Tehran wary of Trump’s offer to meet Iran leaders
TEHRAN: Skepticism was rife in Iran yesterday after US President Donald Trump offered talks, with one lawmaker saying negotiations would be a “humiliation”. The country’s top leaders did not give an immediate response to Trump’s statement a day earlier that he would meet them “anytime” without preconditions. “I would meet with Iran if they wanted to meet,” Trump said at a joint White House press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, “I don’t know if they are ready yet. No preconditions,” he added. “They want to meet, I’ll meet. Any time they want. Good for the country. Good for them. Good for us. And good for the world.”
But several Iranian public figures said it was impossible to imagine negotiations with Washington after it tore up the 2015 nuclear deal in May. “With the contemptuous statements (Trump) addressed to Iran, the idea of negotiating is inconceivable. It would be a humiliation,” said Ali Motahari, deputy speaker of parliament, according to the conservative Fars News. “America is not trustworthy. After it arrogantly and unilaterally withdrew from the nuclear agreement, how can it be trusted?” added Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli, according to Fars.
The US is set to start reimposing full sanctions on Iran from August 6 - a move that has already contributed to a major currency crisis with the rial losing two-thirds of
its value in six months. Only last week, Trump fired off an all-caps tirade at his counterpart Hassan Rouhani on Twitter, warning of untold “suffering” if Iran continued to threaten the US. Many in Iran are therefore suspicious of his latest volte-face. “We cannot negotiate with someone who violates international commitments, threatens to destroy countries, and constantly changes his position,” said analyst Mohammad Marandi, of the University of Tehran, who was part of the nuclear negotiating team.
Some officials remained more receptive. “Negotiations with the United States must not be a taboo,” said Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, head of parliament’s foreign affairs commission, in an interview with the semi-official ISNA news agency. “Trump understands that he does not have the capacity to wage war with Iran, but due to historic mistrust, diplomatic ties have been destroyed,” said Falahatpisheh, adding that this left no choice but to work towards reducing tensions.
Motahari added that hardliners, who have long opposed any rapprochement with the US, share the blame for the collapse of the nuclear deal. “If the whole Iranian system had worked to implement this agreement, today we would be witnessing the presence of European companies in Iran and their investments, and even Trump would not be able to withdraw so easily from the deal,” he said. “But from the start one part of the system did not want the agreement to work.”
On the streets of Tehran, meanwhile, the focus remained resolutely on Iran’s domestic economic difficulties. “All of us believe that Trump is the enemy of Iran and Iranian people. But now maybe Trump wants to give the Iranian people an opportunity and, God willing, it could be a way to get past our disastrous situation,” added Hushiar, an office manager in her 50s.
Many Iranians find it hard to believe that the man who is trying to destroy their economy, and has banned them from flying to the US, can be trusted. “If they are honest in their words that they want to have negotiations with us without any preconditions, at least they should stay in the JCPOA (nuclear deal) or they should let us get the benefits of European trade,” said Morteza Mehdian, a software engineer in his 20s. “But the reality is this man is a liar and we cannot trust his word.”
For now, this is also the official line, with Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei saying earlier this month that talking to Trump would be “useless”. Foreign ministry spokesman Bahram Ghasemi on Monday said “there is no possibility for talks”, ahead of Trump’s statement. “Washington reveals its untrustworthy nature day by day,” Ghasemi said, according to the conservative-aligned Mehr news agency. The Trump administration says its “maximum pressure campaign” is designed to force Iran into a new deal that goes beyond limiting its nuclear program and includes curbs to its regional behavior and missile program.
Separately, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Trump’s repudiation of the accord reached in 2015 was “illegal” and Iran would not easily yield to Washington’s renewed campaign to strangle Iran’s vital oil exports. Rouhani said during a meeting with Britain’s ambassador yesterday that after what he called the “illegal” US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, “the ball is in Europe’s court now”. He added, “The Islamic Republic has never sought tension in the region and does not want any trouble in global waterways, but it will not easily give up on its rights to export oil.”
Rouhani and some senior military commanders have said Iran could disrupt oil shipments from Gulf states through the Strait of Hormuz if Washington tries to choke off Iranian oil exports. Reiterating Tehran’s official stance, Iranian Navy Commander Rear Admiral Hossein Khanzadi was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency yesterday that the strait would remain open “if Iran’s national interests are preserved”.
Iran’s OPEC governor, Hossein Kazempour Ardebili, told Reuters yesterday that Trump was mistaken to expect Saudi Arabia and other oil producers to compensate for losses of Iranian oil caused by US sanctions. “It seems President Trump has been taken hostage by Saudi Arabia and a few producers when they claimed they can replace 2.5 million barrels per day of Iranian exports, encouraging him to take action against Iran,” Ardebili said. “Now they and Russia sell more oil and more expensively. Not even from their incremental production but their stocks.”