Pepe Escobar
Tehran isn’t rushing to negotiate—it’s running down Washington’s clock
Let’s start with four key variables at work in this increasingly dangerous crossroads.
One. The Majlis – the Iranian Parliament – met on Tuesday night, at the start of the new Mojtaba era, which started last Friday after the final burial rites of former, assassinated Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khamenei in Mashhad. The 290 members unanimously passed two resolutions.
The first one demands the government – under President Pezeshkian – “accelerate nuclear capabilities”. That may be interpreted either as driving up uranium enrichment, or something way more groundbreaking.
The second resolution rejects any (italics mine) compromise with the US on previously agreed terms. Translation: even if there would be a renewed memorandum of understanding (MoU), de facto blown up by the President of the United States straight out of the NATO summit in Ankara, the terms would be much harsher for the US.
Two. The Iran-Pakistan-Qatar channel.
Earlier this week Islamabad and Doha have resumed intense consultations – one might even brand them as frantic – trying to reopen direct talks with Tehran this coming Sunday.
That’s a Sisyphean task, because it would have to take place in sharp contrast with heavy American bombing of Iranian targets – including civilian infrastructure – and the motto echoed by millions in the streets of Iran last week: “Revenge”.
The diplomacy though is real. Yet it has been demoted by the mediators from “path to settlement” to “prevention of catastrophe.”
Three. The Trump-Munir backchannel
Mediators at the sorry remnants of the negotiating table confirm that Trump continues to place direct calls to Pakistan’s Field Marshal Asim Munir, pressing him to find an off-ramp that avoids personal humiliation.
That completely voids trademark vociferations by POTUS – always dominating the news cycle – that Iran is begging to do a deal. Reality is exactly the opposite. Munir, incidentally, is the Last Chance Saloon for Trump when it comes to an off-ramp.
Four. The Iranian military response to US bombing.
That includes, crucially, precision cluster munitions devastating US bases in Kuwait, Bahrain and Jordan.
The overwhelming majority of the real damage is not being reported publicly. From Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar to the Command and Control Center in Jordan; to erased Patriot missile systems in Kuwait to Al Dhafra Air Base in the UAE; from wiping out MQ-9 drone hangars and HIMARS launchers and ammo depots to obliterated refueling platforms in Oman’s Duqm port.
That one was a banger: Duqm is on Arabian Sea coast, outside of the Strait of Hormuz. That’s where American ships dock without entering the Persian Gulf, refuel, and receive repair and supply services: a key node of the operational rear of the US fleet deployed in the northern Indian Ocean.
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The Most Revolutionary Act 