‘You cannot negotiate with these people’: Iranian refugee urges Trump to go all-in to topple Tehran
by Jeff Mordock · The Washington TimesLAS VEGAS — Maysam Sabitian says it’s time for President Trump to rip the Band-Aid off and go full tilt on Iran, finding ways to kill more hardline military commanders, granting recognition to an exiled government and arming dissidents to help them overthrow the regime in Tehran.
Mr. Sabitian is an Iranian American who fled his birth nation in the Middle East in the late 1990s at age 17 and settled in the U.S., where he now owns Luna Lounge, a hookah bar on the Las Vegas Strip.
He said he and other expatriates are tired of Mr. Trump’s mix of diplomacy, targeted strikes and military blockades, prolonging a war for six months after the president predicted it would last “four to five weeks.”
“We’re all pissed off with this cat-and-mouse game they are playing,” Mr. Sabitian recently told The Washington Times at his office just off the Strip. “You cannot negotiate with these people. Name me one administration that has had a successful result with this current government throughout these 47 years.”
He said the only answer is to stop treating Iran’s leaders as negotiating partners and, instead, empower their opponents to bring the regime down and drive the war to a decisive end.
Mr. Trump said Tuesday he has no more plans to talk to Iran at this point, but revealed no new strategy for extricating the U.S. from the war.
A deal that Mr. Trump signed in June set a 60-day deadline to end the conflict and begin talks to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program. It expired this week with both Tehran and Washington further apart than when the deal was signed.
Talks have shifted from ending Iran’s nuclear program to reopening the Strait of Hormuz, a critical waterway that carries a fifth of the world’s oil and gas, and lifting a U.S. blockade on Iran, both of which were supposed to happen under the interim deal.
Advertisement Advertisement
For Mr. Sabitian, the war isn’t abstract policy — it’s happening to friends and in-laws still inside Iran, suffering under the rule of the Islamist government and experiencing the missile strikes, martial law and rampant inflation firsthand.
“The economy is crumbled. There is no real job or income. Inflation is through the roof,” he said.
He described a “sense of depression” among people who have tried to work within the regime, through protests and demonstrations, only to see “everything they’re trying has failed so far to make their lives better.”
“We’ll do protests in the streets, we’ll ask for reforms, but you cannot reform a corrupt government. It’s not going to happen,” Mr. Sabitian said.
He fled Iran with his father, a member of the Baha’i faith, the largest non-Muslim religion in Iran. They came to the U.S. as refugees nearly three decades ago.
Advertisement Advertisement
He has run Luna Lounge, which stands near the Trump International Hotel Las Vegas, for 13 years.
The persecution of his father and the plight of his loved ones are why Mr. Sabitian says he believes in the mission to end the regime, but acknowledges the difficulty of watching his homeland being bombed. Still, he said he jumped for joy at a soccer game with his son in February when he learned of the U.S. strikes.
He says his views represent the broader Iranian-American community.
In March, soon after the initial strikes, a survey by the Public Affairs Alliance of Iranian Americans found that 58% supported the initial U.S.-Israeli attack and 60% said regime change should be the top U.S. priority.
Advertisement Advertisement
Mr. Sabitian figures the support may be even higher. He pointed to the thousands of Iranian-Americans who took to the streets in Los Angeles in February when the initial attack killed Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and dozens of high-ranking government and security figures.
Similar celebrations took place in Toronto, Washington, Las Vegas and other cities around the world.
He said the media isn’t giving the rallies the attention they deserve, as journalists try to politicize the war. The result, he said, is a public that’s being misinformed.
“Is the U.S. media doing anything to help? Absolutely not because the U.S. media is focused on politics versus educating people about what’s going on,” he said. “Show our perspective to the people and let them decide on their own.”
Advertisement Advertisement
To those worried that overthrowing Iran’s regime would be the start of another “forever war,” similar to Iraq and Afghanistan, Mr. Sabitian says that’s unlikely.
“Iranians, and I mean this with respect to every other country, are much more capable of rebuilding,” he said. “Protesters forced the government to back down on hijab. Show me one country in the region that has done that.”
That was a reference to mass protests that have forced the government to relax enforcement of mandatory coverings in public for women.
Mr. Sabitian predicted that if the Iranian people can take back control of their nation, it “will be the best ally the United States ever had.”
Advertisement Advertisement
To achieve that goal, Mr. Sabitian said the U.S. must consider alternatives to its current cycle of strikes and negotiations.
Central to his vision is having the U.S. recognize a government in exile, possibly led by Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of Iran’s last shah. Mr. Pahlavi has offered himself as a transitional leader and has been in direct contact with administration special envoy Steve Witkoff about the idea.
Mr. Trump has stopped short of endorsing Mr. Pahlavi, calling him “a nice guy,” but questioning “how he’d play within his own country.” Mr. Pahlavi’s campaign to position himself as a post-regime leader has been described by some outlets as faltering.
Mr. Sabitian also wants escalated strikes against Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps commanders and their infrastructure.
And he wants weapons sent to opponents of the regime.
The idea of arming Iranian protesters is not new inside the Trump administration, but its track record has been poor.
Mr. Trump in April said the U.S. attempted to send arms, but intermediaries kept the weapons for themselves. He did not identify the intermediaries. In May, Mr. Trump again said he would consider arming Iranian citizens, but never fully committed to the idea.
A White House official declined to comment on the specific alternatives Mr. Sabitian laid out, but said: “The Iranian people deserve peace and security.”
The official said Iran’s economy is in freefall with food shortages and massive inflation because of the regime’s “mismanagement.”
“Iran’s leaders have a chance to make tough decisions that will ultimately benefit the Iranian people and bring them prosperity,” the official said.
Still, Mr. Sabitian said force, not negotiations, will be needed if the U.S. is to prevail over the Islamist regime.
“There is only one way to get rid of this government: To fight them back,” Mr. Sabitian said. “They are ideological thugs that will do anything to stay in power. They killed 50,000 people in two days. They will kill five million people if they have to. They will nuke their country if they want to.”
Contact the author
Jeff Mordock
Follow author updates Follow Click to follow. Manage followed authors