[Opinion] Opinion | Trump & The Ayatollah: It's a Pity Both Can't Lose

Opinion | Trump & The Ayatollah: It's a Pity Both Can't Lose

Whoever said history repeats itself was not talking about Trump 2.0 and Iran. In 2018, during his previous term, Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) meant to restrain Iran from developing atomic weapons, calling it “the worst possible deal”. He further imposed a “maximum pressure” policy that led to an 81% contraction in Iran's crude oil exports, its economic lifeline. He authorised the assassin…

“Iran Faces ‘Bad, Bad Things,” What Trump Means

More than once, President Trump said he sent a letter to Iran’s Ayatollah warning that the country faces “Iran Faces’ Bad, Bad Things” if a new nuclear deal with the United States isn’t negotiated: “I sent  a letter just recently, and I said: you have to make a decision, one way or the other, and we either have to talk and talk it out or very bad things are going to happen to Iran,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I don’t want that to …

A gun in one hand, an outstretched hand in the other. While Donald Trump threatens bombing, Ayatollah Khamenei suddenly declares himself willing to negotiate. Iran’s supreme leader wants to talk to the man who killed his general Soleimani. What looks like war could be diplomacy – Trump-style. A pas de deux full of menace, pride and calculation, writes Damon Golriz in his new analysis.