Trump: Iran Deal Still Possible as Sanctions Sting

Speaking at a news conference on Monday, President Trump said that he believes a nuclear deal with Iran is still possible, saying “I really believe that Iran would like to make a deal,” and that the only US demand is “no nuclear weapons.”

This seems to be a shift from Trump’s previous position on Iran, and his insistence that the P5+1 nuclear deal, which he withdrew from last year, was not good enough even though it offered major oversight to ensure that Iran wasn’t doing anything related to nuclear arms.

More importantly, as Iranian FM Javad Zarif pointed out in a Tweet after Trump’s comments, Iran is not seeking nuclear arms in the first place. Iran has been reiterating that position for years, and the IAEA’s safeguards agreement appears to verify that.

Trump aimed to credit the possibility for a deal to his many sanctions against Iran, though the combination of those sanctions, and threats to attack, have convinced many in Iran that the US simply isn’t trustworthy to negotiate with. Given how quickly the US reneged on the last deal, it is understandable that Iran isn’t looking to rush into more pacts with the US.