Iran Opts for Dialogue with Europe ahead of Trump's Return to Office

President Donald Trump shows a signed Presidential Memorandum after delivering a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 8, 2018, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump shows a signed Presidential Memorandum after delivering a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 8, 2018, in Washington. (AP)
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Iran Opts for Dialogue with Europe ahead of Trump's Return to Office

President Donald Trump shows a signed Presidential Memorandum after delivering a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 8, 2018, in Washington. (AP)
President Donald Trump shows a signed Presidential Memorandum after delivering a statement on the Iran nuclear deal from the Diplomatic Reception Room of the White House, Tuesday, May 8, 2018, in Washington. (AP)

It is difficult to predict what the outcomes will be of the discussions between Iran, France, Britain and Germany about Tehran’s nuclear program in Geneva on Friday.

Last week, the UN atomic watchdog's 35-nation Board of Governors passed a resolution again ordering Iran to urgently improve cooperation with the agency and requesting a "comprehensive" report aimed at pressuring Iran into fresh nuclear talks.

Britain, France, Germany and the United States, which proposed the resolution, dismissed as insufficient and insincere a last-minute Iranian move to cap its stock of uranium that is close to weapons-grade. Diplomats said Iran's move was conditional on scrapping the resolution.

Iran has been weighing its response to the censure, debating whether to increase uranium enrichment or by being open to the proposals expected at the Geneva talks.

The discussions may seek a new nuclear deal instead of the 2015 one with Tehran that is in tatters.

As it stands, Iran is likely to opt for negotiations instead of escalation due to a number of internal, regional and international reasons.

Diplomatic sources in Paris noted US President-elect Donald Trump’s appointments of officials handling Middle East affairs, underscoring their unreserved support to Israel and clear hostility to Iran.

These appointments may lead Iran to think twice before resorting to any escalation.

Even before Trump has taken office, his circles have said that the new president will take “several executive decisions related to Iran and that will be declared on his first day in office.” The decisions will be binding and do not need Congress’ approval.

However, Trump is unpredictable and the sources did not rule out the surprise possibility of him striking a deal with Iran related to its nuclear program and behavior in the Middle East. This means that Tehran will have to make major concessions, including abandoning its policy of “exporting the revolution”.

This remains a far-fatched possibility, however. In all likelihood, Washington under Trump will return to his “maximum pressure” policy against Iran on political, diplomatic and economic levels to make it return to the negotiations table and agree on a deal that completely ends its nuclear ambitions.

So, at the Geneva meeting on Friday, Tehran will seek to achieve two main goals: a nuclear breakthrough during what remains of US President Joe Biden’s time in office, and attempt to lure the European powers away from Trump.

The truth is that Tehran is wading in the unknown. One only has to go back to Trump’s past statements about how Israel should have struck Iran’s nuclear facilities during its October 26 attack on the country.

Trump has already shown Iran his hardline stance when he ordered the assassination of Quds Forces leader Qassem Soleimani near Baghdad airport in January 2020.

Based on this, Tehran is scrambling to avert a joint American-Israeli strike that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been dreaming of.

Iran is vulnerable now due to two main reasons: the Israeli strike in October weakened Iran’s air defenses and Netanyahu has said that Israeli jets can now run rampant over Iran without any worries.

And Tehran can no longer rely on its allied militias to threaten Israel with all-out war. Hamas in Gaza is no longer in a position to threaten Israel and neither is Hezbollah in Lebanon.

So, Iran now finds itself exposed and would rather turn to negotiations with Europe than risk escalation that would cost it dearly with Israel now that it can no longer rely on Hamas and Hezbollah.



Top Iranian Generals Killed in the Israeli Attack

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)
Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)
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Top Iranian Generals Killed in the Israeli Attack

Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)
Iranian Armed Forces Chief of Staff Major General Mohammad Bagheri speaks during the International Conference on the Legal-International Claims of the Holy Defense in the capital Tehran on February 23, 2021. (AFP)

Israel targeted leading members of Iran's armed forces on Friday during its unprecedented onslaught hitting military and nuclear targets across the country.

Here is what we know about the two top figures killed:

General Mohammad Bagheri was the highest-ranking officer in the Iranian armed forces and was responsible for overseeing the army, the Revolutionary Guards and Corps and the country's ballistic missile program.

In office since 2016, Bagheri worked directly under the authority of supreme leader Ali Khamenei -- Iran's ultimate decision maker and the commander-in-chief of its armed forces.

As second in command, Bagheri held wide-ranging authority over much of Iran's military formations and appeared regularly on television in uniform, including notably at the inauguration of underground military bases.

He also played a key role in developing Iran's ballistic missile program.

The arsenal, originally developed to compensate for Iran's weak air force during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, significantly increased its range and precision over the years.

Israel has long viewed these capabilities as an existential threat from its sworn enemy and has twice been targeted by massive barrages fired by Iran at its territory.

"The Zionist enemy should know that it is nearing the end of its miserable life," Bagheri once declared, while referring to Israel as "a cancerous tumor".

In 2022, Bagheri stated that Iran was "more than self-sufficient" in arms and equipment, boasting that the country would become one of the world's top arms exporters if sanctions were lifted.

The general was placed under US sanctions during President Donald Trump's first term and later sanctioned by the European Union following the outbreak of the war in Ukraine.

At that time, Bagheri mocked the EU, suggesting it should use Iran's frozen assets to "buy coal" to heat itself in winter amid Russia's war in Ukraine aided by Iranian weapons.

Born in June 1960, Bagheri succeeded Hassan Firouzabadi, who had served as chief of staff of the armed forces for 26 years -- from 1989 to 2016 -- and had once accused Westerners of using lizards to spy on Iran.

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) head Hossein Salami delivers a speech during a ceremony marking the first death anniversary of late Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, in Tehran, Iran, 15 May 2025. (EPA)

Hossein Salami

Iran's Revolutionary Guards chief Hossein Salami was a veteran officer close to supreme leader Khamenei and known for his tirades against Israel and its US ally.

"If you make the slightest mistake, we will open the gates of hell for you," the white-bearded general warned Tehran's arch foes during a tour of an underground missile base in January.

Born in 1960 in central Iran, Salami joined the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in 1980 at the start of the war launched by then Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

He spent most of his career in the Guards, which was set up after the 1979 overthrow of the Western-backed shah to defend the goals of the revolution.

The force is now 125,000-strong grouping, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, although Iran has never released any official figure.

Salami rose through the ranks to become head of the Guards' air force division and was placed on Washington's sanctions blacklist.

He served as the corps' deputy commander for nine years before being promoted to the top job in 2019 as part of a major reshuffle.

Iran's revolutionary leader Khomeini had made support for the Palestinian cause a centerpiece of Tehran's foreign policy and Salami repeatedly alluded to calls for Israel to be wiped from the map.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu should "learn to swim in the Mediterranean Sea" in readiness to flee, he said in a 2018 speech.

The IRGC played a central role in Iran's forward foreign policy in the Arab world, which saw Tehran-backed militant groups Hamas and Hezbollah lead Gaza and Lebanon into war with Israel.

The twin conflicts were accompanied by the first-ever direct exchanges of fire between Iran and Israel last year and were to lead to the much bigger wave of Israeli strikes on Iran on Friday, one of which killed Salami.