The Trump Administration intensifies the pressure with its messages to Iran. Diplomacy is still on the cards but remember that it is accompanied by bombings. “I didn’t mean it lightly when I said that in the meantime, we will negotiate with bombs,” said Pete Hegseth.
The talks with Tehran “are very real”, remain active and are “gaining strength”, says the secretary of war. An advance that Washington says it appreciates, but that does not lead it to relax military pressure.
The United States’ stated goal is clear: a deal that forces Iran to give up its sensitive nuclear material and its strategic ambitions in the region. “That is the objective. We do not want to have to do more in the military field than is necessary,” he said. If that agreement does not come, Washington is prepared to go further. “If not, we are prepared to continue.”
Hegseth and the strategy of uncertainty
“We are not going to close any options,” Hegseth stated, defending that unpredictability is, in itself, a weapon. “You cannot fight and win a war by revealing what you are willing to do or not.”
According to Hegseth, Iran currently perceives that there are up to fifteen different ways it could be attacked, including ground operations. “And there are,” he added, without going into details. The more variables Tehran has to manage, the greater the psychological and strategic pressure on the regime.
The ultimate goal is for Iranian leaders to conclude that they are in a better position negotiating than resisting. “Our job is to make sure we force Iran to realize that this new regime is in a better position if it reaches that deal.”
The lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan
Aware of the historical weight that any debate on military intervention in the Middle East carries, Hegseth has distanced himself from the great failures of recent American foreign policy. He assures that Trump “has deeply assimilated the lessons of Iraq and Afghanistan” and that he has no intention of repeating those mistakes.
