Will Trump and Rouhani meet?
After the G7 summit, a meeting between Trump and Rouhani could well be on the cards. Donald Trump appears to be open to negotiations with Rouhani on the nuclear dispute. G7 host Macron, who surprised everyone by inviting Iran's foreign minister to Biarritz, is chalking this up as his own success. The press asks whether a summit could really solve the row over Iran's nuclear programme.
Iranian president taking a risk
The chances of saving the nuclear deal might be greater than people think, Helsingin Sanomat speculates:
“If the meeting takes place it will be the first meeting between the leaders of these two countries since the Islamic Revolution in 1979. ... It's interesting that there are influential opponents of such meetings in Iran, the country's religious leader for example, and the Revolutionary Guard, which takes a hard line on the issue. The meeting poses a risk for the Iranian president so he must have good reasons to go ahead with it. Perhaps behind-the-scenes diplomacy involving France, Japan and other states has found a way to save the nuclear agreement with Iran so that the sanctions that are weighing heavily on the country can be eased.”
Give peace a chance
We certainly can't expect a quick solution, the Süddeutsche Zeitung observes soberly:
“Trump is no friend of complex negotiations that would be almost impossible to conclude before the end of his term in his office. Trump's two summits with North Korea's dictator Kim Jong-un have delivered nothing more than a flimsy, non-binding statement - which is being interpreted very differently by the two sides . ... A failure of a summit between Trump and Rouhani would very likely have serious consequences. But that doesn't mean they shouldn't risk it anyway. Without new attempts to mediate, the escalation will continue, and the danger of misunderstandings and war will only grow.”
Iran will play along with Trump's game
Trump's overtures to Iran are purely farcical in the eyes of Gazeta Wyborcza:
“Trump started a reality show called 'the great new deal' that deprives Iran of its nuclear programme and missiles and the Shiite militias in the region of their support. As was the case in North Korea, he will fail to negotiate this deal but the summit meeting will serve as propaganda. ... The Iranians are hoping that Trump will lose the election and Democrat government will return to the old agreement. ... Perhaps this will prompt them to play along with Trump's game: they'll negotiate with Trump, end the attacks on tankers in the Gulf of Oman and the escalation over the nuclear programme - and hang in there for another year with international help.”
Tehran is sending the wrong signals
As long as Iran continues to threaten other countries with military action there can be no new deal, The Daily Telegraph believes:
“For rather, as anti-Trump critics like to claim, than seeking a military confrontation with Iran, Mr Trump's primary intention in withdrawing from the deal has been to persuade Tehran to return to the negotiating table and reach a new agreement, one that addresses Iran's increasingly aggressive behaviour in the Middle East as well as its nuclear ambitions. Consequently, if Tehran persists with its bellicose approach to Israel, as well as other key Western allies in the region such as Saudi Arabia, the prospect of the Trump administration concluding that the circumstances are right for a resumption of talks is remote, to say the least.”