In the course of Iran-US talks, regional issues have acted as a double-edged sword. On the one hand, they provided the grounds for engaging in the talks. On the other, they have increased the existing sense of mutual distrust. The fact is that concerned regional issues can only act as triggers for initiating strategic talks between Iran and the US.

Some prevailing views in the West tend to believe that focusing on regional issues in the course of negotiations — given the common geopolitical interests in the region between Tehran and Washington — would help negotiations proceed. Contrary to these views, one should argue that Iran-US relations in the region, during the last 34 years, have actually been the cause of division.

Of course there is a valid argument that the region is the place where the interests of the two states, in terms of establishing stability, preventing extremism and battling terrorism, converge. Yet, simultaneously, the Middle East is also an arena that increases the two powers’ mutual sense of geopolitical and ideological distrust. For this reason, Iran and the US have their own specific strategies to deter one another.  

In other words, because of the degree of power, influence and the role that both countries can play, neither can defeat the other in a direct challenge. Therefore, both tend to contain each other’s role and their ideological and geopolitical interests through regional issues, as they both reduce the costs of any direct adversarial and military engagement. In this context, the two countries favor to increase their regional roles based on their own interests and values.