POLITICS: The Iran Negotiations Tehran’s carpet merchants have finally met their match. Kenneth R. Timmerman | – USSA News

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/02/the_iran_negotiations.html

“For all his public verbosity and bombast, this president has shown a remarkable ability to play his cards close to his vest. Tehran’s carpet merchants have finally met their match.”

Iran’s foreign minister and Trump envoy Steve Witkoff will sit down on Friday in Istanbul, ostensibly to “negotiate.”

But what will be the subject of the negotiation?

The Iranians clearly want the U.S. to back off the intensifying military, political, economic, and diplomatic pressure on their regime. I would be stunned if they didn’t claim victory after meeting with Witkoff, that the president had agreed to back down.

But what does President Trump want? He has said two things, both of them intriguing, but neither one really analyzed by media commentators.

First, he has said he wants an end to Iran’s nuclear program. Second, that he wants the regime to stop killing its own people.

Wait a minute, I thought Operation Midnight Hammer “obliterated” Iran’s nuclear weapons facilities last June. What’s up?

Over the past week, satellite photographs have emerged on social media showing that the Iranians have put

The roofs may be just temporary covers, aimed primarily at keeping prying eyes (and satellites) from chronicling the excavation work underneath.

Still, it would take many months for the Iranians to burrow down the 300 feet of rubble caused by the bombs. And once they reached the underground enrichment hall, it’s unlikely they would find anything other than twisted metal.

So my guess is that the apparent excavation work at Fordo is just a mirage.