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Iran should take up Trump’s offer to talk

If not directly, at first, then there might be a channel through trusted partners.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (3rd L) meets Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (not pictured) at Diaoyutai State Guesthouse in Beijing, China, May 17, 2019.  REUTERS/Thomas Peter/Pool - RC121FD92050

Last week, this column described US President Donald Trump’s offer of dialogue with Iran as “genuine” and a “potential offramp, even if a risky one, for both Washington and Tehran.”

It’s time for Iran to take up Trump’s offer. Although Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif says there is “no possibility” of dialogue with the Trump administration, he might reconsider. For the Trump administration, this is how high-stakes diplomacy is done, and is as good as it gets, for at least the next two years, maybe six. The pain of US sanctions on Iran will only get worse. And the moment for diplomacy might pass. Trump’s patience may be tested, and the slight cracks that we see in the US approach to Iran could close as quickly as they have been revealed.

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