By Trump, the Iranian people continue to protest against rising economic hardship and oppressive government actions in cities throughout Iran. The scale of the protests against increased prices and currency collapse has caused the number of deaths reported by human rights organizations to reach over 599, and the number of arrests is now over 10,600. Human rights organizations tracking the situation in Iran report that these numbers are climbing rapidly.
Initially, protests were sparked by public frustration over rising food prices (Rising food prices prompted demonstrations about the prices of bread.), rising prices due to hyperinflation of the Iranian rial (dramatic decline of the Iranian rial), and shortages of food and other necessities (shortage of commodities). However, what began as a protest against food prices has now developed into a full-scale movement for significant change in Iran’s political system that is challenging the ruling clerics of the Islamic Republic of Iran.
The Iranian government has claimed that the situation is now “completely under control” and asserts that foreign countries, particularly the United States and Israel, are taking advantage of the unrest to promote disorder. Iran has carried out widely publicized rallies organized by the Iranian government to demonstrate that the Iranian public supports the Iranian regime.
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U.S. Response and Diplomatic Signals
On this unstable background, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that Iran has expressed a willingness to enter into negotiations with Washington following President Trump’s threats of potential military action resulting from the violent response to the protest. President Trump told news agencies that representatives of the Iranian Government contacted representatives in the U.S and are now in the process of arranging meetings. While President Trump expressed optimism about meeting with Iran, he cautioned that should conditions worsen, the U.S. could potentially take action before any formal meetings occurred.
President Trump characterized this contact with Iran as a major development due to the ongoing state of hostilities; however, he reiterated that any meeting must specifically include U.S. demands to respect basic human rights and limit Iran’s development of nuclear and missile programs, which have been sources of conflict for many years between the two countries.
The Administration of President Trump is reported to be considering a broad range of options, including new sanctions, military action, and/or cyber attacks, if the Iranian Government continues to violently suppress the protests. The remarks made by President Trump highlighted the tenuous state of global peace and indicate that the Government of the U.S. is concerned with respect to the suffering of civilians.
Tehran’s Position: Negotiations on Its Terms
Iran is not as optimistic on how the United States has portrayed their outreach in public, as Iran’s leaders have stated that they will be very cautious regarding the limits and conditions under which any future negotiations might be held. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi and other Iranian regime officials have expressed that any future diplomatic engagement will take place between Iran and the U.S. based on “mutual respect” and not solely based on what the U.S. demands unilaterally of Iran. Additionally, Iran’s leaders have stated that they are “fully capable of going to war” should they receive external military pressure.
Iran’s government has claimed that foreign governments, especially western ones, are behind the protests in Iran and are responsible for creating a security threat in Iran to justify interfering in Iran’s internal affairs. Iranian state-run media and government officials have continually claimed that western governments are working to overthrow the Iranian regime. The information environment in Iran is one that is controlled tightly, and the regime has been able to promote these claims successfully. Therefore, for there to be any potential for substantive negotiations between Iran and the U.S.
In addition, Iran has reiterated its commitment to the strategic defense of its nuclear and missile programs — both of which have historically undercut U.S-Iranian relations. Based on the previous paragraph, diplomatic relations between Iran and the U.S. are likely to be available at some point, but there is little to no indication that diplomatic relations between the two countries will ultimately be settled with an acceptable long-term resolution. click here for the source
