If it were up to them, America’s fake allies in the Middle East would have America surrender to Iran. Trump has learned by now that these ostensible allies, in particular his “friend” the NATO member Turkish President Erdoğan, stand on the side of Iran against the United States. Giving up the option of war is good if you achieve tangible peace, but by the terms that they want to impose on President Trump, there will be no pre-agreement on non-enrichment, no negotiations on missiles, no negotiations on nuclear stockpiles, and no negotiations on proxies.
This is a retreat from even former President Obama’s position. It constitutes surrendering on the victims in the recent protests in Iran and would mean an agreement with the same people who murdered tens of thousands [1] of protestors whom President Trump himself encouraged to protest, promising that “help is on its way.” [2] Iranian officials have reportedly said that the regime is prepared to show “flexibility” on uranium enrichment, including transferring highly enriched uranium out of the country and accepting zero enrichment – but first, America has to withdraw its armada from the region because, as an Iranian official reportedly said, “Tehran is open to respectful engagement, but will not engage under U.S. military threat.” [3]
In the meantime, a meeting has been set to be held in Istanbul on Friday, in which U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff and Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi are to be in attendance but they will not be left to talk to each other alone and there will be many others joining: Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and of course representatives from the host country, Turkey. [4] All of this is to avoid direct American-Iranian negotiations, which would be destroy the ayatollahs ideology of “death to America.” Any attempt on the part of Witkoff to present this meeting as direct negotiations will be a blatant lie.
To have such a cocktail party, the ayatollahs whine about the need for “mutual respect” and to avoid “humiliation” while calling President Trump “a dog that only barks” [5] and saying that “he knows that if a bullet strikes him in the head, it will take a long time for it to find his brain, which is the size of a pea, so he will have a few hours before he gets to Hell!” They threaten his life, saying that “now Trump’s turn is coming” to become “food for snakes and vermin.” [6]
The real preconditions here are not American; they are Iranian preconditions that President Trump’s supposed allies seek to impose on him. Iran has apparently already won this round. What may follow is a long process of negotiations that will discuss the alleged fatwa banning nuclear weapons – which in fact never existed and no one has seen [7] and which is itself a means for the ayatollahs to avoid putting a ban on nuclear weapons in the Iranian constitution, like Germany and Japan did after WWII, just as the participation of many countries in the Istanbul talks is a means of avoiding one-on-one negotiations with the U.S.
One thing is clear: All of America’s allies are against America and on the side of Iran. For evidence of this one need only look at what they are offering. Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan advises the U.S. to “close the files one by one with Iran. Start with nuclear, close it, then the others. If you put them as a package, all of them, it will be very difficult for our Iranian friends to digest and to really process it and to go through this. It sometimes might seem humiliating for them. It will be very difficult to explain to not only themselves, but with the leadership.” [8]
The Ayatollahs’ regime brags that it won the 12-day war in June. [9] As a result, the thinking goes, it follows naturally that America must surrender and accept Iran’s terms. In exchange for all of its support, America’s so-called allies pressure it to accept these terms of surrender as a defeated party. Will President Trump abide by these terms and surrender? We do not know that he will. It is always good to avoid war if you win true peace in exchange. In this case it is instead “winning” a return of the belligerent emboldened aggressive anti-American rule of the Ayatollahs.
[1] Nytimes.com/2026/01/28/world/middleeast/iran-protester-deaths.html, January 28, 2026; Iranintl.com/en/202601255198, January 25, 2026.
[2] Truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115888317758045915, January 13, 2026.
[3] Washingtonpost.com/world/2026/02/01/iran-missiles-persian-gulf-trump-military-buildup, February 1, 2026; Reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-examines-diplomacy-with-us-hopes-results-coming-days-official-says-2026-02-02, February 2, 2026
[4] Reuters.com/world/middle-east/iran-examines-diplomacy-with-us-hopes-results-coming-days-official-says-2026-02-02, February 2, 2026.
[5] See MEMRI Daily Brief No. 895, The Iranian Regime Seeks To Deceive President Trump With A Ploy Of ‘Mutual Respect’ While Comparing Him To ‘A Dog That Only Barks’, January 28, 2026.
[6] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 12352, Iranian Regime Mouthpiece ‘Kayhan’ On President Trump: Soon He Will Be ‘Food For Snakes And Vermin’; ‘Iran Must Arrest Him… And Hang Him’; His Brain Is ‘The Size Of A Pea’, February 2, 2026.
[7] See MEMRI Special Dispatch No. 11833, Iranian Regime Continues To Lie About The Nonexistent Fatwa Banning Nuclear Weapons, February 11, 2025.
[8] Hurriyetdailynews.com/turkiye-urges-us-to-resolve-iran-disputes-one-by-one-218342, January 28, 2026.
[9] Iranintl.com/en/202507243824, July 24, 2025; Reuters.com/world/middle-east/supreme-leader-first-appearance-since-ceasefire-says-iran-would-strike-back-if-2025-06-26, June 26, 2025