​In a speech replete with both bellicose and conciliatory impulses, Iran's President Hassan Rouhani said the Islamic Republic favored talks with the US administration if the latter lifted all the sanctions it reimposed following its withdrawal in May 2018 from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

"Before everything else, they need to remove all of the sanctions regardless of whether they want to return to the deal or not, which is up to them," Rouhani told senior officials at the country's Foreign Ministry headquarters Aug. 6. The comment demonstrated an apparent shift from Rouhani's earlier adamant stance that pinned any potential rapprochement to the US reentry in the JCPOA. "What they are doing today is but economic terrorism," the Iranian president noted in reference to the sanctions, which Tehran has repeatedly lamented as a campaign targeting the livelihood of ordinary citizens.

Slamming the Rouhani administration for offering what they view as concessions in exchange for empty promises under the deal, Iran's hard-liners have persistently accused him of selling the accord to a reluctant Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. In response to such criticism, Rouhani reaffirmed that the deal was the decision of the "establishment," suggesting that without Khamenei's consent it would have never been clinched. As for potential US-Iran talks, Rouhani threw the ball into the supreme leader's court again. "You [the US administration] are familiar with our constitution and understand that without his approval, we cannot proceed with any important move."

Back in 2013, Rouhani came under fire from opponents at home for a direct phone conversation with his US counterpart, Barak Obama, minutes before wrapping up a UN General Assembly visit to New York. "Had I not answered Obama's call, [the nuclear deal] would have been hard to reach," Rouhani said, noting in another message that direct talks with Donald Trump are not ruled out.