As the United States continues to threaten attacks on Iran, regional and international diplomatic efforts are underway to avert the specter of war amid warnings of its serious repercussions for regional and global security and stability.
اضافة اعلان
The Telegraph quoted sources close to U.S. President Donald Trump as saying that he remains open to finding a diplomatic solution with Iran, noting that he has acknowledged that threatening military action was intended to pressure Tehran into negotiations.
In her reading of Trump’s fluctuating stance toward Iran, Dr. Randa Slim, Director of the Middle East Program at the Stimson Center in Washington, said that the U.S. president is using economic and military pressure to extract concessions from Tehran. She added that Trump is currently in a bind and cannot step back from the war option unless he receives a serious concession from the Iranian side.
Slim explained, in an interview with the program “Masar Al-Ahdath” (30/1/2026), that Trump wants to apply the “Venezuela model” to Iran—exerting economic and military pressure with the possibility of changing the head of the regime rather than the regime itself, as was attempted in Venezuela. However, she noted that U.S. decision-making circles doubt the success of applying the Venezuela model to Iran, given the nature and structure of its political system.
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was arrested in a U.S. special forces operation accompanied by airstrikes on Caracas on January 3. According to Slim, both the U.S. and Iran currently find themselves in a stalemate and need a third party to propose and guarantee a solution.
For his part, Dr. Hosni Abidi, Professor of International Relations at the University of Geneva, believes that Trump is known for his volatile positions and that his current talk of a diplomatic solution is driven by allies such as Turkey and some Gulf states, which have urged him to exercise restraint on Iran. He stressed the importance of these countries’ roles, noting that they fear the consequences of war on regional stability.
Despite the significant U.S. military presence in the region, Abidi expects President Trump to change his position on military action against Iran if he obtains the concessions he seeks.
International media have reported three U.S. conditions for reaching an agreement with Iran: halting uranium enrichment, imposing strict limits on the range of Iranian ballistic missiles, and ending Iran’s support for what Washington labels terrorist organizations in the Middle East.
The Uniqueness of the Iranian System
Dr. Alam Saleh, Professor of Iran and Middle East Studies at the Australian National University, said that Iran does not trust Trump based on its previous experiences with him.
He described the U.S. conditions as unrealistic and as dictates imposed by Israel aimed at dominating the Middle East and curbing Iran’s capabilities. He added that Tehran is preparing for war while simultaneously leaving the door open to diplomacy, provided negotiations are not conducted under what it considers coercive terms.
Saleh argued that the United States is demanding Iran relinquish its missile capabilities so that the U.S. and Israel can strike it whenever they choose.
However, he does not believe that regional countries would be able to stop a war if the U.S. president decided to attack Iran, though he emphasized the importance of their opposition to war, which he said would have international repercussions, especially as Washington is preoccupied with China and Ukraine.
Saleh also ruled out the likelihood that a potential U.S. attack would succeed in toppling the Iranian regime or seriously damaging its military infrastructure, unless it were a wide-scale and prolonged war.
Meanwhile, as Trump resumes talking about the possibility of a diplomatic solution with Iran, Israeli circles are reportedly moving to persuade the U.S. president not to abandon the military option.
Dr. Muhannad Mustafa, an academic and expert on Israeli affairs, said that Israel seeks the overthrow of the Iranian regime, which it views as a threat, and is therefore pushing for a large-scale attack.
Israel’s goal, Mustafa added, is to destroy Iran’s missile capabilities. One of the scenarios being discussed is that Israel would not initially participate in a potential military operation, but would join the United States if Iran were to retaliate.
Al Jazeera
