Never mind the bloodbath? Trump turns to direct talks with Iran over nukes – The Debate
One month after the US captured Nicolas Maduro, is Washington trying its Venezuela template on Iran? Not the part where special forces swoop for foreign leaders. Rather the part where the regime and its apparatus can stay so long as Washington gets what it wants. In the case of Iran, maximum pressure and Donald Trump’s initial promise to protesters that “help is on the way” seems to be morphing into art of the deal-style nuclear bargaining.
We’ll ask about next Friday’s direct talks between the Iranian foreign minister and Trump New York real estate buddy-cum-special envoy for hot zones Steve Witkoff, Witkoff whose busy week started with a stop in Israel. How very different times these are from 2015 when the UN could still broker an Iran nuclear deal with all the permanent members of the Security Council.
Today, despite sanctions, last June’s US and Israeli strikes against nuclear facilities and most recently after a ferocious crackdown that’s possibly left tens of thousands of Iranians dead in a few days, the clerics and the Revolutionary Guards still rule. With all the upheavals in the region, what next for a traumatized nation and a region in flux?
Produced by François Picard, Rebecca Gnignati, Juliette Laffont, Ilayda Habip, Delphine Liou.
