During NBC’s coverage of the American strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities on Saturday, NBC News Chief Foreign Correspondent Richard Engel responded to hopes that the strikes will get Iran to come back to the negotiating table by saying that “Iran has always been at the negotiating table.”
Engel stated, “President Trump has framed this…hoping that these attacks would convince Iran to come back to the negotiating table. Iran is at the negotiating table. Iran has always been at the negotiating table. Iran’s foreign minister just did an interview with our Andrea Mitchell talking about the need to negotiate, and how Iranian feel that they have been manipulated in this negotiation process, that it has been a bait and switch, that they have tried to negotiate, and the more they engage in the negotiations, the more they find themselves under attack and caught off guard.”
He continued, “So, does this lead to more negotiations? From Iran’s perspective, these negotiations have only lured them into a trap. But what choice do they have at this stage? Do they go all out and risk their end of their regime? Or do they try and enter into some kind of humiliating — from their point of view — agreement? So, very difficult decisions coming out of Iran.”
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