In the wake of President Trump’s summit with Kim Jong Un, might it be worthwhile to propose a similar meeting with Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ? Such an offer isn’t as fanciful as it sounds, and could put useful pressure on the Iranian regime.
In his May 21 speech on the Trump administration’s Iran policy, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo explicitly endorsed the North Korea analogy: “If anyone, especially the leaders of Iran, doubts the President’s sincerity or his vision,” Mr. Pompeo said, “let them look at our diplomacy with North Korea.” Former U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad wrote last week in the Washington Post of the administration’s desire to “engage Iran in negotiation for a comprehensive agreement leading to normalization of relations.” As Mr. Khalilzad notes, President Trump has previously announced his willingness to negotiate directly with Iran.
In Iran, meanwhile, reactions to the Trump-Kim summit appear sharply divided. The regime warned before the event that Mr. Trump couldn’t be trusted, based on his withdrawals from both the Iran nuclear deal and this year’s Group of 7 declaration. But many Iranian citizens see the Singapore meeting as a positive precedent. “To save us from this bad situation,” one interviewee told the New York Times last week, “our leaders should sit down with Trump and solve the old disputes between our countries.” The silence of Iran’s official media about the summit suggests the regime recognizes the popular desire for a similar approach.
Mr. Khamenei would almost certainly refuse an offer to meet Mr. Trump, because his ideology is built on resistance to America’s “global arrogance.” But the prospect of such a refusal is all the more reason for the U.S. to make an offer, as it would show the Iranian people and the world who the real peacemaker is.
America’s European allies would probably rejoice if Mr. Trump abruptly offered to meet the ayatollah. And other world powers might also welcome the gesture. At a recent conference in China on the Middle East, I heard several officials describe the Trump-Kim summit as a pleasing counterexample to Mr. Trump’s unilateral withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal.
In contrast to European and Asian powers, U.S. allies in the Middle East would undoubtedly be alarmed at the prospect of Mr. Trump softening his attitude toward Iran. Already Israeli and Arab media outlets are discouraging U.S.-Iran negotiations by claiming the Singapore summit increased U.S. leverage over Tehran. On an Arab talk show last week, the moderator expectantly asked me if the summit would strengthen Mr. Trump’s domestic support, thereby enabling him to put even more pressure on the Iranian regime.
The best way to assuage those concerns is to remind the Israelis and Arabs that Mr. Khamenei is no Kim Jong Un, and he will likely do almost anything to avoid meeting Mr. Trump. The White House should certainly consult U.S. allies before making such an offer, but concerned countries could probably be convinced that an offer to meet would put Iran, not themselves, in a perilous position.
In the unlikely event Mr. Khamenei accepted such an invitation, his perception of his own leverage would likely lead him to attach onerous conditions. That would allow the U.S. to scuttle the proposal while maintaining its openness to unconditional talks. There is also little need to worry the invitation would “legitimize” Iran’s regime. Unlike North Korea, and for better or worse, the Islamic Republic is already viewed as legitimate by most of the world.
If a Trump-Khamenei summit did come to pass, it would provide an opportunity to restate difficult yet fully justified demands beyond any nuclear deal, and to show the Iranian people their leaders’ true priorities.
Mr. Pollock is a senior fellow at the Washington Institute, where he leads Fikra Forum.