The Muslim Way Of War

Iran is pretending to pursue peace negotiations simply as a reprieve to regain their military strength: "Iran digs out underground missile sites during cease-fire with US: report." From the lede:

    Iran has dug out a majority of the entrances to its underground missile bases that were buried by joint US-Israeli strikes during the height of the war, satellite images show.

    A recent probe of 18 missile facilities hit during the war shows that at least 50 out of 69 tunnel entrances have been reopened since the cease-fire went into effect in April, CNN reported.

    The fast work indicates that Iran would be poised to fire a lot more long-range missiles across the Middle East if the war restarts amid tense peace negotiations.  

This strategy is termed hudna. The Middle East Forum gives this explanation of it (footnotes omitted):

    The concept of hudna deserves a close look: It is not a Qur’anic term, nor is it the only Arabic word for a cease-fire or truce; others include: muhadana, muwada’a, muhla, musalaha, musalama, mutaraka, and sulh. But hudna is the most prominent. It is the first word used in Muslim history to mean cease-fire, specifically in the context of the seventh century Truce or Treaty of al-Hudaybiyya, often termed the Sulh al-Hudaybiyya (peace of al-Hudaybiyya).

    Named after a village outside Mecca, the truce came six years after Muhammad and his followers abandoned Mecca for Yathrib, today’s Medina. This move, known as the hijra (emigration) is of enormous significance for the classical understanding of jihad, inasmuch as it sets a pattern of retreat followed by regrouping and rearming, which permits an attack on the territory previously left behind. In March 628 C.E., Muhammad and his followers sought to return to Mecca to perform a pilgrimage. At Hudaybiyya, Muhammad “marched till he reached al-Hudaybiyya which lies at the limit of the Haram [sacred territory of Mecca] area at a distance of nine miles from Mecca.” Muhammad and the rulers of Mecca, most of whom had yet to convert to Islam, negotiated a truce, the essence of which was to permit the Muslims to return unarmed on pilgrimage each year for the next decade. It came to an end two years later, however, following an infraction by a tribe allied to the Meccans. In 630, Muhammad entered Mecca with a small, armed force and took the city peacefully. Hudna, in other words, amounted to a temporary truce.

There is no such thing as a lasting peace with Islam--it is always temporary until they believe they have sufficient strength to challenge you. Or, as the Times of Israel has succinctly explained:

    Simply put: within Islamic tradition, it is considered morally acceptable to make peace treaties (Hudna) when in a position of weakness, and to break them once the balance of power shifts in one’s favor—just as the Prophet did.

    Western observers often fail to grasp why Muslim negotiators push for temporary ceasefires (often ten years long, mirroring the Prophet’s example). They’re then surprised when such agreements collapse suddenly. This isn’t seen as dishonorable, rather, it follows a deeply rooted cultural and religious precedent.