For their part, American policymakers are seeking more than a mere return to the 2015 status quo. Iran’s leaders are listening, even as they play diplomatic hardball. In his annual national address on March 21, Khamenei suggested that Iran might be open to modifying the deal—so long as the changes are “in favor of Iran,” meaning that they benefit the nation and its regime. Iranian officials almost daily urge the United States to lift the sanctions and have declared their country’s willingness to return to compliance in exchange. Preemptively, they even are spinning new concessions as gains: “Vienna talks will end with [the] Iranian nation’s victory,” Rouhani has said.
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