President Donald Trump has seemingly switched his tune on Tehran’s leadership overnight – in a foreign policy U–turn that has sparked outrage at home and left Iranian citizens utterly bewildered.
Just days after launching fierce rhetorical attacks against Iran‘s newly appointed, reportedly disfigured Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, the American President stunned the public by declaring, ‘We seem to be getting along quite well.’
Inside Iran, the whiplash was felt immediately, with citizens reacting in sheer disbelief and anger at how rapidly Trump shifted from maximum pressure to sudden courtship.
The President said on Wednesday he will ‘probably meet with Iran’s Ayatollah at some point.’
Speaking on the Pod Force One podcast, Trump added that Iran’s leader was involved in peace talks with the US, and that ‘Iran situation … will be very good.’
‘I would like to meet him, and we probably will meet at some point, depending on how it all works out,’ he said of the Ayatollah.
Three Iranians, speaking anonymously for safety reasons, told the Daily Mail they feel ‘betrayed’ by Trump, who they say had given them direct hope at a time when their government was killing protesters in the streets.
They say his pivot to negotiating with that same murderous government has left them questioning whether ordinary Iranians were ever part of his equation.