It’s not the first time that US President Donald Trump has angered the Iranians and thrown delicate talks into disarray.
His undiplomatic threats Sunday to resume blowing up Iran landed just after Vice President JD Vance said Trump had sent him on a “diplomatic” mission, to “turn over a new leaf to transform our relationship with the people of Iran.”
According to a source familiar with talks inside the classy Bürgenstock Hotel in Switzerland, it was a “bad day for Tweets,” as the Iranians are seemingly withdrawing from the four-way talks with the US and mediators Pakistan and Qatar.
Not long after Trump’s threats, the head of their delegation, Mohammed Ghalibaf wrote on X, “they (US) had better watch their words carefully. Our armed forces are ready to give them a response in a different way.”
An Iranian source told CNN that the US-Iran negotiations are stalled, but not over yet, after the US president’s threats. Back-channel dialogues are ongoing to make the diplomatic parties return, the source added.
What was already high-stakes diplomacy, with Iran saying it is closing the Strait of Hormuz and demanding Trump enforce a ceasefire in Lebanon, has quickly escalated into implicit threats from both sides to return to war.
Trump said he would “hit them (Iran) very hard again” if they don’t rein in their proxy Hezbollah, whom he blames for escalating violence in Lebanon and threatened Vance’s Iranian counterparts they would never get home to their “f**king country” if they don’t open the Strait of Hormuz.
The last time Trump’s interventions derailed talks was in April, when he said Iran would give its highly enriched uranium to the US and never build a nuclear bomb. Iran denied his claims, and slow talks lost momentum.
Back then Pakistani mediators eventually managed to convince the Iranians to keep negotiating, and not for the first time they’ll be back at it again now.
