How Trump's comeback could shatter Iran president's Reformist foreign policy
Donald Trump's comeback and prospects of a renewed "maximum pressure" policy on Tehran are complicating the Iranian president's pro-engagement foreign policy agenda, as he has to wage a tough battle against hard-liners at home determined to block his path.
TEHRAN — Iran's foreign policy is gearing up for potentially seismic shifts following last week's US presidential election, which brought back into the White House Donald Trump, whose first term in office marked a period of unprecedented animosity in the decades-long tensions between Tehran and Washington.
Iran's president, Masoud Pezeshkian, has repeatedly expressed willingness to engage with the United States to renew negotiations over the fate of the Iran nuclear deal as a vital solution to relieve his country's battered economy and stabilize its struggling financial climate.
In 2018, Trump scrapped the accord, sending shock waves across Iran's economy. The subsequent reimposing of crippling sanctions sharply reduced Iranian oil revenues, sent its national currency down a steep path of devaluation and severely curtailed its financial capacity to pursue regional ambitions.
More significantly, tensions reached a boiling point after Trump ordered the targeted killing of Iran's most revered general, Qasem Soleimani, whose death Tehran has vowed to avenge. For many Iranian politicians, Trump's return is but a grim reminder of those high-stakes confrontations.
