A policy of appeasement would not work with Iran, Al-Jubeir says‏

A senior Saudi official said on Thursday that a policy of appeasement would not work with Iran and that the only way to get Tehran to the negotiating table was to apply maximum pressure.

Saudi Arabia’s Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Adel Al-Jubeir was in Paris for talks with French officials amid efforts to defuse US-Iranian tensions and help Yemen’s legitimate government and southern separatists end a power struggle in the southern port of Aden, Arab News reported.

“We think that appeasement doesn’t work. Actions count, not words. Members of the Iranian government talk, but have no power. Those who have, like the Revolutionary Guards, don’t want to negotiate,” Al-Jubeir told Liberation newspaper in an interview. 

He was responding to a question about French attempts to bring the United States and Iran together, including by convincing US President Donald Trump to lift sanctions on Iran.

French President Emmanuel Macron attempted and failed last month to broker talks between Trump and Rouhani in New York. Prospects of any talks in coming weeks seem slim, with Tehran demanding US sanctions are lifted first.

“As far as we’re concerned, maximum pressure is the only way,” Al-Jubeir said.