Iran does not want war, but is ready to fight to the end: Abbas Djuma

Abbas Djuma, Russian international affairs journalist, commented to Alpha News on the new escalation of the conflict between the US and Iran, the possibility that Tehran might decide to create nuclear weapons, and the prospects for implementing the TRIPP project in Armenia.

According to the expert, the new escalation resulted from the collapse of agreements between the US and Iran.

“To understand what has caused the new escalation of the conflict between the US and Iran, one needs to open the Islamabad Memorandum of Understanding between the United States of America and the Islamic Republic of Iran itself and carefully read all 14 points of the agreement. There are too many vague and general formulations in it, although some issues were addressed with specifics. And it is precisely the five or six most critical points of this memorandum that have been violated. The first violated point concerns Lebanon. Iran has consistently emphasized that, under this memorandum, Israel must stop its attacks and leave Lebanon alone. However, Israel has not heeded these calls, the situation in Lebanon remains extremely unstable, and Hezbollah continues to come under attack.

Next is the issue of unfreezing assets. The Americans, in essence, simply deceived the Iranians. According to the memorandum, if this document can even be called a full-fledged agreement, since a memorandum is not actually a treaty but a statement of intent on the basis of which a full agreement is supposed to be reached in the future, the funds were to be unfrozen and transferred to Iran. However, Donald Trump began putting forward additional conditions.

A separate issue concerns the Strait of Hormuz. Under the agreements, Iran was supposed to ensure unimpeded shipping. At the same time, Tehran was given a transition period, 30 to 60 days, to prepare the necessary conditions, including mine clearance and ensuring navigational safety. While Iran carries out this work, it is simultaneously watching how the other points of the agreement are being implemented. And when Tehran sees that obligations are being grossly violated in other areas, a natural question arises: why should it strictly observe its own part of the agreement?

For Trump, continuing to implement the memorandum is a bad option. But, in his view, it is still less painful than fully admitting failure on the eve of the elections. Hence the attempt to adjust something, to revise something, to avoid fulfilling the agreements in full. At the same time, full-scale escalation is also not possible. Even now, both Israeli experts and American media are talking about a shortage of missiles,” Djuma said.

According to the expert, Iran is not afraid of war but sincerely seeks peace.

“Iran certainly wants peace. Iran wants agreements and constantly demonstrates this aspiration, even despite the clear dissatisfaction of the country’s supreme leadership with the negotiation process. Both the former and the current supreme leaders have repeatedly spoken of their skepticism toward negotiations with the West. It is precisely war that Iran does not want. It is not afraid of it, but it sincerely does not want it. That is why, despite all its accumulated experience and its distrust of the United States, the Iranian leadership repeatedly chooses diplomacy. Because the alternative to diplomacy is a large-scale war, which Tehran tries to avoid by every possible means. Because a great deal truly depends on this, the lives of thousands, and possibly millions, of Iranians depend on it. That is why, by every means available, fair or otherwise, sometimes swallowing their own pride and even, to a certain extent, compromising national interests, they are trying to prevent war. But that does not mean they are not prepared for war. It does not mean they fail to understand that their efforts may well prove insufficient, because reaching an agreement with this beast is very, very difficult, if not impossible,” Djuma noted.

In the expert’s view, the more the situation around Iran deteriorates, the less chance there is that the TRIPP project will be realized.

“It is obvious that an aggressive Washington, led, as they see it in Iran, by a reckless and unreliable president incapable of honoring agreements, is not a factor of stability. In such a situation, they will, of course, be extremely critical and wary of any projects, especially ones like TRIPP, which directly affects Iran’s interests. So it seems to me that what is happening is seriously undermining the project’s stability. And the more the situation deteriorates, the less chance there is that TRIPP can be implemented quickly and smoothly. The Iranians, of course, will not allow that. Right now, any movements, including in the Caucasus, are perceived by them as a potential threat and, it must be admitted, not without reason,” Djuma concluded.