Iran's rulers caught between Trump's crackdown and a fragile economy

Iran's clerical leaders, engaging with the «Great Satan» to hammer out a nuclear deal and ease crippling sanctions may for once be the lesser of two evils.

Though it harbours deep mistrust of the United States, and President Donald Trump in particular, Tehran is increasingly concerned that mounting public anger over economic hardships could erupt into mass protests, four Iranian officials said.

That's why, despite the unyielding stance and defiant rhetoric of Iran's clerical leaders in public, there is a pragmatic willingness within Tehran's corridors of power to strike a deal with Washington, the people said.

Tehran's concerns were exacerbated by Trump's speedy revival of his first term's «maximum pressure» campaign to drive Iran's oil exports towards zero with more sanctions and bring the country's already fragile economy to its knees, they said.

President Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly highlighted the severity of the economic situation in the Islamic Republic, stating that it is more challenging than during the Iran-Iraq war in the 1980s, and pointing this month to the latest round of U.S. sanctions targeting tankers carrying Iranian oil.

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One of the Iranian officials said leaders were concerned that cutting off all diplomatic avenues might further fuel domestic discontent against Ayatollah Ali Khamenei — given he is the ultimate decision maker in the Islamic Republic.

«There is no question whatsoever that the man who has been the Supreme Leader since 1989 and his foreign policy preferences are more guilty than anybody else for the state of affairs,» said Alex Vatanka, director of the Iran Program at the Middle East Institute think-tank in Washington.

It was Iran's weak economy that pushed