Iran willing to give Trump diplomacy ‘another chance’

Iran is ready to give the United States a chance to resolve disputes between the arch foes, a senior Iranian official told Reuters, a day after President Donald Trump restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on the country.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said US concerns about Iran developing nuclear weapons were not a complicated issue and could be resolved given Tehran’s opposition to weapons of mass destruction.

“The clerical establishment’s will is to give diplomacy with Trump another chance, but Tehran is deeply concerned about Israel’s sabotage,” said the senior official.

The official said Tehran wanted the United States to “rein in Israel if Washington is seeking a deal” with the Islamic Republic.

Trump said on Wednesday he preferred a verified nuclear peace agreement with Iran, according to a post on his Truth Social account.

Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero in order to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. Tehran has long said its nuclear program is entirely peaceful and it has no intention to build nuclear weapons.

But with its regional allies either dismantled or gravely weakened since the start of the Hamas-Israel conflict in Gaza in October 2023, and mounting discontent among many Iranians at the state of the economy, analysts say the clerical establishment has few options other than to strike a deal with Trump.

The fall of Bashar al-Assad in Syria in December, a crucial ally of Tehran, has severely disrupted Tehran’s “Axis of Resistance”, a network of regional armed groups, militants and allied states, to counter Israel and the United States, while asserting its influence throughout the Middle East.

In 2018, then-President Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the country’s economy. The harsh measures prompted Tehran to violate the nuclear pact’s nuclear limitations.

The official also said Tehran disagreed with “any displacement of Gazans, but Iran-US talks are a separate matter”, referring to Trump’s remarks that the US would take over war-ravaged Gaza and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after resettling Palestinians elsewhere.

“Iran does not agree with any displacement of Palestinians and has communicated this through various channels. However, this issue and the path of Iran’s nuclear agreement are two separate matters and should be pursued separately,” the official said.