I am not saying the goal of the United States is to do so, but any negotiation with the Islamic Republic only serves to keep the Islamic Republic regime alive. Another day. Another month. Another year. Another decade.
And that, precisely, is the goal of the Islamic Republic. To stay alive. To control 90 million Iranians. To spread its extremist Islamic ideology across the world. And to threaten the United States, Israel, and the West at every turn.
The goal of the United States and the West should be to hasten the Islamic Republic’s demise, not to negotiate and prop it up.
What is happening in Iran today was exactly the plan of the reformists, who have cultivated significant influence inside the United States. Their goal has always been to appear rational, to present themselves to the West as the adults in the room. They are not. They are wolves in sheep's clothing, designed to subjugate Iranians for decades more while spreading their extremist ideology around the world. In America, that means undermining our values by hijacking the very freedoms they seek to eradicate.
The reformist plot was straightforward: remove Khamenei, capitalize on the deep dissatisfaction inside Iran to create a flicker of hope among its people, and then simply shed the skin of the regime through a cosmetic change in leadership. Put the reformists in charge. Allow America to claim credit for eliminating Khamenei, making him a martyr, while the system itself remains entirely unchanged.
Consider something most observers have missed. With the successful American and Israeli strikes across Iran, targeting Islamic Republic leaders, including the former Supreme Leader and commanders of the IRGC and Basij, not a single reformist has been eliminated. Not one. Their agents outside Iran have only grown more influential. How is that possible unless those agents have already deeply infiltrated American and Western institutions? They have been promoted across major media platforms, granted credibility and influence, operating under the guise of being opposition voices while actively working to protect the regime's survival.
People like me who genuinely oppose the regime have been blocked from mainstream media for years. Despite the war and the slaughter of Iranians, we are still prevented from reaching major platforms because the reformists and their agents work to keep us out. I remember this mafia-style system from my childhood in Iran. I know how they play the game. If eliminating someone from a rival faction is what it takes to keep the regime afloat, they will not hesitate. The regime's survival always comes first.
So what is actually at risk from any deal with the Islamic Republic?
When the United States suddenly halted its military operation against the regime, it was clear something was happening behind the scenes. The regime was given a window to reach some arrangement, presumably centered on nuclear concessions and reopening the Strait of Hormuz.
But what does "no nukes" actually mean? Will Iranian regime scientists forget what they already know how to do, enriching uranium and leading toward a bomb? How long before they start up again, assuming that they ever stopped? What happens to the enriched uranium? We are told they already have enough to build ten bombs, and that it takes only weeks to enrich uranium from 60 percent to weapons-grade 90 percent. And what about the ballistic missiles that have struck targets across the Middle East and can now reach Europe? We did not even fully know the range of those missiles until they were already flying. Will the regime stop manufacturing and improving its missiles just because of a deal on paper?
The West must accept one simple truth: the Iranian regime does not think in terms of coexistence. It is a religious, extremist, fundamentalist cult that is ideologically committed to conquering or destroying all who do not submit to it. Period. They have told us this in writing, in their preaching, through their media, and via their agents. This is a revolution without borders, not merely one nation seeking its place among others. Americans have been killed for 47 years as a direct result of this regime's nefarious aspirations.
Assuming a deal could be reached, that the regime could be trusted, and that any deal was not simply a vehicle to prop up the regime, who will enforce it? With any deal, the regime will cheat. It has lied and hidden its activities and violated every agreement it has ever signed. Who will have the political will to respond when they cheat again? Will President Trump respond as a lame duck? Will any possible successor: 48, 49, or 50? Look at how Americans react to a temporary rise in the price of gasoline. Would we have the will to act, even a few years from now?
Will this deal eviscerate the Islamic Republic’s proxies? Hezbollah is still a potent terrorist force controlling much of Lebanon. Hamas is still standing in Gaza, propped up by Islamists in Turkey and Qatar. The Houthis can do nothing without Iranian support. Even if the Iranian regime promises not to fund them, who is monitoring this? Who will stop it? The Europeans will appease the regime. China and Russia will continue supporting the regime regardless of any deal. North Korea will do the same. Assuming that the regime could be trusted with any deal, there will be no control over their immediate breach of any agreement. Even without a nuclear weapon, the regime already knows the world’s Achilles heel: block Hormoz. They have done it, and will do it again. God help us if they have a nuclear umbrella to protect them.
The Islamic regime in Tehran is lying to the administration, the negotiators, and the world. Do not believe a word they say. It is still the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism. Hezbollah, Hamas, and the Houthis are not going away because of any deal signed in a conference room.
All the talk about making the best deal, about what will be in the deal, about the art of the deal, only emboldens them. They see it as America wanting a deal more than Iran needs one. When they smell weakness, they grow stronger. That is precisely the lesson I carry from my own life. When the regime threatened me and demanded I renounce my Christian faith, I did not simply refuse. I challenged their theology to their face. Refusing to show weakness is the only model that works. I won. America needs to win.
There is no negotiating with the Islamic Republic. Any deal that leaves the regime intact leaves the threat intact. And a regime that survives today will be back tomorrow, better armed, better funded, and more dangerous than before.
Marziyeh Amirizadeh is an Iranian American who immigrated to the US after being sentenced to death in Iran for the crime of converting to Christianity. She endured months of mental and physical hardships and intense interrogation. She is the author of two books (the latest, A Love Journey with God), public speaker, and columnist. She has shared her inspiring story throughout the United States and around the world, to bring awareness about the ongoing human rights violations and persecution of women and religious minorities in Iran, www.MarzisJourney.com.
Marzi also is the founder and president of NEW PERSIA whose mission is to be the voice of persecuted Christians and oppressed women under Islam, expose the lies of the Iranian Islamic regime, and restore the relationships between Persians, Jews, and Christians. www.NewPersia.org.
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