Mohamed Javad Zarif, Iran’s Foreign Minister during the presidency of Hassan Rouhani (2013-2021), has stuck himself far out on a limb, a limb that seems highly likely to be sawed off. Zarif placed an article dated April 3 in Foreign Affairs, in which he proposes that Tehran seek to negotiate peace with the Trump Administration, an idea that he knows will not sit well with many Iranians.
He acknowledges that “the United States has proved that it cannot be trusted,” and “there is no reason to engage with the country now and offer it an off-ramp.” Therefore, Tehran should continue to strike U.S. bases and block commerce in the Strait of Hormuz, “until Washington fundamentally alters its regional presence and posture.”
Zarif argues, however, that continued resistance by Iran will ultimately result in the destruction of its infrastructure and civilian lives, and will not serve the interests of the Iranian people. “Tehran, then, should use its upper hand not to keep fighting but to declare victory and make a deal that both ends this conflict and prevents the next one,” he says. “It should offer to place limits on its nuclear program and to reopen the Strait of Hormuz in exchange for an end to all sanctions—a deal Washington wouldn’t take before but might accept now. Iran should also be prepared to accept a mutual nonaggression pact with the United States in which both countries pledge to not strike each other in the future. It could offer economic interactions with the United States, which would be a win for both the American and the Iranian people.”
