Trita Parsi

you know, a year from now or something like that while they're expected to give a lot of things on the nuclear front up front.

Neither side should do that because the trust simply doesn't exist.

And if we try to design a deal along those lines, it simply won't work.

But verification is absolutely essential in all of this.

That's the thing that can be used to overcome the legitimate mistrust that exists on both sides.

Again, it's impossible for me to put a number on it because we're still too early in the process.

It all depends on, you know, where we go from here and where we end up.

But I think this, both Witkoff and Kushner are people who want a deal.

I think that's crucial because what we've had in the past is oftentimes negotiations and which is not even clear whether one side or both sides actually want the deal.

They're kind of exploring whether a deal is even desirable.

I think both of them do want a deal.

I do believe the Iranians want a deal.

The question is, do both sides have sufficiently realistic expectations of what the other side can give?

We oftentimes tend to forget on the American side, the Iranians have politics too.

It's not easy for them to just give everything or agree to something that comes across to them as subjugation and surrender.

In fact, I believe that for this specific regime,

Surrender is worse than losing in a war.

War, they think they can survive.

Surrender, they cannot survive.

Yeah, people can reach us at the Quincy Institute's website, which is quincyinst.org or on my social media, which is tparsi on X. Yeah, just the last thing to say, look, I think the president really wants to get a deal.