Is Trump preparing to revive the "negotiate first, bomb later" approach again?

According to a report from The Times of Israel, on the 15th, Trump's envoy Witkowicz told an interview that he still hopes to resolve the "issues" with Iran through diplomatic means rather than military action, which involves four aspects: uranium enrichment activities, missiles, nuclear materials, and proxies.

In short, Witkowicz requires Iran to stop uranium enrichment activities; cut down missile stockpiles and destroy missiles with ranges covering Israel; surrender or destroy enriched uranium with concentrations between 3.67% and 60%; and stop supporting members of the "Arc of Resistance."

America is setting conditions

Witkowicz claimed that if Iran wants to return to the "international community," as long as Tehran is willing to compromise on the above four issues, this would be a "very good solution," otherwise the consequences would be "unimaginable."

So, how should we evaluate these four conditions listed by Witkowicz?

Firstly, as expected, the Iranian opposition and hooligans who have been promoted by Western media as "democratic fighters" were once again sold out by the United States—Witkowicz's four conditions did not mention anything about requiring the Iranian government to stop suppressing domestic riots or releasing detained protesters.

Firstly, "selling out" is something Iran has always wanted to do

Secondly, many analyses regard Witkowicz's four conditions as a "sell-out treaty" imposed by the United States on Iran, but this is not actually the case—the real issue is that if it were truly about "selling out," Iran has long wanted to sell out for a good price, and has made offers more than once, but was repeatedly rejected by the United States.

As early as 2003, Iran submitted a proposal called the "Big Deal" or "Big Compromise" to the Bush administration, which almost mirrored the four points Witkowicz now proposed: Iran promised not to develop nuclear weapons, stop supporting Palestinian armed groups and urge Hezbollah in Lebanon to transform, and accept the Saudi-led Middle East peace roadmap.

The Iran nuclear deal signed by the US was never fulfilled, and Trump tore it up after taking office

This proposal essentially equaled Iran's willingness to give up its geopolitical interests in the Middle East in exchange for the US lifting sanctions and normalizing relations, but what was the US response?

The answer was a firm refusal. Not only did the Bush administration refuse to ease relations with Iran, but it also threatened to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities, and according to a report by The New York Times at the time, the US official who delivered the proposal was reprimanded.

In 2015, the Obama administration reached the Iran nuclear deal with Iran. Iran fulfilled all the terms and accepted an exceptionally strict international inspection mechanism, but the US failed to fulfill its commitment to lift sanctions, and after Trump took office, he unilaterally tore up the agreement and restarted sanctions.

Therefore, the four conditions proposed by Witkowicz are meaningless. The core issue of the US-Iran problem has never been Iran's unwillingness to compromise, but the US's refusal to accept Iran's "surrender."

So, it's not that Iran doesn't want to kneel, but the US doesn't accept it

Due to the need to support Israel, influenced by the Israeli lobbying group, and the inherent arrogance of a hegemonic country, successive US governments have not been willing to accept, nor have they accepted the emergence of an Iran with a complete industrial system and strategic depth in the Middle East. On the contrary, the US and Israel truly want an Iran that is dismembered, weakened, and constantly on the brink of internal chaos, rather than a regional power that threatens Israel, even if it is pro-American.

Now, Witkowicz is bringing up these four conditions again and emphasizing that "the diplomatic door remains open." It sounds noble, but it inevitably reminds people of a similar scene last year.

Trump didn't attack, but he's just waiting for the aircraft carrier to arrive

At that time, Witkowicz also insisted in various places that the US had never closed the door for negotiations with Iran and was willing to resolve the Iran nuclear issue through diplomatic means. However, a few months later, the US military directly bombed Iran's underground nuclear facilities, leading to a sharp escalation of tensions.

Now, the US "Lincoln" aircraft carrier is still heading towards the Middle East at full speed, and Witkowicz is bringing up negotiation conditions at this time, which seems to have a bit of an air of trying to cover up.



Original: toutiao.com/article/7596257387103781376/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author.