Trump's plan is to 'bankrupt' Iran into talks - report

Iran is open to negotiations with the incoming Donald Trump administration, while warning that any attempt to reimpose “maximum pressure” on the Islamic republic would fail, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, Iran’s deputy foreign minister for political affairs, told the Financial Times (FT).

“As for negotiations, we need to observe U.S. policy and decide how to respond accordingly,” noted Takht-Ravanchi, citing Trump's previous steps when he pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA.

"We do favour negotiations, as we proved [with that deal]. But who sabotaged the negotiations previously? It was the Trump administration who was unwilling to negotiate.”

According to the report, people familiar with Trump’s thinking regarding Iran told FT his administration would try to “bankrupt” Iran to force the republic into talks. Amid the ongoing crisis in the Middle East, Tehran fears that Trump will once again try to drive Iran’s oil exports - its vital source of hard currency - to zero.

As FT pointed out, Takht-Ravanchi tried to downplay the potential for tighter oil sanctions under a second Trump presidency: “If the Trump administration decides to pursue the maximum pressure policy in the oil market again, it will surely fail. In today’s world, no single country can dictate terms to the entire international community.”

For now, he noted, “We hope he doesn’t repeat the same mistake because the outcome will be no different.”