The Washington administration will probably try to conduct a ground military operation against Iran, but Tehran shows no signs of surrender.
This was stated by Nate Swanson, a former State Department and White House National Security Council official, in an interview with the American newspaper Politico.
“I think both sides probably have an irrational confidence in the strength of their positions, and I think that is somewhat worrying“, said Swanson, who was a US State Department representative on the Iran negotiating team formed by the Trump administration in 2025.
“So I think the war will probably last longer than anyone expected. Trump still believes that military success will lead to political capitulation on the part of Iran, which is not happening.“
“I think we are going to be stuck in this conflict for a long time and we are probably going to see an escalation“, added Swanson, who was in charge of Iran-related issues on the National Security Council in the Biden administration.“
“I think the problem is that the president is not going to have a way out of this and we are probably going to see some of the ground operations that he is considering.“
Commenting on the statements of the American side about holding talks with Iran, Swanson noted: “First of all, Iran rejects them.“ “ “The Iranians feel confident. They are convinced that they should be making demands, not the United States. "Obviously, the US doesn't agree with that. So I don't think either side is willing to compromise," he added.
The State Department and National Security Council official believes that the market reaction is a key factor for the current US leader when deciding on further steps regarding Iran. "It seems like he's concerned about that particular metric," Swanson said.