A number of people familiar with the matter revealed that the Trump administration has repeatedly told the mediators that it has no intention of returning to the terms of the memorandum of understanding reached between the US and Iran in June. This has added many obstacles to intensive mediation efforts to restart the diplomatic process this week. People familiar with the matter said that since then, Trump has instead implemented an “economic abandonment campaign” and is willing to wait and see if this pressure strategy works. They said that Trump himself is no longer optimistic about this memorandum of understanding; the memorandum has been criticized in the US and accused of being too weak towards Iran.

A number of people familiar with the matter revealed that the Trump administration has repeatedly told the mediators that it has no intention of returning to the terms of the memorandum of understanding reached between the US and Iran in June. This has added many obstacles to intensive mediation efforts to restart the diplomatic process this week. People familiar with the matter said that since then, Trump has instead implemented an “economic abandonment campaign” and is willing to wait and see if this pressure strategy works. They said that Trump himself is no longer optimistic about this memorandum of understanding; the memorandum has been criticized in the US and accused of being too weak towards Iran.