Doveryay, No Proveryay (Trust but Verify)

In a discussion in 1988 during the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces (INF) treaty negotiations, Ronald Reagan famously said to Mikhail Gorbachev the Russian expression doveray, no proveray, meaning trust but verify. That phrase eventually led to the completion of the INF negotiations and the treaty was subsequently signed in Moscow (July, 1988) banning an entire class of weapons. The treaty endured for several decades but is no longer in effect as both the US and Russia have withdrawn from it.

Currently a hudna (cease fire) exists in the Iran-US-Israel war. The hudna is of indeterminate duration as each side proposes terms for an end to this war. Of course, what is actually being accepted or rejected by either side is not publicly available. What we do know is that President Trump has insisted publicly that the Strait of Hormuz be opened to all vessels and that Iran renounce efforts to acqire nuclear weapons. The US has also demanded that Iran surrender all the enriched uranium it posseses. Whether agreement can be reached or shooting will start again no one can say with certainty. What we can say is that the negotiators for Iran cannot be trusted and the US must insist on fulfillment of its demands. Whether the US will remain in this posture of negotiating from a position of strength is questionable. Cheap political games being played by the anti-Trump media and politicians of the left make the US position difficult to sustain.

What should the bottom line US position be? In World War II, the US demanded unconditional surrender by the Axis powers. That's how the war ended. Germany and Japan were occupied and democratic governments were eventually placed into power. Can the US and indeed the world tolerate the continuation of the tyranny of the Islamic regime? Can the Iranian people continue to suffer under this regime? Can the mullahs be permitted to sponsor terror and mayhem throughout the middle east and the rest of the world? An earlier post on this blog spoke of the responsibility of the Iranian people in establishing a representative democratic government in their country. The responsibility of the Iranian people remains and they have a heavy obligation to change the current regime with a regime that they and the rest of the world can live with. This may be their best opportunity to effect such change.

The hudna will end. Whether it ends in an agreement or in a resumption of war remains to be seen. Whatever happens eventually,it is important to remember President Reagan's words almost forty years ago, doveryay no proveryay. Trust but verify.

Garry S. Sklar

Las Vegas, NV

May 25, 2026