it through.

And the new Supreme Leader is just weeks into his job and was not really necessarily expecting to get that job, particularly not in this manner.

So surrender was never in the cards.

And I try to make the case to them that this is gonna lead to you, if you think you're bluffing, but they are gonna fall for your bluff, you're gonna actually actualize this bluff and it's not gonna work out the way you thought at all.

I mean, they were taking note, but nevertheless, never got a real response.

And it seemed to me, of course, I didn't have access to Trump himself, that his mind was set and that it was really difficult for anyone on the inside to be able to change his mind.

Why he had reached that position- That's clearly true.

Yeah.

Why he had reached that position, I have less insight into, but I think over time, that perception he had of Iranian weakness had been reconfirmed over and over again, because the Iranians did not respond as harshly as they could have against the attack on Fordow, for instance.

I mean, the Pentagon called it a polite response.

They gave a heads up, all of these different things.

All of this just reinforced the idea that the Iranians don't have what it takes to actually face the United States.

And I think it created this overconfidence.

There was another thing in my view as well that reinforced this in Trump's mind.

And this is speculative on my end, but I do think there's some truth in it.

the Iranians committed a huge mistake before this war, which is they never agreed to talk directly to Trump himself.

And from their standpoint, they thought that by refusing this, which they did for a variety of reasons, but nevertheless, by refusing this,

they showed strength.

They show that they're willing to say no to the superpower of the world.