Trump's Regional Partners Play Key Role in Making Iran Deal Possible
Feb. 14—When President Donald Trump sent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin “Bibi” Netanyahu home this week without adding his agenda points to ongoing talks with Iran on its nuclear weapons program, he did so following the advice of his regional partners — the Saudis, Egypt, Qatar, Oman, and Turkey — to keep discussions on the nuclear issues only.
Sources close to the White House say that Trump and his Special Envoy Steve Witkoff have been in communication with these regional leaders, who have apparently gained concessions from Iran on the enrichment process that can break the main impasse to a deal when a new round of talks begins this coming week in Geneva.
Other sources, including in the region, say that the emergence of a bloc of Muslim states working with the United States provides an important counterweight to an Israel whose current corrupt leadership is driven by a messianic leader who will go to war in order to stay in power, and who supports Trump’s policies in Gaza in name only, hoping that the peace plan does not work.
Trump Sees Nuclear Program as Strategic Threat, Missiles as Regional Issue
According to these sources, Trump believes Iran’s nuclear threat poses a strategic problem that he is willing to go to war over. There are others, including people in his administration, who say that the threat — despite alleged intelligence to the contrary — to develop an Iranian nuclear weapon has not been real since 2003.
Regardless, Trump does not see Iran’s ballistic missile program or its support for proxies as strategic issues, but as regional issues that need to be taken care of by the parties involved. Despite the Zionist media’s attempt to twist his statements about supporting regime change in Iran, sources close to him say he is not now willing to risk a long war over that issue, and that his focus remains the nuclear program.
“Bibi’s play right now is to try to put things on the table to blow up the talks,” said a source, “so that we get a war. Right now, Trump is not playing his game.”
Haaretz Analyst: U.S. Team’s “New Language” May Break Old Patterns
This analysis is supported by a piece yesterday from Haaretz sage analyst Zvi Bar’el, who reports that the Iranian negotiating team has some of the same figures present for the last 20 years:
“Among the advisers now closely accompanying talks with the U.S. are those with dozens of years of collective political, diplomatic and military memory.
“Each one of them, including Iran’s long‑serving former foreign minister and close Khamenei confidant Ali Akbar Velayati, can recite from memory positions, responses and ideas exchanged between Iran and U.S. presidents, from Bush through Clinton and Obama and up to Trump’s first term.
“The American team, on the other hand, lacks institutional knowledge, and none of its members were partners to the charged history of relations between the two countries. However, it is unclear if this is a disadvantage.
“While the Iranian side is mired in a sense of déjà vu, feeling that they have been there and seen everything, the American side speaks a ‘new language’ — that of U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner — unburdened by political and personal memories. Perhaps this offers a new beginning, capable of yielding the results U.S. President Donald Trump is striving for.”
Regional Consensus Pressures U.S. to Prioritize Nuclear Issue
Bar’el then states:
“Trump distinguishes between the global, strategic threat posed by Iran’s nuclear program and the regional threat posed by the missiles and the proxies. The distinction is based not only on the scope of damage each threat entails, but on the political restrictions binding Trump.
“The regional consensus, which is shared by Gulf states and mainly Saudi Arabia and Turkey, supports neutralizing Iran’s nuclear threat. Saudi Arabia has repeatedly declared it would seek nuclear weapons should Iran obtain them…
“This is not the first time that Iran’s Arab‑Turkish diplomatic backing has forced the U.S. into parallel multi‑stakeholder talks alongside its direct negotiations with Iran. The Americans must now balance Israeli interests against a coalition of regional powers that appear to have greater leverage than Jerusalem over Washington."
Bar'el concludes:
“This diplomatic shield has proven influence, succeeding in reversing Trump’s support for his Gaza Riviera plan and the mass deportation of Palestinians from Gaza in favor of the president’s adoption of a path for Palestinian statehood.
“The coalition pushed Trump to recognize Syria’s president, Ahmad al‑Sharaa, and lift U.S. sanctions on the country. Trump has agreed to sell F‑35 fighter jets to Turkey and Saudi Arabia and is talking with Qatar about a similar deal. Now, the coalition is seeking to add Iran nuclear talks to its tally of achievements.”