The parties are so far apart that a collision course appears unavoidable. The sinking of two mine-laying vessels and the destruction of launch platforms appear merely to be a warm-up. Iran must know that by attacking the USA and shipping they are asking for war. The President says in a tweet that Iran is in an existential war. There is not much room for negotiations here.
That was also the signal President Pezeshkian sent when he said that Iran’s struggle against the USA is dedicated to Khorramshahr, one of the greatest symbolic battles during the eight-year war against Saddam Hussein. It happened on the anniversary of the recapture of the city on 24 May 1982.
In a post on X on the occasion of the anniversary of the recapture of Khorramshahr from Iraqi forces in 1982 during the Iran–Iraq War, Pezeshkian said: “Khorramshahr today is Iran, the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz”, adding that “resistance, self-sacrifice and repelling aggression are rooted in the culture of this country”.
Analysts claimed that Pezeshkian deliberately referred to one of the deepest ideological cornerstones of the Islamic Republic – the battle that came to symbolise national resistance, civilian sacrifice and defiance against the invasion.
“This is a reference to the Iran–Iraq War, and the timing is the point,” said Dr Omar Mohammed, director of the Antisemitism Research Initiative Program on Extremism at George Washington University.
But the Iraq War came immediately after the seizure of power in Iran, it bled Iran dry, but was used for mobilisation. It is a completely different Iran that faces the USA today. The regime no longer has support. It has treated the people too badly and prioritised its own ambitions for power. Therefore, such mobilisation as Pezeshkian appeals for is an empty gesture. Only liberal media and politicians in the West support him.
They hope that Trump will yield and agree to an extended ceasefire and an agreement that postpones negotiations on enriched uranium. Trump makes it crystal clear that this is out of the question. He is not going to walk into such a trap with victory within reach.
The appeals for national mobilisation and martyrdom are a sign of desperation in Tehran.
President Donald Trump stated on Monday that Iran’s stockpiles of enriched uranium will either be handed over to the USA for destruction or eliminated under international supervision as part of a potential nuclear agreement with Tehran.
“The enriched uranium (atomic dust!) will either immediately be handed over to the USA to be transported home and destroyed, or, preferably, in cooperation and coordination with
The Islamic Republic of Iran, destroyed on site or at another acceptable location, with the Atomic Energy Commission, or its counterpart, witnessing this process and event,” the President said in a post on Truth Social.
The issue of nuclear enrichment has been a point of contention in critical talks between the USA and Iran regarding a potential agreement.
When Iran on the one hand says that there is a certain movement in the negotiations, and on the other makes statements about mobilisation, the game is not difficult to read: Iran is dragging out time knowing full well that Trump does not have unlimited time.
“He transfers the framework from the defensive war of 1980–82 to the current conflict: Iran is being attacked by an aggressor, and ordinary citizens (‘untrained in combat, but brave’) are expected to resist and fight, where ‘resistance, sacrifice and repelling aggression’ are presented as the cultural standard mode.”
Some of the formulations, Mohammed said, also evoke associations with volunteers and Basij fighters against a professional invasion army. The analyst noted that Pezeshkian’s comment about the “Hormuz line” reflects a standard Iranian escalation tactic.
The President is regarded as a somewhat more moderate politician than the general in the Revolutionary Guard. In reality, Pezeshkian is saying that they will not negotiate.
Mohammed explained that Pezeshkian’s post on X presents the current conflict from the President’s perspective in order to send a “high-stakes message”.
“It also reveals the internal attitude: Khorramshahr means, in short, ‘we are being invaded, and we will not negotiate’,” he added.
https://www.foxnews.com/world/iran-signals-mass-sacrifice-high-stakes-saddam-era-warning-amid-trump-deal-talks