“Has Iran dented America’s aura of invincibility?”, First Post, April 20, 2026
“The most extraordinary image that has stayed with me from the failed peace talks in Islamabad is this: the American delegation led by JD Vance looked eager to please and be polite. Contrast that with the grim-looking Iranians walking in with purpose – icily calm and collected. Never once did it appear as if the meeting that was to take place was between a victor and a vanquished. It appeared as if two powers were meeting for a solution on equal footing.
To give a historical parallel, the scene could have been straight out of June 29, 1982, when the Soviets and the Americans met for the first time in Geneva to begin START (strategic nuclear arms limitation talks). Back then it was a meeting of equals. Both sides were bristling with nuclear weaponry. Surely this was not the case a few days back at the Islamabad talks.
Iran, militarily decimated, is still standing there. They still pose a potent threat to the United States for the superior power to be talking head-to-head with them. And along with the militarily unthinkable, they have achieved something else. The world by and large empathises with Iran. Remember it was not even a month back when the world saw Iran as a dark, nihilistic zone run by a hardline, theological regime with bloodthirsty Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) cadres rounding up innocents and crushing expressions of free speech and living with brutality…….”
Read full article at firstpost.com
