After months of saying he wants talks with Iran, President Trump said on Friday that he believes Iran’s leadership wants to have talks, and that he is trying to get them together for the UN General Assembly.
That may be overly optimistic, as Iran has long taken the same position,
that talks are only possible if the US eases sanctions or returns to
the P5+1 nuclear deal. Since it’s long been assumed that won’t happen,
they’ve said the talks wouldn’t either.
Trump’s suggestion of a change may be based on hopeful statements from
one of President Rouhani’s aides, who thought the firing of John Bolton
this week meant the end of US “maximum pressure” strategy.
Bolton was seen as a major opponent of talks with Iran, and there has
been a lot of speculation Trump might make some concessions to get talks
going now with him out of the way. That said, Trump has yet to announce
any such proposal, nor has the administration confirmed any change in
US hostility toward Iran.
Trump: Iran Wants to Talk, Summit Could Happen at UN General Assembly
Rouhani's aides see Bolton's ouster as suggesting US policy change
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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