Commentators: US and Iran are Both Just Buying Time?

Six hours ago

Supporters and opponents of the Iranian and Israeli governments seem to concur on one opinion: That Iran and US are both just "buying time" with their peace talks. On the US side, Trump's emphasis on total disarmament of Iran is considered an intermediate step to "buy time" for ultimately decapitating an Iranian regime with no nuclear weapons or ballistic missiles, like what happened in Libya. On the Iranian side, views shared by conservative commentators and politicians confirm the same "buying time" strategy. For example renowned political commentator Ali Akbar Raefipour has implied the talks are mainly to buy Iran some time:

"I cannot openly share some facts but they know if they attack us [if we have the nuclear weapons], the response will be targeting that tiny land [Israel] with those underground destroyers [nuclear missiles]...[but] If they disarm our nuclear power as in Libya, then they can decapitate us [with impunity]. Friends, sometimes we negotiate to buy some time. You get the point because I cannot say more now."

"I cannot openly discuss all secrets ... You need to understand we have shortages of energy, water and natural gas and then suddenly Iranian currency plunges before the talks and regains its value after the talks! Resisting these talks would mean being blamed by people for the economic collapse. It's like a game of chess that [our leader] has few pieces left [through the action of the reformist President]... Rest assured US is more concerned about a war than we are. Trump cannot even defeat Yemen. If they fight with us, [economically and geopolitically] China will be the main victor ... Our leader does not allow any discussions about our weapons .. Our duty for now is to support the leader's strategic allowance of the talks until we get through these days."

Congress man (MP) Abolfazl Zohrehvand confirms Iran's main interest is to get assurances against being attacked in exchange for agreeing to step down from weapons-grade enrichment:

"Their goal is to curtail Iran's enrichment for years and to buy time... When our President links economic growth to talks with Trump, it's either naivete or treason, and I don't think it's naivete!... Our leader has confirmed we will not abandon our nuclear program. We may just step down from 60% enrichment.. We are one of the five countries that can use nuclear fuel to power its submarines to remain underwater for months so we can park it without being detected anywhere we want for example near California! So we need the 60% enriched uranium for our submarines... Chinese are more calculative than Americans but unlike Americans they believe in mutualism. Our objective guaranty for our security lies within our drones and missiles... Radical Islamists are now stationed in Afghanistan and Pakistan [to pressure these governments against Iran]. But on our side, we also have a few hundred thousand Afghans in Iran who can be deployed by Iran... We have built all our missiles for such a day [if we have to control flow of oil]... Trump and US Defense Secretary are accused of rape inside America, how can they have mercy on our women?"

Exiled Iranian reformist Mojtaba Vahedi believes the talks are just for calming domestic tensions in Iran and the US because both leaders currently face serious domestic political and economic crises. He quotes contradictions between official statements by all sides (Iran, US, Israel) which make no sense. All sides say they have red lines which intersect by others and yet the talks seem to continue!

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