Gerrit van Eijk

With Mohsen Rezaei now leading the Islamic Republic’s so-called negotiating track and Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf relegated, the regime is unlikely to retreat from its maximalist demands. Both men are longtime Islamic Republic insiders with deep IRGC backgrounds. The difference is how they operate. Ghalibaf is a political operator with experience managing parliament, civilian institutions and external negotiations. He is not a moderate, but his approach left some room for sequencing, political management and limited compromise within the regime’s red lines. Rezaei represents the security establishment in its purest form. The former IRGC commander treats negotiations as a zero-sum confrontation. He demands that the United States “surrender” to seven conditions before talks begin or the Strait of Hormuz reopens. Those demands include lifting the naval blockade and sanctions, releasing frozen assets, reducing the American military presence, paying reparations and ending hostilities against the regime’s proxies. Rezaei has also rejected transferring the Islamic Republic’s 60-percent-enriched uranium to Russia. The regime therefore expects the United States to surrender its pressure while it retains its enriched uranium, Hormuz leverage, missile capabilities and proxy network. Officials deny that Ghalibaf has been formally removed, but Rezaei now dominates the messaging, receives foreign outreach and publicly defines the conditions. The shift from Ghalibaf to Rezaei signals that the military-security establishment has tightened its control over the process. Under Rezaei, compromise becomes capitulation and every demand becomes an inviolable right. That makes an Islamic Republic retreat far less likely and a serious agreement far more difficult.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has been forced to relocate to a military base after an IRGC assassination plot against him was exposed. This is the man who has crushed the Iranian regime’s economy. Pray for Bessent. What is Trump waiting for? Finish the job and free Iran now!