More than four years have passed since President Obama came to office seemingly intent on finding a diplomatic strategy to the matter posed, in US and EU eyes, by Iran’s acquisition of a dual-use nuclear technology, namely that of uranium enrichment. Yet that diplomatic solution remains not in sight: while two rounds of talks this year between EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton (speaking for the U.S., EU, Russia and China) and Secretary of the Supreme National Security Council Saeed Jalili (representing Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei) have helped both sides gain a greater understanding of every other’s positions, they’ve failed, as have previous rounds, to generate negotiating momentum. Key one of several various possible explanations for this disappointing outcome is the problem of trust.

Iran’s loss of trust within the US’s good faith has become increasingly manifest. It’s frequently voiced by Iranian diplomats, while Iran’s foreign minister addressed the problem publicly in his observations in Berlin on 4 February that ‘a loss of reciprocal confidence is the crux of the matter’, and that ‘Iran needs evidence that US offers to speak are made in good faith – that they’re authentic and sincere’.

Perhaps most significantly, Ayatollah Khamenei also subscribes to this view of the nuclear problem. As recently as 20 March he stated: ‘I am not optimistic about talks. Why? Because our past experiences show that talks for the yankee officials don’t mean for us to sit and reach a logical solution … What they mean by talks is that we sit and talk until Iran accepts their viewpoint.’