Iran FM ‘Willing to Negotiate,’ Trump Says ‘No Thanks’

Zarif urges US to base foreign policy on facts, not Fox News headlines

In an interview with Der Spiegel magazine, Iranian FM Javad Zarif said Iran is continuing to not rule out the possibility of talks with the US, saying it was always possible for the other side to change their approach. He reiterated that Iran wants the US to lift sanctions.

Even though talks with Iran were long a major goal for President Trump, he quickly declared “no thanks” on Twitter, saying he is not willing to offer sanctions relief as part of this process.

This is in keeping with Trump’s position on almost all matters of diplomacy, which is that he wants negotiations and wants a lot of concessions, but only so long as it doesn’t require the US to give up anything in return.

Zarif offered his own Twitter comment, in reference to Trump tweeting @FoxNews in his rejection comment, saying he thinks the US should base its foreign policy and comments on “facts, not @FoxNews headlines.”

Author: Jason Ditz

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.