Iran wants US talks, but first, respect
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ANTALYA, Turkey – As Iranians braced for the full restoration of economic sanctions imposed Monday by the Trump administration, their government signaled it would be open to talking to the United States about a new nuclear arms accord if Washington changes its approach to discussing the agreement it abandoned this year.
Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, Iran’s top diplomat, told USA TODAY in an exclusive interview over the weekend that his government would consider diplomacy if there were “foundations for a fruitful dialogue” on the nuclear reduction deal. In May, President Donald Trump pulled the U.S. out of the pact made with world powers and Iran. Other signatories stayed in.
“Mutual trust is not a requirement to start negotiations – mutual respect is a requirement,” Zarif said in a wide-ranging, 45-minute interview.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on state TV in August that he would be willing to meet with Trump over the collapsing deal, but Rouhani questioned Trump’s “sincerity” in any possible talks. U.S. national security adviser John Bolton dismissed Rouhani’s comments as propaganda. The United States and Iran effectively broke off all diplomatic contact when Trump decided to exit the agreement.
The Trump “administration does not believe in diplomacy. It believes in imposition,” Zarif said in the interview before the White House reimposed crushing economic sanctions on Iran’s energy and banking sectors Monday.
The administration said the sanctions, lifted under the agreement Iran signed with the United States, the United Kingdom, France, China, Russia and Germany when Barack Obama was president, are aimed at taking stronger steps to curb Tehran’s nuclear program, its missile activity and the billions of dollars it spends funding terrorism and sowing discord across the Middle East, in countries such as Syria and Yemen.
Pressure has been building
The White House did not respond to a request to address Zarif ’s remarks. The State Department declined to comment. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday: “The Iranian regime has a choice. It can either do a 180-degree turn from its outlaw course of action and act like a normal country, or it can see its economy crumble. We hope a new agreement with Iran is possible.”
The Trump administration sanctioned more than 700 Iranian banks, companies and individuals. It issued oil sanction waivers to China, India, Italy, Greece, Japan, South Korea, Taiwan and Turkey. The waivers will allow them to keep purchasing Iran’s oil.
Rouhani said Monday that his nation faces a “war situation” and vowed that Iran “will sell” its oil. Iran’s military announced it will hold defense drills to prove its capabilities.
An earlier round of Washingtonadministered penalties, cutting Iran’s access to U.S. dollars and its ability to trade certain commodities, took effect in August.
Though the U.S. government insisted the sanctions do not target humanitarian goods, basic items have become more expensive, and some lifesaving medicines are unavailable amid a currency crash and international companies pulling out of Iran.
“Mutual respect starts with respecting yourself, with respecting your signature, respecting your own word,” Zarif said, referring to various international agreements Trump has abandoned or renegotiated since taking office.
Iran’s foreign minister spoke to USA TODAY in Antalya, a resort town on Turkey’s southwestern Mediterranean coast, where he attended an economic conference. He addressed how Iran’s crippled economy will cope with the sanctions and discussed attempts by European leaders to salvage the accord without Washington.
‘Iran is used to sanctions’
“The current U.S. administration is essentially asking all members of the international community to violate international law” by forcing them to break a deal that was enshrined in a U.N. Security Council resolution, Zarif said. “Iran is used to U.S. sanctions,” he said. “We’ve had them for almost 39 years.”
Zarif discussed Iran’s reputation as a bad actor in the Middle East region and its view of Saudi Arabia, the country’s long-standing regional foe. The Saudis have come under intense scrutiny after the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi at the hands of Riyadh state operatives in Istanbul.
“Unfortunately, a person has been murdered in a very brutal way,” Zarif said, accusing the Saudis of involvement in global turmoil. “Who created the Taliban? Whose citizens were involved in the Sept. 11 attacks? Who supported the Islamic State group in Syria? Who is bombing Yemeni civilians? Who abducted (Lebanon’s prime minister) and kept him in captivity for three weeks? … Look at all these realities.”
Zarif noted that Trump’s decision to withdraw from the nuclear accord came over the objections of the United States’ closest allies – and despite repeated confirmation from the International Atomic Energy Agency, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, that Iran had complied with the accord’s terms by reducing uranium enrichment.
“For somebody to simply say: ‘I don’t like it. I want to walk away from it because I believe I am powerful enough to do it.’ What is the guarantee that they won’t do that again in the next agreement?” Zarif said.
Return to negotiating table?
For U.S.-Iranian talks, “it doesn’t have to be a different administration, but it does require a different approach,” Zarif said.
Esfandyar Batmanghelidj, the founder of Bourse & Bazaar, a media firm that supports business diplomacy between Europe and Iran, said: “Zarif doesn’t say things unless he wants to signal where Iran’s thinking is. ... What’s significant is he is saying this on the eve of the sanctions being reapplied. ... Iran can’t be seen to be begging the U.S. to come back into the deal, but it is clear there is an undercurrent in the diplomacy, which is that Iran is open to this if the U.S. shows itself to be reasonable about respecting” the nuclear deal.
Trump has said he is open to the idea of holding talks with Iran’s leadership, without preconditions, about the prospect of a new agreement – an offer Iran has consistently rejected, relying on help from Europe to keep the nuclear deal alive.