Iran doesn’t negotiate peace. It prepares for war. President Donald Trump always understood this, and the regime’s latest admissions prove him right.

In a recent interview, Ali Larijani, the newly appointed secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, described Tehran’s devastating losses in its conflict with Israel as not over but “paused.” He explained how Iran is reshaping its defense doctrine, rebuilding its air defenses, strengthening its missile forces, expanding its radar networks, and seeking advanced systems from powers like China.

Most striking was his reaffirmation of the “Axis of Resistance,” a transnational web of militias from Lebanon to Iraq, Syria, Gaza, and Yemen. Far from calling them liabilities, Larijani compared these groups to Washington’s support for Israel, openly acknowledging that Hezbollah, Hamas, and Shia militias are forward-operating arms of Iranian power projection.

For years, Tehran claimed these militias were independent movements. Now one of its highest officials admits the obvious: they are strategic extensions of Iran’s deterrence. This was no slip. It was a declaration of intent, and it revealed the face of a regime that thrives not on peace but on permanent destabilization.

The contrast with Trump’s approach could not be sharper. From the

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