No one since the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran in 1979 has read the Iranian regime better than US President Donald J. Trump. Despite the criticism from commentators, the opposition party, social media voices, and members of the foreign policy establishment, no political leader has understood Tehran's methods more clearly, or acted against them with greater decisiveness. Many negotiated with Iran's regime. Many hoped it would change. Trump recognized a central truth that others have either ignored or refused to confront: the Iranian regime survives by deception, delay, and the constant purchase of time.
Currently, Trump is maintaining maximum pressure and refusing to provide relief from sanctions or blockade before Iran addresses the central issue of its nuclear ambitions, uranium "dust," or proxies. Rather than accepting endless procedural talks, indirect formulas, or staged concessions, he is demanding immediate, concrete action. This is precisely what has unsettled the Iranian regime. Its traditional strategy depends on dragging out every process until the pressure weakens or political conditions change.
All the Iranian regime wants today is time -- to breathe economically, stabilize politically, reorganize internally, wait for a more favorable international climate, outlast America's midterm elections, and see another administration replace the current one.
The Islamic Republic has long mastered the art of negotiation without resolution. It delays meetings, introduces new conditions, shifts language, creates procedural complications, and turns every diplomatic process into a maze. While talks continue, often pressure decreases. While the world debates technical details, Iran preserves its strategic programs, strengthens its arsenal and improves its regional position. Delay itself becomes victory. Every month gained is another month of survival.
Trump understands this game. Instead of allowing negotiations to become a theater of endless diplomacy, he has simplified the matter: No nuclear weapons capability. No missiles. No uranium nuclear "dust." No proxies. No endless excuses. No sanctions relief first. No waiting years for partial understandings that later collapse. In doing so, he has removed the regime's preferred battlefield.
At present, the pressure is hurting Iran. Its economy has suffered from prolonged restrictions, high inflation, currency decline, and mounting structural dysfunction. Reports continue to note catastrophic strains on the rial and wider economic distress. Economic pressure is a political issue. Economic pain can fuel public dissatisfaction, create elite rivalries, and prompt questions about competence inside the power structure.
Relief would mean foreign currency, access to markets, and the ability to reassert control. It means oxygen. Relief would bring room to maneuver and the ability to continue old patterns under new circumstances.
By maintaining pressure while demanding quick movement, Trump is turning time against Iran's regime rather than allowing the regime to use time against the United States. This reversal may be one of the most strategically important developments in US-Iran relations in years.
Critics often frame Iranian politics as a struggle between moderates and hardliners, but this distinction has repeatedly proven disastrously misleading. Different styles may appear, but the overarching objective remains the same: preserving the Islamist regime of Iran to continue jihad (holy war).
Softer rhetoric has emerged when the regime needed economic rescue or a diplomatic opening. Once the pressure recedes, the underlying strategic behavior remains unchanged.
In many ways, so-called "moderates" have historically served as the most effective guardians of the system: they are able to secure concessions from the outside world while preserving the internal order. They present hope abroad while maintaining continuity and deeper control at home. Trump appears aware of this pattern but, perhaps concerned about the political pressure on him at home, has sometimes, alarmingly, looked tempted to settle for it.
To his great credit, Trump's approach so far has focused on unmistakable and irreversible conditions. It forces choices rather than conversations about choices. It transforms diplomacy from a performance into the demand for a decision. Trump's posture indicates that he is unwilling to let Iran simply run out the clock.
If pressure is lifted, the Iranian regime gains resources without making meaningful concessions. If pressure remains, the regime must decide whether survival requires compromise. That is leverage, and leverage is most powerful when it is not prematurely surrendered.
For decades, the Iranian regime's leadership has relied on delay, patience, ambiguity, and the hope that Western governments would eventually accept half-measures in exchange for temporary calm. Trump appears determined finally to end that cycle: delay no longer guarantees survival.
Dr. Majid Rafizadeh is a political scientist, Harvard-educated analyst, and board member of Harvard International Review. He has authored several books on the US foreign policy. He can be reached at dr.rafizadeh@post.harvard.edu
