The hubris of Iran’s leadership will prevent it from reaching a deal despite its disadvantageous position, INSS Iran researcher Beni Sabti said, arguing that Israel and the US have exhausted all options and should return to war.
“The Iranian hubris is overflowing,” Sabti said. “They do not understand the hint. In the end, missiles do not fire themselves, and a nuclear program does not fire itself. These are evil people who have completely seized power.”
“We are in a temporary situation in which, in the end, religious rule has become military rule, and that is somewhat worse than what existed before, even though it was already black, and now it is blacker than black.”
“We need to go after the minds that operate the buttons,” he said. “It is not about technology. I also reject the issue of enriched uranium, because in the end, people will make the bomb.”
“If the current Iranian leadership were not in office today, and Trump were not looking for someone to talk to, we would be in a better situation today,” Sabti said. “Because of Trump’s mistake, we will be in another round and another round.”
A man holds a flag with a picture of late leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, late Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and Iran’s new Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei, during a rally in Tehran, Iran, April 29, 2026. (credit: MAJID ASGARIPOUR/REUTERS)Latest strikes on UAE show Iran is threatened
Sabti addressed the circumstances that led Iran to attack the United Arab Emirates and Oman on Monday night, saying, “Iran is doing its job excellently. It is like a virus, when the body is sick and fighting it with medicine.”
“The Iranians are doing what they do best,” he said. “The moment they are threatened, they attack, they threaten. The number of threats before yesterday’s incident was enormous.”
“The Iranians talk a great deal, and that foreshadows what is about to come,” Sabti added. “They are aiming for an interim situation.”
“The Iranians learned from us the ‘campaign between the wars.’ They do not attack Israel because we are a very difficult card. They go for the weaker players, those whose defense the US is responsible for.”
Sabti further said that “the Iranians always look for whoever is weak, for instability. Look at what happened in Lebanon when they arrived there in the 1980s. They always look for whoever can be cracked.”
“The Iranians are still in a place of not attacking first,” he said. “They know Israel’s strength. They know we will respond very harshly. We are not Bahrain and not Oman.”
“By the way, Oman was their friend. It was a mediator, for God’s sake. It mediated between Iran and the US before Pakistan,” Sabti said. “The hubris is rising more and more. The fact that they will not attack Israel is perhaps true for the next two days.”
Criticism of Trump’s handling of Iran
Sabti then accused US President Donald Trump of poor decision-making and attacked his conduct.
“President Trump is once again issuing contradictory statements,” he said. “One time, he says, ‘We will erase Iran,’ so erase it. A second time he says, ‘Nothing happened, it was nearby, and they did not mean it.’”
“You are giving them the rope to do what they are doing,” Sabti said. “Now, it may be that he has some kind of game to drag them down. He does not need to. He does not need this game. He is the president of the United States.”
“This is what Trump does not understand,” Sabti said. “He is cheapening the status of the president of the United States. There is nothing we cannot do in Iran. Everything is open in Iran.”