President Trump raised the possibility of talks with Iran at the G7 summit, and Iranian FM Javad Zarif has talked of a “window of opportunity” more recently. Despite that, analysts see US-Iran talks as generally unlikely.



The big obstacle, as ever, is John Bolton. The hawkish Bolton, and the also hawkish Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are both vehemently opposed to talks with Iran, and the sense is that there is a lot of resistance, with those hawks arguing it is “too early” for the US to meet Iran when there is more sanctioning and threatening to do.



On Iran’s side, there’s more openness to talks, though Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has been very wary of the idea, and President Rouhani has conditioned talks of letting Iran sell oil internationally.



While that’s a fairly straightforward need for Iran, it’s also something many of Trump’s aides will fight tooth and nail against. Trump has assured the public he won’t “give up anything” to Iran, and that’s probably going tomean even the most reasonable concessions, and subsequently talks, are off the table.





Author: Jason Ditz Jason Ditz is news editor of Antiwar.com. View all posts by Jason Ditz