Representative of Masoud Pezeshkian Calls for Direct Negotiation Between Iran and Donald Trump

The representative of Masoud Pezeshkian in the development of a sea-oriented economy states that the Iranian ruling system has reached a point where it must engage in "face-to-face negotiations" with the United States, specifically with Donald Trump, the elected President of the United States. Ali Abdolalizadeh emphasized on Tuesday, January 1, that the Islamic Republic needs a "new foreign policy." Iran has previously engaged in indirect negotiations with the U.S., and Kamel Kharrazi, the Secretary of the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations of Iran, recently announced Iran's readiness to negotiate with the U.S. However, the insistence of a high-ranking executive official of the Islamic Republic on the necessity of direct negotiations with the U.S. is unprecedented. Previously, Ali Khamenei, the leader of the Islamic Republic, has repeatedly declared his firm opposition to negotiations with the U.S., stating in October 2015 that "negotiating with the U.S. is forbidden due to the countless harms it brings and the lack of any benefit." Khamenei has also accused Trump of seeking to "personally benefit" from negotiations with Iran. With the passage of several years since Khamenei's hardline stance and the worsening economic situation in Iran, as well as the weakening of the Islamic Republic's proxy groups in the region and the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, Abdolalizadeh now claims that "the ruling system has reached the point of face-to-face negotiations." Abdolalizadeh, who was the head of Masoud Pezeshkian's election campaign, stated on Tuesday: "I said during the elections that we must negotiate with Mr. Trump." He added that it is not possible to keep the country's issues "suspended" and emphasized that "we must speak honorably and defend national interests." This comes amid reports about the transfer of a message from the U.S. during the visit of the Omani Foreign Minister to Iran, which was denied by Abbas Araghchi, the Iranian Foreign Minister, who stated that such message transfers between Iran and the U.S. would occur at the "appropriate time" through the Swiss embassy in Tehran. Donald Trump will soon take over the White House again, and the likelihood of reviving the "maximum pressure" policy against the Islamic Republic has increased. During Trump's first term and the implementation of the "maximum pressure" policy, Iran's daily oil exports fell from 2.5 million barrels to below 350,000 barrels. However, with the coming to power of Joe Biden's administration, Iran's oil exports increased each year, reaching 1.55 million barrels this year. Nevertheless, data from the commodity information company, Kpler, indicates that ahead of Trump's administration, Iran's oil exports have fallen to less than 1.3 million barrels in the past two months. No one knows yet what Donald Trump intends to do with the Islamic Republic. During his election campaign, he supported an agreement with Iran while also encouraging Israel to attack Iran's nuclear facilities. On one hand, he has placed a team of individuals in his cabinet who oppose any negotiations with Tehran, while on the other hand, he has stated that his only demand is that Iran does not acquire nuclear weapons. Is Iran sending "signals" to Trump? The severe government crackdown and the risk of protests becoming "underground" are evident as doctors and eyewitnesses recount the injuries from the protests. The limitations of China-Iran relations are becoming apparent amid the protests. An official from the governor's office stated that 400 people were killed in Mashhad; a journalist from Ham-Mihan reported that Tehran smells of death. Eyewitness accounts describe the massacre and the situation in several cities in Isfahan province, likening it to "war-torn areas." The last representative of Mossad in Tehran passed away amid the Iranian crisis. Trump announced an agreement to hold a meeting about Greenland in Davos. ISIS prisoners escaped from prison simultaneously with the withdrawal of Kurdish militants from Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor.