As President Donald Trump searches for a way to reopen the Strait of Hormuz and curtail Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Washington and Tehran appear to be engaged in a standard negotiation.
Washington tends to view negotiations with Iran through the lens of power. Tehran views them through the lens of possession.
Washington aims to force Iran to succumb to demands through economic pressure and sanctions. Tehran aims to force the US to succumb after acquiring something valuable and refusing to give it back.
Twice over the last decade, I was involved in protracted negotiations with Iran for the release of American hostages held in Tehran’s notorious Evin Prison.
Hostage negotiations collapse power advantages. Iran understands this. It’s why Tehran, since the 1979 revolution, has repeatedly used hostages as bargaining chips with the US.
As a diplomat representing the most powerful country in the world, there was nothing in my hand to overcome the imbalance at the table. My counterparts possessed something we wanted (people), and they would hold onto it until we were prepared to pay a sufficient price.
Short of a hostage rescue operation, there was nothing Washington could do outside of paying an agreed price.
Time favored the Iranians. They felt little urgency. Their strategy was to wait as hostages suffered and pressure mounted on Washington to secure their freedom.
Seek to outlast the macro pressure and rising gasoline prices as economic pain compounds inside Tehran to some distant and uncertain breaking point.
Pay the up-front cost with billions to Iran in exchange for a return to status quo before the war — a humiliating retreat for Trump given the stated objectives at the outset.
Seek to control the strait militarily and renew major operations inside Iran, with risk that Tehran then seeks to expand the war to other fronts.
This is the dilemma of negotiating with a party that possesses what you want back.
Unless and until the leverage changes, Iran will not surrender it cheaply — and talks will remain as today: deadlocked.
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