16 December 2016

News Story: Iranian Leadership Trust in 'Pragmatic' Trump

By: Tom Kington

Senior Iranian government officials are convinced US President-elect Donald Trump will not walk away from the US end of the nuclear deal with Iran, instead opting for pragmatism and business deals, an analyst has claimed. 

Nicola Pedde, an Iran expert at Italy’s Institute for Global Studies, was one of a handful of non-Iranians invited to Iran’s first Tehran Security Conference on Dec. 11, which saw the country's parliament speaker, defense minister and foreign minister speak, among other leaders. 

Now back in Rome, Pedde told Defense News that Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif stood out for their optimism about Trump. 

“They think Trump will be pragmatic, they have no fear about a U-turn on the nuclear deal and believe he will be keen on business with Iran,” he said. “Larijani said Trump had been demonized." 

Read the full story at DefenseNews