Within days, US President Donald Trump reached for Iran. His administration has called for Iran to dismantle its nuclear program and provide more flexibility, AFP reported.
Trump has long had the power to hang in negotiations as a way to walk his path.
However, in Iran, some observers believe there is less strategy than mixed messaging, and there is a real debate about how a president who breaks that norm will treat nearly half a century of US enemies.
“There are many contradictions in the Trump administration regarding Iran,” said a western diplomat who asked not to name it because of the sensitive nature of the matter. “Sooner or later, it has to come to my mind.”
Trump said on March 7 that he not only wrote a letter to Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who provides consultations on Iran’s nuclear program, but also wrote a warning of potential military action if he refused.
In his first term, Trump, who tore a 2015 nuclear deal negotiated by his predecessor Barack Obama, took office saying he would resume the “maximum pressure” policy of sanctions, but he has openly said he is doing so in honor of Hawkish’s advisors.
Trump’s friend Steve Witkov quickly became his roving global envoy, suggesting a compromise with Iran in a recent interview.
Witkov said Trump is proposing a “verification program” to show that Iran is not pursuing nuclear weapons. This is in line with Obama’s deal supported by European allies.
Trump’s national security adviser Mike Waltz said the goal would soon remain “a complete dismantling.”
Iran claims it is not seeking a nuclear bomb, but the US Intelligence Agency believes it can build it immediately if it decides to do so.
Trump surrounded by the Hawks
Ali Vez, an international crisis group who supports a peaceful resolution, said the maximalist position to end the nuclear program is a non-starter with Iran.
“Iranians are never going to negotiate guns in their heads,” he said.
Witkov and the president himself “doesn’t ideologically oppose any mutually beneficial deals” with Iran, but no one else in the administration appears to have agreed, Vaez said.
Trump is a major decision maker, but he has not shown that he is focusing on Iran, and Witkov is spreading thinly as he is also negotiating Gaza and Ukraine, Vaez said.
Alex Vatanka, a senior fellow at the Institute of Middle East, expressed more optimism about diplomacy. He said Iran could even ask for the kind of contracts that Trump enjoys, such as agreeing to buy US products after years of sanctions.
“If Iran is smart, they’ll take advantage of this opportunity to say they’re the president of the United States who doesn’t seem to be much involved in this issue,” Vatanka said.