Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi (3rd from L) speaks during a meeting with Swiss officials, Geneva, February 16, 2026 (Keystone/AP)
Manufacturing Consent: Trump’s Iran 2026 Is A Sequel To Iraq 2003
I joined Amargi’s Rojîn Mûkrîyan on Monday to consider if indirect Iran-US talks over Tehran’s nuclear program, continuing in Geneva yesterday, can avert strikes by the Trump Administration.
In the 35-minute chat, I set out the issues and the tactics on both sides. I look at the tension between the Trump camp’s tough pose and Donald Trump’s desire for a Nobel Peace Prize, exacerbated by his choice of envoys: real estate developer Steve Witkoff and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
I explain why strikes are unlikely to break the Iranian regime. Instead, they could fuel regional confrontations and undermine the quest of Iranians — bloodily repressed by the regime last month — for rights, reforms, and justice.
