Iran is desperately reaching for diplomatic lifelines as American military might encircles the embattled regime.

Kamal Kharrazi, chairman of Iran’s Strategic Council on Foreign Relations, made a stunning admission that Iran now stands ready for indirect negotiations with the United States despite years of “Death to America” and “Death to Israel” heard in Tehran’s parliament.

“The Islamic Republic of Iran has not closed all paths, but is ready for indirect negotiations to assess the other side, announce its conditions and make appropriate decisions,” Kharrazi tells Aftab News “If Trump knew Iran and the Iranian spirit, had learned from the past, and sincerely wanted to solve the historical problems between Iran and America, he would act differently.”

Kharrazi also described Trump’s actual strategy as “psychological warfare” by “inviting negotiations while intensifying economic sanctions and military threats” But his words ring hollow from a regime who failed to curb its decades-long campaign of regional terrorism and nuclear defiance.

Now, Iran’s leadership is watching in horror as US military assets steadily accumulate in strategic positions around the Persian Gulf. Satellite evidence showing the US strategic Diego Garcia base approximately 2,000km off the coast of Iran being transformed into a forward operating base bristling with aerial refueling tankers.

This week the Pentagon also deployed two aircraft carrier strike groups to the Middle East to assist efforts in taking out the Iranian-backed Houthis. For the past 17 months, the Houthis in Yemen have been attacking vessels linked to Israel along the Red Sea, disrupting nearly 12% of global trade.