DAVOS, Switzerland (Reuters) – Iran hopes U.S. President Donald Trump will choose “rationality” in its dealing with the Islamic Republic, Iran’s Vice-President for Strategic Affairs Mohammad Javad Zarif said on Wednesday, adding Tehran had never sought nuclear weapons.
Addressing the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Zarif said Iran did not pose a security threat to the world.
“I hope that this time around, a ‘Trump 2’ will be more serious, more focused, more realistic,” Zarif said.
In 2018, then-President Trump reneged on Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and re-imposed harsh U.S. sanctions as part of his “maximum pressure” policy against the country.
In response, Tehran breached the deal in several ways including by accelerating its uranium enrichment.
Trump has vowed to return to the policy he pursued in his previous term that sought use economic pressure to force the country to negotiate a deal on its nuclear programme, ballistic missile programme and regional activities.
Concerns have grown among Iran’s top decision-makers that Trump might in his second term empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran’s nuclear sites while further tightening U.S. sanctions on its oil industry.
Those concerns, coupled with mounting domestic anger over economic woes, could drive Tehran toward engaging in negotiations with the Trump administration over the fate of its fast-advancing nuclear programme.
(Additional reporting by Jana Choukeir; Writing by Parisa Hafezi; Editing by Sharon Singleton and Christina Fincher)
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