When the Besieged Stood Alone and Fought Back: Iran’s war of defiance

By Elijah J. Magnier –

Following the twelve-day Israeli-American war on Iran, Tehran’s programmes have been damaged, but they are not out of service, and reconstruction and restoration are undergoing. There is growing concern over the difficulty of negotiating with Iran now that the threat of war has lost its effectiveness and sanctions have exhausted their function. An incentive to bring Iran back to the negotiating table is now required. The fear, however, is that these incentives may end up resembling acceptance of Iran’s conditions that previously caused negotiations to collapse due to American rejection of Iranian domestic enrichment. This would turn what was meant to be a defeat for Iran into a victory.

It also raises further questions about the fate of Iran’s highly enriched uranium and fuels, growing concern over the possibility of a secret nuclear programme—notably after Iran suspended cooperation with inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

For Western powers, all of this reinforces the urgency of reaching a new nuclear agreement—even if it means accepting terms favourable to Iran and viewing the damage to its programme as a temporary delay rather than a permanent strategic setback.