Iran’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Political Affairs Majid Takht-Ravanchi said on Monday that Tehran is "engaging and consulting" regarding President Donald Trump's policies toward Iran and has ideas and plans in place to address them.
Speaking to the semi-official ISNA news outlet, Takht-Ravanchi emphasized that Iran will not negotiate on matters beyond its nuclear program, possibly alluding to US demands that Tehran cease interference in regional affairs.
The deputy foreign minister also revealed divisions among the original signatories of the 2015 nuclear deal, known as the JCPOA, regarding Russia’s involvement in future negotiations. France, the United Kingdom, and Germany—the E3—appear to oppose Moscow playing a significant role in talks to either revive the JCPOA or draft a new agreement.
This stance aligns with the European Union’s broader efforts to diplomatically and economically isolate Russia.
Iran has so far held two rounds of what it describes as “consultations,” rather than negotiations, with the E3 in December and January.
While President Trump has yet to articulate his approach toward Iran, it is widely believed he will strengthen sanctions to pressure Tehran into talks favorable to Washington.
Iran engaged in 18 months of indirect negotiations with the Biden administration between 2021 and 2022 to restore the United States’ participation in the JCPOA after Donald Trump unilaterally exited the agreement in 2018, imposing harsh sanctions on Iran. However, the Vienna talks ended without a deal, particularly after Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, which fueled speculation about whether Tehran was genuinely interested in an agreement or merely seeking to ease sanctions.
Takht-Ravanchi reiterated Iran’s official stance that Trump’s “maximum pressure” campaign had failed. “They even harbored the illusion that a few months after the US withdrawal from the JCPOA and the imposition of multiple pressures, Iran would eventually relent and agree to a deal based on their demands. As noted, this did not happen, proving that the policy of maximum pressure on Iran has failed,” he said.
However, many media outlets and social media users in Iran highlight the severe economic crisis gripping the country since 2019, following the enforcement of full US oil sanctions.
Iran’s currency has lost 95% of its value since 2018, while inflation has averaged around 40% annually over the past five years. An estimated 20-30 million Iranians have fallen below the official poverty line, defined as a $450 monthly income for a family of three. Despite this economic hardship, Iran has managed to sell over $100 billion worth of oil to China since 2021, partly due to a more relaxed enforcement of Trump-era sanctions under the Biden administration.
Takht-Ravanchi dismissed claims that the Islamic Republic’s influence has weakened over the past six months due to regional developments, including setbacks for Hezbollah and the fall of its ally Bashar al-Assad in Syria. These events have fueled speculation that Tehran is now in a weaker position ahead of any potential future talks with the United States.
“The Middle East is constantly changing, and today’s circumstances may not define tomorrow’s reality,” Takht-Ravanchi argued. “Those who take a deeper look at developments in West Asia agree that conclusions should not be drawn based on the fluctuations in events in the region.”
The senior diplomat, who previously served as Iran’s ambassador to the United Nations in New York, acknowledged uncertainty about Trump’s next moves. "At the moment, it is not entirely clear what Trump's policy toward Iran is, and we must wait for this policy to become defined," he remarked.
