Nournews: The publication of news about the visit of Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, U.S. representatives in the nuclear negotiations, to the aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in regional waters cannot be considered a coincidental or merely ceremonial event. This move can be analyzed within the long-standing U.S. strategy of simultaneously managing negotiation and threat—a strategy whose main objective is to disrupt the mental playing field of Iranian decision-makers and induce miscalculations between war and diplomacy. By highlighting the military component, the United States seeks to shift the negotiation atmosphere away from the technical and legal track and toward psychological pressure. In reality, the Abraham Lincoln is not a tool of war but a medium for sustaining perceptual warfare.

The Fabricated Dichotomy of Negotiation and War

Although Trump has spoken of the positive trajectory of the Muscat negotiations, Washington’s field behavior and media messaging show that America’s chronic addiction to threats and intimidation remains intact. The dichotomy of “surrender or war” is the familiar pattern of U.S. negotiating insincerity, now pursued with greater intensity. This approach also serves domestic purposes: Trump, facing a serious decline in his social base, major cases such as Epstein, and an unfavorable outlook for the midterm elections, needs to reconstruct the image of U.S. military power.

An Unintended Admission of Iran’s Power

Contrary to Western media claims, Witkoff’s visit to the Abraham Lincoln is less a show of force than an unintended admission of Iran’s deterrent capabilities. Witkoff’s pride in speaking with a pilot who shot down an Iranian drone is itself clear evidence of the status of Iran’s drones and indigenous capabilities in U.S. military calculations. A country that once denied the existence of Iranian drones and dismissed their images as fabricated now considers the downing of an Iranian drone a military achievement. This shift in narrative indicates the direct impact of Iran’s missile and drone power on the U.S. cost–benefit calculations and is one of the factors behind Washington’s retreat from large-scale military threats and its acceptance of the diplomatic track.

The Heavy Cost of Miscalculation

Americans claim that this visit sends a message about the existence of other options if negotiations fail, but the reality on the ground contradicts this claim. Iran has always accepted negotiations, but has never pursued them without field backing. The experience of the 12-day war and the U.S. and Israeli regime’s pleas for a ceasefire is a clear lesson for those still deluded about the military option. Today, as military commanders and the foreign minister have stated, Iran’s armed forces have their finger on the trigger. Any miscalculation will result in an all-out war that will encompass U.S. bases and interests and the occupied territories. This is a reality that the Witkoffs understand well, and their presence on the carrier’s deck is more a sign of fear of the heavy costs of war than a display of power.