Iran Couldn’t Avoid Talking With Trump Any Longer

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/04/iran-us-nuclear-negotiations/682465/?utm_source=reddit&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=the-atlantic&utm_content=edit-promo

Posted by theatlantic

4 comments

  1. Arash Azizi: “In the first few weeks of Donald Trump’s second term, Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, repeatedly rejected the U.S. president’s offer of negotiations over Iran’s nuclear program, just as he had during Trump’s first term. Tehran would not talk to this U.S. administration, Khamenei insisted. And even if it did talk, it would only do so indirectly. Talking to Washington was ‘not honorable,’ the supreme leader claimed.

    “Khamenei’s objections collapsed on Saturday evening when Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, chatted with Trump’s Middle East envoy, Steven Witkoff, in the residence of Oman’s foreign minister, Badr Albusaidi, in Muscat. Prior to this hallway chat, the two sides had spent close to five hours in two different wings of Albusaidi’s palatial home, exchanging written messages with Oman’s top diplomat as their mediator.

    “The direct discussion, long demanded by Trump but rejected by Iranian officials, showed just how well the initial talks via Albusaidi had gone. But it also underscored how weak, even humiliating, a position Khamenei finds himself in.

    “The U.S. and its allies in the Middle East want to ensure that Iran won’t build nuclear weapons; Iran wants to gain relief from harsh U.S.-led economic sanctions and avoid potential Israeli or American military strikes on its nuclear sites. Until recently, Khamenei was unwilling to consider making the concessions necessary for an agreement. But the pressure on Khamenei’s regime—both external and domestic—has grown to the point that he had no choice but to retreat.”

    Read more here: [https://theatln.tc/8Jf6BTr6](https://theatln.tc/8Jf6BTr6)

  2. Eh. Not taking a meeting when the most powerful country in the world is building an attacking force near you would be absolutely insane. 

    Let’s see what the deal is or if there is a deal at all.  I still see them rather go to war than submit. And everything Trump has said has made it seem like submission is the only thing that will prevent war. Although Trump could also just be full of hot air 

  3. The last time Iran and US made a deal it was voided by the stable genius. Why would it negotiate with that person ?

    I mean he also voided a lot of other agreements (like the ones with Mexico and Canada), so I really see no point for Iran to humiliate itself.

    A nuclear bomb on the other hand is a reasonable option given the insecurity of todays world. There is no greater security assurance for a country.

  4. The last thing they need is a military intervention by the US and even their biggest ally Russia can’t come to their aid as they are stuck in Ukraine, So the best thing to do for Iran is talk to Trump and his guys

Comments are closed.