After meeting with his Finnish counterpart, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif reiterated that Iran is not interested in having direct talks with the United States at this time, though he did hold out the possibility of mediation.
Zarif also credited Europe for efforts to save the P5+1 nuclear deal,
saying he believes they are doing their best. At the same time, he said
the focus on dealing with the US should be bringing them back into the
existing deal.
That’s probably unlikely to happen, as President Trump has committed to
the idea that the nuclear deal was the worst thing ever, and as a
political matter has tried to connect it to President Obama.
On the other hand, withdrawing from the deal clearly hasn’t worked in US
efforts to end the nuclear deal entirely, and has cost the
administration the ability to take matters of enforcement to internal
mediation bodies.
Iran FM: Not Interested in Talks with US
Says mediation should try to bring US back to existing nuclear deal
Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.
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