{"id":314019,"date":"2026-02-28T03:00:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T03:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/314019\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T03:00:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T03:00:17","slug":"trump-wonders-why-iran-wont-capitulate-on-its-nuclear-program-heres-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/314019\/","title":{"rendered":"Trump wonders why Iran won\u2019t \u2018capitulate\u2019 on its nuclear program. Here\u2019s why"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n \u201cCurious to know why we do not capitulate? Because we are IRANIAN,\u201d Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote after US envoy Steve Witkoff said<\/a> President Donald Trump was wondering why Tehran hadn\u2019t yielded to American pressure over its nuclear program.\n <\/p>\n

\n The remark captures much of the Islamic Republic\u2019s proud worldview in a single line: that Iran<\/a> is not just another regional state. Its leaders see the country as a historic power that deserves respect.\n <\/p>\n

\n Whether its confidence in defying US pressure will prove misplaced remains unclear. A third round of indirect US-Iranian talks<\/a> on Thursday appeared to make progress, according to Iranian officials and mediator Oman, despite Tehran\u2019s refusal to concede on key American demands.\n <\/p>\n

\n Much of the disagreement centers on Iran\u2019s insistence on enriching uranium on its own soil. Uranium is a fuel used in nuclear power plants, but when enriched to very high levels, it can be used to make a nuclear weapon.\n <\/p>\n

\"Iranian<\/p>\n

\n Iran argues that, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, and that it should not be singled out or denied technology that other members of the NPT possess.\n <\/p>\n

\n The US recognizes Iran\u2019s right to civilian nuclear power, but it doesn\u2019t trust Tehran\u2019s assurances that its enrichment program will remain peaceful.\n <\/p>\n

\n Here\u2019s what may be driving Iran\u2019s refusal to budge:\n <\/p>\n

National pride and sovereignty<\/p>\n

\n For Tehran, the nuclear program is about its identity as a modern nation.\n <\/p>\n

\n Iran is a country of 92 million people with a 2,500-year-old civilization that once rivaled the ancient Greeks and Romans. From the empire of Cyrus the Great to the Safavid and the imperial era, its historical self-image is that of a major power, not a peripheral state that can be pressured by other countries.\n <\/p>\n

\n Despite being governed by clerics since 1979, Iran frequently deploys nationalistic symbols and invokes its pre-Islamic past alongside its revolutionary identity. State ideology blends Shiite ideology with pride in Persian scientific, cultural and imperial achievements.\n <\/p>\n

\n What\u2019s more, the nuclear program \u2013 which was in fact created with the help of the US \u2013 dates back decades and for much of Iran\u2019s modern history raised little concern internationally.\n <\/p>\n

\n Mastering nuclear technology therefore isn\u2019t merely a technical achievement but proof of Iran\u2019s sovereignty and advancement to the level of global powers.\n <\/p>\n

\"Construction<\/p>\n

\n Tehran\u2019s nuclear program \u201cnow functions as a structural pillar of the Islamic Republic \u2013 particularly in demonstrating indigenous scientific and technological capability under pressure,\u201d Danny Citrinowicz, senior researcher in the Iran and the Shiite Axis Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Israel, told CNN.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cAs a result, relinquishing the nuclear program would not be viewed merely as a policy concession; it would be perceived domestically as surrendering one of the regime\u2019s foundational achievements.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n The regime\u2019s hardliners have repeatedly warned that giving up on uranium enrichment would amount to national humiliation.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIf Iran abandoned enrichment entirely, hardliners would likely frame it as surrender, especially if sanctions relief were limited,\u201d said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Chatham House think tank in London. The regime could survive a compromise on its nuclear program that is short of giving up on enrichment, \u201cbut only if it delivers clear economic or strategic gains.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Despite the recent vast US military buildup around Iran and repeated warnings that the Trump administration will not tolerate enrichment, Tehran has not shifted its position. It has refused to offer concessions that go substantially beyond those it made during the Obama-era 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers \u2013 a deal that Trump withdrew from on 2018 \u2013 and is now pressing for broader relief from US sanctions, not just the nuclear related sanctions lifted under that pact.\n <\/p>\n

\n It has also rejected American efforts to expand negotiations to include its ballistic missile program and support for armed groups across the Middle East.\n <\/p>\n

\n Experts say Tehran is banking on Trump\u2019s aversion to war, viewing his regional military buildup as an effort to gain leverage rather than a prelude to an attack.\n <\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

\n \u201cTehran sees zero enrichment as a strategic red line and is betting that Washington will ultimately accept limits as it has in the past rather than risk escalation,\u201d said Chatham House expert Vakil. \u201cIt assumes Trump prefers a deal he can brand as tougher rather than prolonged confrontation.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Iran is also framing a deal as a potential economic win<\/a> for a Trump administration that has emphasized business and trade. Iran is among the world\u2019s largest oil and gas producers with a massive consumer market that has largely been off limits to Western firms for decades.\n <\/p>\n

Deterrence and leverage<\/p>\n

\n Despite concerns that Iran\u2019s nuclear activities shorten its path to a bomb, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed through a religious edict never to pursue a nuclear bomb.\n <\/p>\n

\n But even if Iran is sincere in that declaration, enrichment provides it powerful strategic leverage as a nuclear threshold state \u2013 one with the capability and infrastructure to build a weapon should it choose to in the future. In Tehran\u2019s thinking, its ability to change its mind at short notice is a way to prevent coercion or attack from its adversaries.\n <\/p>\n

\n Iran demonstrated how it uses that leverage after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement, gradually enriching uranium to levels far beyond what is required for civilian power generation. The implicit message to Washington was clear: the 2015 deal placed internationally verifiable limits on Iran\u2019s enrichment, and without it, those limits no longer applied.\n <\/p>\n

\"Satellite<\/p>\n

\n But that strategy appears to have backfired. Instead of getting Washington to return to an agreement, it ultimately prompted a surprise Israeli attack in June 2025 and the first direct American military strikes on Iranian territory. By the time the US bombed its facilities, Iran was the only country without an active nuclear weapons program to have enriched uranium to 60%, just short of weapons-grade, which is around 90%.\n <\/p>\n

\n The 12-day summer war \u201clikely forced Tehran to reassess this assumption,\u201d said Citrinowicz. \u201cThe scale and precision of US and Israeli strikes demonstrated that threshold status does not immunize Iran from military action.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Still, Tehran is unlikely to give up on its nuclear program, Citrinowicz said. From its perspective, \u201cabandoning the nuclear program outright would expose Iran to future coercion and possible attack.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cCurious to know why we do not capitulate? Because we are IRANIAN,\u201d Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-314019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}