IT CERTAINLY SEEMS SO: Protracted Iran-War Parleys: Is It Part of U.S. Strategy? “Is Trump deliberately delaying a deal to bring Iran to an economically and logistically weak state where it has no option but to drop insistence on some of the so-called ‘red lines’? Three of these lines are very obvious; not surrendering the already enriched uranium with the enrichment facilities, control over the Strait of Hormuz and sanctions relief. At present, only the last two appear to be somewhat negotiable. The first one is considered by the theocracy as contrary to affirmation of its sovereignty and consequently tantamount to the loss of legitimacy of the regime.”