Trump Advised to Base His Foreign Policy on Facts

EghtesadOnline: Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif advised US President Donald Trump to develop his foreign policy based on facts rather than headlines in pro-Republican news channels.

News ID: ۷۴۹۵۵۳

27 January 2020

"@realdonaldtrump is better advised to base his foreign policy comments & decisions on facts, rather than @FoxNews headlines or his Farsi translators," he tweeted on Sunday, according to Financial Tribune.

He made the remarks in response to Trump's earlier tweet in English and Persian, in which he had claimed Iran was after negotiation with the US and that he had rejected such a call.

"Iranian Foreign Minister says Iran wants to negotiate with The United States, but wants sanctions removed. @FoxNews @OANN No Thanks!" he had written on his account.

He was referring to Zarif's recent interview with a German journal in which he had said that he would not rule out the possibility of talks with the US, even after its Jan. 3 assassination of Iran's top general, because it is always likely that Washington "will change its approach and recognize the realities".

Zarif called on Trump to read his interview that was conducted in English directly to be better informed and attached an excerpt of the text where he had mentioned the issue for his quick access.

Tehran and Washington have been at daggers drawn since Trump unilaterally pulled the US out of the 2015 nuclear deal and imposed severe sanctions on Iran.

He called for renegotiation over a new deal that would include other areas of his concern while Iranian officials maintained that any talks could only take place within the framework of the previous deal's Joint Commission and once the sanctions are fully removed.

Same Approach

Tensions between the two traditional enemies peaked in early January when Trump ordered the assassination of Major General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps and a key figure in defeating terrorist groups.

Iran retaliated by targeting locations hosting American forces in Iraq where the strike had been launched.

In the interview, Zarif had made no call for negotiation, but said that Iran's approach remains the same and it is open to dialogue if the US changes its behavior and makes up for its past.

"For us, it doesn't matter who is sitting in the White House. What matters is how they behave. The Trump administration can correct its past, lift the sanctions and come back to the negotiating table. We're still at the negotiating table. They're the ones who left."

He pointed out, however, that the US has inflicted great harm on the Iranian people and will have to compensate for that.

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei had said last September that the US could be part of the negotiations between Iran and the parties to the nuclear deal if it "repented and returned to the agreement that it violated”.

"Otherwise, there would be no talk at any level between officials of the Islamic Republic and Americans," he said.