Abstract:

Following the 2017 presidential elections in the Islamic Republic of Iran (Iran), Hassan Rouhani was elected as the President of Iran for the second time. During and following the Rouhani’s election process, a period started in which it became difficult to maintain conciliatory rhetoric between Iran and the United States of America (US). The rising tension in the Iran-US relations was reflected in regional policies and increased rivalry among the regional actors, especially Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, and Yemen. Although the Barack Obama administration in the US had brought the diplomacy option to the forefront in Iran-US relations, the Donald Trump administration adopted the rogue state rhetoric, which led to the escalation of the tension between the parties. Trump, one of whose election promises was to save the United States from The Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action /Nuclear Agreement (JCPOA), kept this promise when he took the office. The US President tried to persuade Iran of a negotiation that was in line with the expectations of the US through maximum pressure policy. In response to this, the maximum resistance policy of the Iranian administration have been resulted with difficulties of reconciliation for the parties. For the period following the assassination of Qassem Soleimani, Iran-US relations came to the brink of war with the conflict inside the borders of Iraq. In this study, it is aimed to evaluate the departure of Iran-US relations from diplomacy after the US’s withdrawal decision from the Nuclear Agreement and to emphasize the effect of diplomacy option in order to maintain regional security.

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