Ambassador (ret.) Yoram Ettinger | “Second Thought: a US-Israel Initiative” | June 14, 2026
Photo by Unknown author – English.khamenei.ir, CC BY 4.0, Wikipedia
*While the Ayatollah’s negotiators benefit from a marathon-like state of mind – which is a prerequisite for a long term, productive outcome – Western negotiators are severely undermined by their sprint-like state of mind, which is prone to impatience and “kicking the can down the road”.
*Contrary to the Ayatollah’s concept of negotiation, the Western concept of negotiation assumes good faith, win-win and compromise as a baseline, aiming at a finite, binding, transparent, verifiable and freely enforceable outcome. The Western concept underscores reconciliation and peaceful coexistence with both sides making concessions.
*The Ayatollah’s concept of negotiation as historically established – since the 7th century – is an extension of warfare by other means. This a tactical pause, not a final outcome, dominated by a 1,400-year-ideology, which transcends financial and diplomatic considerations. The Ayatollah’s tactics of negotiation are deeply rooted in the Islamic doctrines of Taqiyya (dissimulation), khodeh (trickery, rather than outright lies), kitman (hiding one’s true intentions), taarof (ambiguity and ostensible politeness, aiming to confuse) and Hudna (a temporary truce facilitating regrouping/rearming). The Ayatollah’s concept of negotiation exploits agreements, and then discards them when circumstances change.
*The Ayatollah’s negotiators view proposals to negotiate – initiated by rivals/enemies – as a sign of insecurity, vulnerability and weakness. The Ayatollah would not propose to negotiate with weaker rivals/enemies, but proceed to defeat them militarily. For example, Israel intended its initiatives/negotiation of the 1993 Oslo Accords and the 2005 Gaza Disengagement to be dramatic gestures, demonstrating statesmanship and generosity, leading to reciprocal moderation. However, the Palestinians interpreted the Israeli initiatives as an erosion of Israel’s resolve in the face of diplomatic pressure and Palestinian terrorism. The Palestinian interpretation has led to institutionalized and intensified hate-education and an unprecedented wave of Palestinian terrorism, highlighting suicide bombing and missile offensives, with a focus on pre-1967 Israel. While Israel considered the Oslo Accord and the Gaza Disengagement as venues to peaceful coexistence, the Palestinians have viewed it as a beachhead toward the uprooting of “the illegal and infidel Zionist entity.”
*Productive negotiation cannot be conducted with adversaries, which are driven by an ideology, that mandates the elimination of their negotiation partners (e.g., The universal Muslim Brotherhood and ISIS vs the rulers of national Islamic countries, Palestinians vs ”the illegal Zionist entity,” the Ayatollah regime vs “The Great American Satan”).
The Bottom Line
*Any agreement concluded with the Ayatollah regime would boost its legitimacy, bolstering its role as a chief epicenter of anti-US wars, terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering. It would sustain the Ayatollah’s machete at the throats of Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Kuwait, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco and other pro-US Arab regimes. It would embolden China (in the Pacific, Africa and Latin America), Russia (in the Baltic basin and Eastern Europe) and anti-US Islamic terrorism (globally, including on US soil). Any agreement with the Ayatollah regime would devastate the liberty aspirations of the Iranian people, and minimize the prospects of expanding the Abraham Accords.
*Since February 1979, The Ayatollah’s negotiators have excelled in protracting talks and exhausting Western patience, leveraging Western democracy and election cycles, and exploiting the Western addiction to “money talks.” This has taken advantage of the tendency to assess the violently intolerant, unpredictable, shifty and (intra-Muslim) conflict ridden Middle East through Western lenses. They employ time as a weapon and a means to lick wounds, avoid obliteration, restore and upgrade capabilities, and resume the battle to destroy the “infidel,” especially, the “Great American Satan.”
*Is the US heeding the country colloquialism: “There’s no education in the 2nd kick of a mule”? The Ayatollah regime is not a mule, but an apocalyptic predator, which has kicked the US continuously since 1979.
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