Walid Phares to Newsmax: Iran Using Truce to Stall U.S.

Newsmax foreign policy analyst Walid Phares said Sunday that the Iranian regime is using the current ceasefire in Gaza to stall and manipulate global perception.

He warned that Tehran's leaders are "playing chess" with U.S. diplomacy.

Phares told Newsmax's "Sunday Report" that the focus should be on supporting the Iranian people rather than negotiating with Tehran's entrenched leadership, which he described as rigidly ideological.

Still, he added, President Donald Trump will employ every diplomatic measure necessary to restrain the regime and prevent it from undermining the broader peace effort.

He noted that Iran's rulers have been strategically observing events in Gaza while trying to buy time under the guise of dialogue.

"In Gaza, Tehran's elites, the rulers basically have been observing what's happening in Gaza, have been planning on moving like in a chess game," he said. "So what they want really is to gain time to tell the world, 'We are ready to discuss.'"

Months ago, however, when U.S. airstrikes targeted Iran's nuclear program, the regime also said it was ready to talk, but nothing happened, Phares added.

"They are playing with the president," he said. "He's a good chess player, but let's stay really alert that the regime in Tehran at this point in time is aiming at getting time, a lot of time."

Former Israeli diplomat Shahar Azani, also on Sunday's program, agreed, saying the only lasting solution with Iran would come through a change in its leadership.

"Well, actually [I'm] not surprised at all, because what we're seeing from Iran's direction is not quiet, actually, but the opposite," said Azani, who is now CEO of the Book Family Foundation and head of corporate social responsibility at Jet Support Services, Inc.

"Only a few days ago, the Israeli security forces intercepted a significant weapons shipment that Iran tried to send to Judea and Samaria that included drones, explosive drones, anti-tank missiles, grenades and other weapons that would change the equilibrium of terror in that region," he continued.

Azani said Iran's foreign ministry recently reaffirmed its opposition to the Abraham Accords, showing Tehran remains committed to its ideological campaign of terror.

"The only real solution when it comes to Iran will come with a change of this regime for the benefit of not just the Israeli people or the greater Middle East, but truly for the Persian people who have been suffering under the boot of this oppressive, draconian Islamic republic," he said.

Both guests expressed skepticism that Iran could ever be trusted to pursue peace, despite Trump's efforts to build regional stability.

"The Iranian regime, the Islamic Republic, is extremely ideological," Azani said. "They have been so for decades, in which they have exercised their exporting the revolution, torment, and suffering all across the Middle East and the world."

"We have no faith or trust in the Iranian regime," he added. "But like Walid said, the president is a very good chess player. I don't think this president can be duped."

Looking ahead to President Trump’s expected address to the Israeli Parliament, Phares said the message will likely echo his 2017 speech in Riyadh, where he urged Muslim leaders to unite against terrorism.

"His message is that we have won that war and that it will be Israel first on the ground," Phares said. "It's a redo of the visit to Riyadh in 2017, when he met with more than 51 Arab and Muslim leaders."

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