Iran dismisses talks offer
> Its president slams ‘psychological warfare’ as Trump reimposes sanctions
TEHRAN: Iran dismissed a US offer to renegotiate a historic 2015 nuclear deal signed with other major powers as President Donald Trump reimposed crippling sanctions yesterday.
Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement in May has infuriated European partners who were determined to keep it alive and now find their businesses operating in Iran faced with the threat of US legal penalties.
The sanctions that went into effect yesterday target Iranian access to US banknotes and key economic sectors including cars and carpets.
Much of the damage has already been done, with Trump’s aggressive rhetoric fuelling a run on the rial in recent months, while worsening inflation has stoked public protests against the government’s management of the economy that have intensified over the past week.
Most Iranians see US hostility as a basic fact of life, so their frustration is largely directed at their own leaders for not handling the situation better.
“Prices have been increasing for three or four months and everything we need has become so expensive, even before sanctions returned,” said Yasaman, a 31year-old photographer in Tehran.
He said Iran’s leaders may need to “drink the poison cup” and negotiate with the US.
In a statement on Monday hours before the sanctions went back into force, Trump said: “The Iranian regime faces a choice.
“Either change its threatening, destabilising behaviour and reintegrate with the global economy, or continue down a path of economic isolation.
“I remain open to reaching a more comprehensive deal that addresses the full range of the regime’s malign activities, including its ballistic missile programme and its support for terrorism.”
But his Iranian counterpart Hassan Rouhani dismissed the idea of talks while crippling sanctions are in force.
“If you’re an enemy and you stab the other person with a knife, and then you say you want negotiations, then the first thing you have to do is remove the knife,” he told state television.
“They want to launch psychological warfare against Iran. Negotiations with sanctions doesn’t make sense,” he said.
Iran’s currency has lost around half its value since Trump announced the US would withdraw from the nuclear pact.
But the last two days have seen an impressive 20% rally in the value of the rial after the government announced new foreign exchange rules and launched a corruption crackdown that included the arrest of the central bank’s currency chief.
The new rules allow unlimited tax-free currency and gold imports, and reopen exchange bureaus after a disastrous attempt to fix the value of the rial in April backfired spectacularly with corrupt traders making a fortune out of a mushrooming black market. – AFP