In a Monday night interview with CNN, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif made his latest shift.
In a Monday night interview with CNN, Zarif made his latest shift.
After demanding that the US first return to the nuclear deal, end sanctions and pay the Islamic Republic compensation for sanctions before he would commit to ending nuclear violations, Zarif made it clear that he would drop that requirement.
Zarif discussed the 2015 nuclear deal coordinator advertising a sequencing of reciprocal moves by both sides to return to compliance over time.
Maybe even more significantly, Zarif suggested for the second time that Tehran would be open to withdrawing its involvement in Yemen in exchange for an end to Saudi Arabian and US involvement there.
Although this has come up before, usually the Saudis have been offering this and Iran has made vague statements, trying to avoid any commitments to America about its aggression in the Middle East.
However, after hearing repeated statements from US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken, including this week and last week – as well as by US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan on Friday and other statements – the Islamic Republic may be realizing that, whether as part of the 2015 deal or a follow-on deal, it will not be able to act with a free hand in the region as it did after the deal during the Obama administration.
