President Trump has been keen to get started with negotiations with
Iran. Iran’s leadership is sending some very mixed messages on the
possibility, with President Hassan Rouhani suggesting talks might be
possible if the US eased sanctions on Iran.
That’s pretty much as good as a no, since the administration seemingly
would never ease sanctions on Iran, and even when the US negotiated an
Iran deal involving easing sanctions, they never delivered n it.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tried to put the matter to bed in later comments anyhow, saying that there was no way Iran would be able to talk with the US right now. Khamenei far outranks Rouhani, so seemingly that’s that. But why the disagreement in the first place?
The two figures clearly have two different priorities in Iran. Rouhani
is facing tough criticism for his inability to get the economy going, in
no small part because of US sanctions. Khamenei, however, is in his
position effectively for life, and can tolerate economic troubles if he
believes it will put Iran in a better position in the long run.
The Iranians are taking a page out of US foreign policy and are playing the good cop/bad cop routine.