Global Geopolitical Series: ‘No regime change’ to be key cornerstone in Iran-American negotiations

Last night, during a cabinet meeting, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Iran has agreed to engage in negotiations with the United States. While the current dire state of Iranian oil exports, which has declined from 2.5 million barrels per day in April 2018 to just 0.5 million barrels per day in June 2019, has been one of the key reason behind Iran’s willingness, the assurances from the Trump administration of no regime change has actually given the Iranian leaders some confidence to engage with the United States.

President Trump once again stressed during the cabinet meeting that his administration is not at all looking into a regime change,

“We want to help them.  We’ll be good to them.  We’ll work with them.  We’ll help them in any way we can, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon.  We’re not looking, by the way, for regime change, because some people say we’re looking for regime change.  We’re not looking for regime change.”

No regime change assurance is one of the most important assurances the Iranian leadership would be relying on, in all future negotiations with the United States.