Iran’s Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif: “War and talks — with or without preconditions—don’t go together.”

Senior Iranian officials have signaled to the US that they will enter talks — but only after the Trump Administration lifts comprehensive economic sanctions.

Mohammad Javad Zarif used Twitter on Monday for a balancing act between condemnation of Washington and an opening for discussions.

An even more interesting signal came from judiciary chief Ebrahim Raisi, who is close to the Supreme Leader’s office. He portrayed talks as an outcome of “US officials begging to hold talks with Iran. This proves the Supreme Leader’s insight and expertise.”

He emphasized, “Today it is America who needs to negotiate” and said the Trump Administration would retreat “if we insist on our principles”.

The comments appeared to modify Ayatollah Khamenei’s rejection last month of any discussions as “poison”.

But the limits of any shift were shown by other statements that maintained the public condemnation of talks amid the comprehensive US sanctions imposed last November, six months after Donald Trump withdrew America from the 2015 nuclear agreement between Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, UK, France, Germany, China, and Russia).

The leader of the conservative Islamic Coalition Party, Asadollah Badamchian, warned, “President Donald Trump is looking for a fool in Iran to hold negotiations with….No one in President Hassan Rouhani’s administration will be prepared to hold talks with America.”

On Sunday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pointed to a change of Trump Administration position, pulling back from military confrontation to offer negotiations “with no preconditions” — while still maintaining the line that Iran must act like a “normal” country and offering no concession on the demand that Tehran halt all uranium enrichment and close its heavy-water nuclear reactor.

Pompeo was responding to a Saturday speech by President Hassan Rouhani that proclaimed Iran had forced the US to back down and then set out:

We support logic and negotiation if [the other side] sits at the negotiating table and fully respects and follows international regulations, not if it issues a decree to negotiate.

Iran Daily, June 3: US Shift? Pompeo Says Talks Possible With “No Preconditions”
Iran Daily, June 2: Rouhani — We Forced Trump Administration to Back Down

Despite the public line against the negotiations, there have been high-profile signs in the past two weeks that indirect talks — or at least signals through brokers such as Oman and Japan — are underway.