Iran may be open to making nuclear concessions, but will not yield under any circumstances following Operation Roaring Lion, according to Dr. Raz Zimmt, head of the Iran and Shiite Axis program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS). He shared this assessment in an interview on Sunday morning on 103FM.
"Anyone who sees Mojtaba Khamenei emerging from the bunker and raising a white flag – that’s not a scenario that will happen," Zimmet said.
"The Iranians don't trust [US President Donald] Trump because Israel and the United States have already attacked them during negotiations," he added. "They are also preparing for the possibility of escalation. They believe Trump will escalate the attack. From their perspective, they need to proceed as if that is the option currently available."
Tehran will continue war of attrition
Zimmet believes Tehran is willing to continue the war of attrition. "There is one thing the Iranians fear more than a prolonged war of attrition – and that is a temporary ceasefire," he argued.
"After the 12-Day War in June, the Iranians said it wasn’t a permanent ceasefire, and that Israel or the United States would attack them, and that’s what happened. The Iranians are not prepared to conduct such a war once a year or once every few months. Therefore, even if they want a ceasefire, they don’t want the fighting to end with a temporary ceasefire."
He added, "The assessment in Iran, and it could be wrong, is that even if they escalate, it doesn’t necessarily mean they have to surrender. They also have escalation options, such as attacking infrastructure facilities in Bahrain, for example, for energy. A ground operation scenario is problematic, but they can target American forces on the ground, and even if there’s a takeover of Kharg Island, they would want to target the forces that arrive, and they will have the capability to cause damage to the global economy and the countries in the region."