According to Donald Trump, Iran does “want to do a deal” which would, in theory, preserve the power of the present regime in return for ending its nuclear weapons programme. On the face of it, that is an offer that the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, cannot refuse.
It is an offer that he cannot refuse, in the old mafiosi sense, because the overwhelming firepower available to the United States could destroy the current Iranian state. It is also an offer that, rationally, it would be wise for the regime to accept for the basic purposes of self-preservation. After all, despite the president’s earlier vocal support for the Iranian protesters and promise that “help is coming”, the only tangible effect of US policy has been to deter the mass hangings of anti-regime Iranians arrested in the recent disturbances.
