Iranian MP says US President-elect Donald Trump will try to create a diplomatic channel with Iran while resorting to the maximum pressure policy vis-à-vis Iran, and, for this reason, Tehran should not relinquish diplomacy with Washington.

According to The Iran Project, Heshmatollah Falahatpisheh, a former Chairman of the Iranian Parliament’s National Security and Foreign Policy Commission, told ILNA that the Trump administration should not be viewed in light of the past speeches of people who are picked for cabinet posts and as his advisers.

He cited Marco Rubio as an example who is notorious for being an anti-Iran hawk in Washington.

The former MP sated that Trump’s main priority will likely be trade competition with China, and he will try to avoid conflict and war where the US is able to trade profitably.

Therefore, Falahatpisheh said, the US’s priority in the Middle East will not be war.

Regarding the ramifications of the Ukraine war’s possible end for the relations between Iran and the US, Falahatpisheh stated, “I believe that a major part of the focus of Trump and his team will be on reducing commitments to the war in Ukraine and they will try to make Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelensky, reach an agreement with Russia by reducing aid to Ukraine”.

The former lawmaker added that after the end of the war, Iran should examine the developments realistically because one of Iran’s weaknesses is when Russia plays the Iran card to its own benefit in order to end the war in Ukraine.

In that case, he said, Iran’s interests may again be sacrificed by the Western powers and Russia.