Trump's Iran

Word of US President Donald Trump's decision to sanction Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif did not seem to rattle the government in Tehran. Zarif's own reaction, that the US is "isolating itself," suggested that Iran would not be intimidated.

Iranian officials echoed one another, saying that the United States was afraid of Zarif's eloquence. President Hassan Rouhani said that the "White House is frightened by his diplomatic capabilities." Majid Takht Ravanchi, Iran's permanent representative to the United Nations, told Iranian media that the US has sanctioned Zarif in order to "suppress his logic and his eloquent and persuasive language." Former foreign minister Ali Akbar Velayati said that the US does not have the ability to counter Zarif's arguments.

There is merit to this view. The buzz in Washington suggests that both Trump and his Secretary of State Mike Pompeo were unhappy with Zarif's interactions with the US media. Zarif, who studied in the United States, is comfortable with television cameras and has proven more than capable of making a rational case against the US unilateral withdrawal from the 2015 Iran nuclear deal ( the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, or JCPOA).

Zarif is indeed urbane and eloquent, but those are not his only strengths. He has the additional advantage of having the facts on his side. United Nations agencies all say that Iran

has confirmed that it will abide by the terms of the JCPOA, and that there is no reason for unilateral sanctions imposed by the US. This is a view accepted by the European Union. Trump's main problem is that the United States does not have a legitimate case to make against Iran.