Iran doesn’t believe Trump’s Twitter offer of nuclear talks is serious

After a recent prisoner swap, US President Trump took to Twitter to offer Iran a “better deal” with the US in regard to its nuclear program. But Tehran says Washington should be doing more than just tweeting.

In a tweet last week that celebrated the progress made in the swap deal between the two countries, Trump proposed the possibility of a nuclear agreement before the US presidential elections. 

However, Iranian government spokesman Ali Rabiei didn’t see any signs of the US administration’s “inclination towards serious and effective talks” in these words.

Trump’s offer is “nothing but political showboating,” Rabiei claimed. “If America is eager to hold talks with Iran, it can return to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPOA] and continue talks with Iran, along with the remaining parties to the accord,” he said on Monday, in his weekly press conference. 

Washington unilaterally withdrew from the JCPOA in 2018, after Trump accused Iran of covertly violating the deal. The move received heavy criticism from the EU, Russia and China, all of whom had also signed the agreement. The International Atomic Energy Agency confirmed that Iran had conscientiously stuck to the deal.

Since then, the US has imposed sanctions on Iran, among other things targeting its most valuable asset: oil exports. This was part of the so-called ‘maximum pressure’ strategy against Tehran. The Islamic Republic responded by drastically scaling down its commitments under the JCPOA.

Amid the usual exchange of threats between Iran and the US, prisoner swaps are a rare sign of diplomacy. In early June, Tehran released US Navy veteran Michael White, who had been convicted of insulting the country’s Supreme Leader. The US authorities, in turn, released Dr Majid Taheri, who was accused of violating anti-Iranian sanctions.

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