As the Trump administration gears up for a second round of talks with Iran this week, it has told Iran that it must bring “meaningful substance” to the discussions. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has fleshed out how Iran could make such talks “meaningful,” which includes concessions on addressing the range of its ballistic missiles, its sponsorship of terrorist organizations across the region, its nuclear program, and Iran’s treatment of its own people.
But Iran’s recent actions indicate that the Islamic Republic has no intention to negotiate in good faith on any of these issues. (RELATED: Two Regimes, One Reality)
First, while the U.S. wants Iran to curb its ballistic missile program, Iran’s foreign minister just stated that the ballistic missile program is “off the table” in the negotiations. Not only will Iran not discuss its ballistic missiles, but Iran is also currently threatening the West with them. Just days ago, Iran deployed its “most advanced long-range ballistic missile” in one of its “missile cities,” and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) stated that it has shifted from a defensive to an offensive posture. (RELATED: If We Want to Help the Iranians, We Should Disrupt the IRGC)
Satellite imagery has recently revealed that Iran is repairing over a dozen ballistic missile sites damaged by American and Israeli airstrikes last year. Additionally, Iran has posted in Palestine Square in Tehran a billboard threatening a “rain of missiles” on Israel, including “day one” targets of Tel Aviv, Bnei Brak, Herzliya, and Ramat Gan. According to an Israeli security source, Israel is preparing a contingency plan to neutralize Iran’s ballistic missile threat: “We told the Americans we will strike alone if Iran crosses the red line we set on ballistic missiles.” (RELATED: Is a Red Line Still a Red Line?)
Second, rather than reducing the sponsorship of its terror proxies, Iran is doing the opposite and has also made direct statements in support of terrorism. Iran has brokered a deal with Saudi Arabia to train the Houthis, allegedly to stabilize the Yemen-Saudi border. Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal recently stated that Hamas rejects both disarmament and foreign custodianship of Gaza, further complicating the Trump administration’s effort to resolve the Gaza conflict.
In a not-so-veiled threat, Hezbollah has recently stated that efforts of Lebanon to disarm the terror group “will lead Lebanon to instability, chaos, and perhaps even civil war,” further undermining the Trump administration’s effort to create peace between Lebanon and Israel. Such statements from Hamas and Hezbollah likely would not have been issued without the blessing of the Islamic Republic.
Also, in response to the European Union declaring the IRGC a terrorist organization, the Iranian parliament speaker declared the armies of the European Union terrorist organizations. And let’s not forget that the Iranian regime has threatened to kidnap and murder President Trump multiple times in recent weeks.
Third, while the U.S. seeks to curb Iran’s nuclear behavior, Iran continues to state clearly that it refuses to give up its right to enrich uranium and that it must enrich uranium inside Iran. Additionally, Iran is currently constructing roofs over the ruins of the Isfahan and Natanz nuclear facilities, which experts claim is an effort to block satellites from seeing Iran’s efforts to salvage highly enriched uranium. Before the June 2025 war with Iran, the country had enriched uranium to 60 percent, a “short, technical step” away from the 90 percent needed for weapons-grade uranium, and far above the 3 to 5 percent needed for civilian energy use.
Perhaps more disturbingly, as negotiations continue, Iran is building its mysterious “Pickaxe Mountain,” believed to be a nuclear site that cannot be penetrated by U.S. bunker-busting bombs. Building such sites underneath mountains is old hat for Iran, which clandestinely built Fordo, leading the United States to a 15-year effort of gathering intel and developing the GBU-57 to destroy it. Pickaxe Mountain may be the same, or a different site, from the one that President Trump recently noted that Iran was trying to build in a “different part of Iran” and/or the site that a recent CNN report noted that Iran is currently trying to rebuild nuclear facilities “deeper underground.”
Fourth, the Islamic Republic will not change course on its oppression of its citizens; its methodical, unforgiving approach suggests that the regime finds such oppression critical to its own survival. The Islamic Republic reportedly killed over 36,500 civilians in a two-day period last month. If true, this would mark the greatest massacre of civilians in 48 hours since the Nazis massacred 33,000 Ukrainian Jews at Babi Yar in September 1941. (RELATED: Iran Is Not That Simple)
The regime’s massacre of civilians appears premeditated, with detailed operational plans dating as far back as 2022, where the regime devised tactics including “marking and identifying elevated locations for sniper deployment,” “ideological theoretical training and psychological preparation to kill, including firing final shots at protesters,” and “training and educating criminal elements to play the role of leaders in gatherings, both to identify people and to steer street movements.” Iran also leveraged nearly 5,000 terrorists from Iraqi militias to assist in the carnage.
Also, while seeming to welcome talks with the United States, Iran has already declared war against us. Just last week, it sent a drone after the USS Lincoln and its strike group. A mere three hours later, Iran then sent two gunboats after a U.S.-flagged oil tanker in the Persian Gulf.
Plainly stated, Iran has no intentions of making real concessions on any of the above issues. An IRGC general recently stated that the U.S.’s call for negotiations “is a sign that they [the U.S.] fear the capabilities of the Iranian people,” and that “our main goal is to drive America out of all of the countries of the region.” The Trump administration should proceed cautiously and skeptically in this week’s negotiations.
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