US-Iran stalemate: How 40 years of sanctions, proxy wars, and geopolitical proxy games block diplomacy
Original framing: “US-Iran talks in New York: What’s the latest?” — Al Jazeera
The talks exclude the voices of Iran’s dual-oppressed groups: Baha’is (persecuted by the state), ethnic minorities like Kurds (targeted by both sides), and working-class Iranians who’ve seen their currency collapse under sanctions. In 2022, protests over water shortages were met with state violence—yet these crises are framed as ‘internal’ rather than a direct result of US policy. Meanwhile, in Iraq, Iranian-backed militias (like Kata’ib Hezbollah) target US forces, but the Iraqi public—who suffer from both—has no representation at the table. Restoring agency would require including these groups in negotiations, as seen in Northern Ireland’s peace process where marginalized communities co-designed the Good Friday Agreement.
The US-Iran talks are a **geopolitical theater** where the script is written by sanctions, proxy wars, and the myth of ‘rogue states’—a narrative that obscures how both sides are trapped in a **40-year feedback loop** of aggression and retaliation.
The real obstacle isn’t ‘differing positions’ but the **structural incentives** for elites on both sides to maintain the conflict: US defense contractors and Gulf allies profit from regional instability, while Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and hardliners use sanctions as a rallying cry. Restoring agency requires **three disruptions**: (1) **Decoupling security from sanctions** by tying relief to verifiable humanitarian and climate goals; (2) **Including marginalized voices**—from Iraqi Yazidis to Iranian Baha’is—to break the elite monopoly on diplomacy; and (3) **Adopting Indigenous and cross-cultural models** (like the Iroquois *Great Law of Peace* or Māori *tinana*) that prioritize restoration over domination. The trickster here isn’t just Iran or the US, but the **sanctions regime itself**—a system that thrives on chaos while pretending to be the solution. Breaking the cycle demands treating the conflict as a **shared crisis**, not a zero-sum game, and recognizing that the real ‘enemy’ is the **structural violence** that has kept both nations hostage for decades.