Trump wonders why Iran won’t ‘capitulate’ on its nuclear program. Here’s why

By Abbas Al Lawati, Nadeen Ebrahim, CNN

(CNN) — “Curious to know why we do not capitulate? Because we are IRANIAN,” Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi wrote after US envoy Steve Witkoff said President Donald Trump was wondering why Tehran hadn’t yielded to American pressure over its nuclear program.

The remark captures much of the Islamic Republic’s proud worldview in a single line: that Iran is not just another regional state. Its leaders see the country as a historic power that deserves respect.

Whether its confidence in defying US pressure will prove misplaced remains unclear. A third round of indirect US-Iranian talks on Thursday appeared to make progress, according to Iranian officials and mediator Oman, despite Tehran’s refusal to concede on key American demands.

Much of the disagreement centers on Iran’s insistence on enriching uranium on its own soil. Uranium is a fuel used in nuclear power plants, but when enriched to very high levels, it can be used to make a nuclear weapon.

Iran argues that, as a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), it has the right to develop nuclear energy for peaceful purposes, including enrichment, and that it should not be singled out or denied technology that other members of the NPT possess.

The US recognizes Iran’s right to civilian nuclear power, but it doesn’t trust Tehran’s assurances that its enrichment program will remain peaceful.

Here’s what may be driving Iran’s refusal to budge:

National pride and sovereignty

For Tehran, the nuclear program is about its identity as a modern nation.

Iran is a country of 92 million people with a 2,500-year-old civilization that once rivaled the ancient Greeks and Romans. From the empire of Cyrus the Great to the Safavid and the imperial era, its historical self-image is that of a major power, not a peripheral state that can be pressured by other countries.

Despite being governed by clerics since 1979, Iran frequently deploys nationalistic symbols and invokes its pre-Islamic past alongside its revolutionary identity. State ideology blends Shiite ideology with pride in Persian scientific, cultural and imperial achievements.

What’s more, the nuclear program – which was in fact created with the help of the US – dates back decades and for much of Iran’s modern history raised little concern internationally.

Mastering nuclear technology therefore isn’t merely a technical achievement but proof of Iran’s sovereignty and advancement to the level of global powers.

Tehran’s nuclear program “now functions as a structural pillar of the Islamic Republic – particularly in demonstrating indigenous scientific and technological capability under pressure,” Danny Citrinowicz, senior researcher in the Iran and the Shiite Axis Program at the Institute for National Security Studies in Tel Aviv, Israel, told CNN.

“As a result, relinquishing the nuclear program would not be viewed merely as a policy concession; it would be perceived domestically as surrendering one of the regime’s foundational achievements.”

The regime’s hardliners have repeatedly warned that giving up on uranium enrichment would amount to national humiliation.

“If Iran abandoned enrichment entirely, hardliners would likely frame it as surrender, especially if sanctions relief were limited,” said Sanam Vakil, director of the Middle East and North Africa Program at the Chatham House think tank in London. The regime could survive a compromise on its nuclear program that is short of giving up on enrichment, “but only if it delivers clear economic or strategic gains.”

Banking on a deal

Despite the recent vast US military buildup around Iran and repeated warnings that the Trump administration will not tolerate enrichment, Tehran has not shifted its position. It has refused to offer concessions that go substantially beyond those it made during the Obama-era 2015 nuclear agreement with world powers – a deal that Trump withdrew from on 2018 – and is now pressing for broader relief from US sanctions, not just the nuclear related sanctions lifted under that pact.

It has also rejected American efforts to expand negotiations to include its ballistic missile program and support for armed groups across the Middle East.

Experts say Tehran is banking on Trump’s aversion to war, viewing his regional military buildup as an effort to gain leverage rather than a prelude to an attack.

“Tehran sees zero enrichment as a strategic red line and is betting that Washington will ultimately accept limits as it has in the past rather than risk escalation,” said Chatham House expert Vakil. “It assumes Trump prefers a deal he can brand as tougher rather than prolonged confrontation.”

Iran is also framing a deal as a potential economic win for a Trump administration that has emphasized business and trade. Iran is among the world’s largest oil and gas producers with a massive consumer market that has largely been off limits to Western firms for decades.

Deterrence and leverage

Despite concerns that Iran’s nuclear activities shorten its path to a bomb, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has vowed through a religious edict never to pursue a nuclear bomb.

But even if Iran is sincere in that declaration, enrichment provides it powerful strategic leverage as a nuclear threshold state – one with the capability and infrastructure to build a weapon should it choose to in the future. In Tehran’s thinking, its ability to change its mind at short notice is a way to prevent coercion or attack from its adversaries.

Iran demonstrated how it uses that leverage after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear agreement, gradually enriching uranium to levels far beyond what is required for civilian power generation. The implicit message to Washington was clear: the 2015 deal placed internationally verifiable limits on Iran’s enrichment, and without it, those limits no longer applied.

But that strategy appears to have backfired. Instead of getting Washington to return to an agreement, it ultimately prompted a surprise Israeli attack in June 2025 and the first direct American military strikes on Iranian territory. By the time the US bombed its facilities, Iran was the only country without an active nuclear weapons program to have enriched uranium to 60%, just short of weapons-grade, which is around 90%.

The 12-day summer war “likely forced Tehran to reassess this assumption,” said Citrinowicz. “The scale and precision of US and Israeli strikes demonstrated that threshold status does not immunize Iran from military action.”

Still, Tehran is unlikely to give up on its nuclear program, Citrinowicz said. From its perspective, “abandoning the nuclear program outright would expose Iran to future coercion and possible attack.”

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