Things aren't going well for Iran. While the Islamist nation has managed to kill some civilians by indiscriminately lobbing ballistic missiles at Israel, when it comes to the actual business of winning the war, the scoreboard isn't even close. The latest evidence of that? Iran is now begging for a ceasefire. 

According to The Wall Street Journal, the Mullahs are looking for an off-ramp, burning up the backchannels to try to get the United States to bail them out. 

Iran has been urgently signaling that it seeks an end to hostilities and resumption of talks over its nuclear programs, sending messages to Israel and the U.S. via Arab intermediaries, Middle Eastern and European officials said.

In the midst of a ferocious Israeli air campaign, Tehran has told Arab officials it would be open to returning to the negotiating table as long as the U.S. doesn’t join the attack, the officials said. Iran also passed messages to Israel saying it is in the interest of both sides to keep the violence contained.

I'm not sure if what's left of the Iranian leadership doesn't understand how negotiations work, but they probably should have taken them seriously before Israel began its military operation to destroy their nuclear program. It took only three days for the IDF to establish air superiority over Tehran, and they are now bombing regime targets with impunity. That includes the launchers being used to shoot missiles at Israel. Once that threat is minimized, the Mullahs will have nothing left to respond with. 

In other words, Iran is on the ropes, and that's why they are desperately hoping President Donald Trump's instinct to negotiate gives them a face-saving off-ramp that preserves the regime. Will that happen? I don't know, but I know what I think should happen. 

At this point, Israel should finish the job. The hard work of gaining control of the skies and blowing up Iran's chain of command is done. To agree to a ceasefire now, before fully destroying Iran's nuclear capacity, would mean having to do this all over again in a few years. The Mullahs are scared, and they should be. This is a golden opportunity, not to nation build, but to diminish the Iranian threat for decades without having to put boots on the ground. 

Will the Mullahs fall as a result of these strikes? Again, I don't have an answer for that, but I'd caution people against assuming that's inevitable. The United States is not invading Iran, nor is Israel. That means the only way the Iranian regime fully collapses is if the Iranian people finish the job through a popular uprising. If they don't do that, then so be it. The goal here is defanging the Mullahs and ensuring they do not gain nuclear weapons, not spreading democracy in the Middle East. For that reason alone, this action bears no comparison to the Iraq War. 

With that said, I do hope the Iranian people take this opportunity to free themselves because they may never get another one like this. In the meantime, let Israel cook. This is not the time for an immediate ceasefire that saves the Mullahs and re-establishes the status quo. I think Trump understands that, and while he may give a nod to negotiations publicly because that's what he always does, I wouldn't expect him to actually do much to stop Israel from finishing this fight. 

UPDATE: Netanyahu says no to negotiations. 

NETANYAHU NOT INTERESTED IN PEACE TALKS WITH IRAN — ABC

— NewsWire (@NewsWire_US) June 16, 2025