By the Gazette Editorial Board There are growing signs – generating optimism – that direct negotiations will take place sooner rather than later between the US and Iran over the re-imposition of harsh sanctions on Tehran. If so, the North Koreans should be given credit for using negotiation – not belligerent rhetoric – to resolve thorny issues, which could shake regional and world stability and peace. Now back to the continuing saga of the face-off between Washington and Tehran: It was US President Donald Trump, who decided to leave the door ajar to accommodate the Iranian leaders should they relinquish their hostile statements and threats over his decision to pull out of the nuclear deal. Trump has said that with the increasing sanctions on Iran, "at a certain point Iran is going to call me and say ‘let's make a deal,' and we'll make a deal." The Iranians responded promptly and positively – but very cautiously – to Trump's overture. The spokesman of the Iranian Foreign Ministry, Bahram Ghasemi, said: "Maybe someday [Trump] will call Tehran and ask for negotiations – this is more likely.' The Iranians also said this week that if President Trump wanted to negotiate after pulling the US out of the international deal he'll have to initiate the call. The Iranians have real fears that things will get more disastrous in August if Trump carries out his threat to impose a complete ban on its oil exports. Two days ago, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani reminded the US that his country could help create a true peace. Rouhani, who was talking to heads of Iranian diplomatic missions throughout the world, said: "The US should know that peace with Iran is the true peace." But President Rouhani, in the vein of the late Iraqi president, Saddam Hussein, who coined the phrase, said that war with Iran would be "the Mother of all Wars." It is obvious, nonetheless, that Iran does not want – and is not prepared – to go to war against the US. Weighing its stance more wisely to prevent an escalation in its confrontation with Trump, Iran has decided to challenge the US on an extraordinary battleground – the International Court of Justice. Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif has tweeted that Tehran has filed a complaint with the ICJ to "hold the US accountable for its unlawful re-imposition of unilateral sanctions." Russian President Vladimir Putin must have a role in bringing the two adversaries, the US and Iran, closer. But suppose that Washington and Tehran did agree to talk, would the Iranian threat to the Jewish state be placed on the negotiating table?
