One day before the restart of high-stakes international negotiations over its nuclear program, Iran signaled an intent to draw out talks for months, reinforcing mounting concerns among Western and Israeli officials that Tehran seeks to gain time to advance its regional power and military capabilities. Mohammad-Javad Larijani, senior advisor on foreign affairs to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, told state television that not only would the diplomatic process be lengthy, but the Iranian public should not expect rapid solutions to the ongoing standoff with world powers over Iran’s nuclear ambitions.
The announcement marks both an attempt to shape domestic expectations and a hardened negotiating posture. According to diplomatic sources and defense experts, this approach is fully consistent with Iran’s longstanding strategy of leveraging protracted negotiations to relieve external pressure, extract concessions, and enable continued investment in both its nuclear infrastructure and its regional network of proxies—namely Hezbollah in Lebanon, Houthi forces in Yemen, and Hamas terrorists in Gaza.
Israel, facing an intensifying region-wide threat stemming from October 7, 2023’s unprecedented massacre by Hamas—an atrocity that remains the gravest antisemitic attack since the Holocaust—views Tehran’s diplomatic maneuvering as part of a broader war imposed by the Iranian regime and orchestrated through its so-called “Axis of Resistance.” Israeli military and political leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Israel Katz, and Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, have warned allies not to be lulled by Iranian delay tactics, stressing that each day gained by Tehran equates to heightened risk for Israeli civilians and the entrenchment of hostile forces along Israel’s borders.
Larijani’s comments come as Western nations, including the United States under President Donald Trump, press for tighter oversight and verifiable restrictions on Iran’s uranium enrichment and ballistic missile programs. Yet Iran continues to provide funding, arms, and operational support to militant groups across the Levant, using extending negotiations as an opportunity to coordinate and bolster regional destabilization efforts without triggering open confrontation with the West.
Recent assessments by Israeli intelligence and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) suggest that Iran has maintained uranium enrichment far above levels required for civilian purposes and failed to address weapons program concerns. Concurrently, Iranian-made drones and missiles have continued to flow to proxy forces in Lebanon, Gaza, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, intensifying attacks and regional instability.
The regime’s public messaging also seeks to manage Iranian popular expectations, as years of economic hardship and social unrest have grown under the weight of sanctions and repression. Downplaying prospects of swift diplomatic breakthroughs provides Iran’s leadership political space to suppress dissent and maintain internal cohesion as it maneuvers for time in the international arena.
Strategically, the protraction of negotiations benefits Iranian interests on several fronts: it weakens Western resolve, fatigues adversaries, and creates space for evolving threats against Israel and moderate Arab partners. Israeli officials and Western diplomats insist that only a dual approach—serious diplomatic engagement backed by credible military deterrence—will prevent further nuclear escalation or terrorism sponsored by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and its affiliates.
In the coming months, as the dialogue unfolds and regional violence continues, the international community faces the challenge of preventing Iranian intransigence from translating into permanent gains for its terror proxies and nuclear ambitions. Israel’s stated objective remains unequivocal: to secure clear, enforced limits on Iran’s destabilizing activities and to guarantee its own right to self-defense against a regime dedicated—by word and action—to undermining regional security.
The world must weigh the cost of further delay and consider the lessons of past negotiations. As Israeli officials have made clear, the outcome will not only decide the future of the Iranian nuclear file, but may determine the broader stability and security of the Middle East itself.
