Svmuu News: According to a report by The Wall Street Journal on the 23rd (local time), Iranian diplomats said that, given Donald Trump’s unconventional approach, they have been studying *The Art of the Deal*, co-authored by Donald Trump and journalist Tony Schwartz in 1987.The book advises negotiators to make extreme and unpredictable demands to create anxiety and force opponents to make concessions.
Iranian negotiators have told intermediaries that they consulted a team of psychologists to help understand Donald Trump’s mindset, in an attempt to predict Donald Trump’s public reaction to Iran’s proposals.Political analysts and mediators say that Donald Trump’s high-profile and hardline statements have so far failed to elicit additional concessions from the Iranian side.
Mohammed Amersi, an Iran expert at the Wilson Center, a Washington think tank, said, “Donald Trump is employing strategies from *The Art of the Deal* to test the other side’s resolve through extreme threats.But the Iranians are well aware of his strategy.” Meanwhile, a source familiar with Iran’s diplomatic negotiations in Switzerland noted that there are no psychologists on the Iranian negotiating team, and that the Iranian side prefers to avoid speculating on a psychological level about Donald Trump’s motives or decision-making. (Jin Shi)