Trump did not delay the strike on Iran out of indifference or hesitation. He delayed it because he was still trying to negotiate. George Friedman, founder of Geopolitical Futures, revealed that the month-long gap between Iran's brutal suppression of protests and the US-Israeli attack was filled with last-ditch diplomatic efforts that ultimately collapsed.
Friedman discussed the timeline on the Talking Geopolitics podcast, as reported by "Hvylya".
"I think what Trump was trying to do is get a negotiation going," Friedman said. The administration believed that the combination of massive street protests - which reportedly cost tens of thousands of lives - and American pressure might force the regime to bend. "He thought that between the pressure of the crowds in the streets and the pressure the United States was putting on it, there was some possibility of reaching an understanding."
The negotiations focused on a single issue: total elimination of Iran's nuclear program. Tehran offered partial concessions - keeping a scaled-down program for "medical and other research" - but refused full dismantlement and rejected permanent inspections. "In the last weeks it became very clear that that understanding could not be reached," Friedman said. Trump was dissatisfied with Iranian responses - and the window for diplomacy closed.
Trump drew criticism for his "help is on the way" statement during the protests, made over a month before the strikes actually came. Friedman acknowledged the tension but defended the logic: the administration genuinely believed diplomacy might still work. When it didn't, the strike came - and it was not aimed at punishing the crackdown, but at the nuclear program and the regime behind it.
"It came down to the fact that the Iranians were prepared to do many things that we wanted, but not get rid of the one thing that was essential, the nuclear program," Friedman said. The focus of the attack, he emphasized, was on government buildings and military infrastructure - "not an attack intended to kill many civilians." The decapitation of the leadership was the point where negotiation ended and force began.
Also read: Three Oval Office Visits: How Tucker Carlson Tried and Failed to Talk Trump Out of War With Iran