Iran says talks with Trump would be ‘humiliation’

TEHRAN — Scepticism was rife in Iran on Tuesday 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 “any time” without preconditions. 

“I’d meet with anybody. I believe in meetings,” especially in cases where war is at stake, Trump said at a White House news conference when asked whether he was willing to meet with Iranian President Hassan Rouhani.

But several 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 re-imposing 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.”

‘Maybe an opportunity’

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 White House clarified that Trump’s potential willingness to meet with his Iranian counterpart does not change his administration’s intent to ratchet up sanctions and rhetoric against Tehran with the stated goal of “seeking changes in the Iranian government’s behaviour.”

But Trump’s remarks did represent a marked softening of tone from a week ago, when he lashed out at Rouhani in a tweet, saying “Never, ever threaten the United States again or you will suffer consequences the likes of which few throughout history have ever suffered before.”

Shortly before that July 22 Tweet, Rouhani had addressed Trump in a speech, saying that hostile US policies could lead to “the mother of all wars”.

On Monday, speaking at a news conference with visiting Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte, Trump said: “I would certainly meet with Iran if they wanted to meet. I don’t know that they’re ready yet. I ended the Iran deal. It was a ridiculous deal. I do believe that they will probably end up wanting to meet and I’m ready to meet any time that they want to.”

Trump said he had “no preconditions” for a meeting with the Iranians, adding: “If they want to meet, I’ll meet.”

The White House said that even though the president “is open to dialogue and negotiation”, it did not mean the United States would lift sanctions or re-establish diplomatic and commercial relations.

“This relief is only possible if there are tangible, demonstrated, and sustained shifts in Tehran’s policies,” said Garrett Marquis, spokesman for the National Security Council. “Until then, the sting of sanctions will only grow more painful if the regime does not change course.”

Long road ahead

Washington aims to force Tehran to end its nuclear programme and its support of militant groups in the Middle East, where Iran is involved in proxy wars from Yemen to Syria.

Iran and other signatories have been working to find a way to salvage the nuclear agreement, even as the United States has begun reimposing some sanctions on Iran.

No US president has met with an Iranian leader since the Washington cut diplomatic relations with Tehran a year after the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah, a U.S. ally. President Barack Obama broke a three-decade freeze with a phone call to Rouhani in 2013.

If Trump were to pursue diplomacy with Iran’s leadership, he would have to overcome deep-seated concerns among Washington’s closest regional allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Israel, who are deeply sceptical about negotiating with Rouhani’s government.

Trump drew a comparison with his diplomacy toward North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, who Trump met in a June 12 summit with the aim of convincing Pyongyang to give up its nuclear arsenal, a decades-long objective that has eluded several US presidents. 

“We met as you know with Chairman Kim and you haven’t had a missile fired off in nine months. We got our prisoners back. So many things have happened so positive,” Trump said.