Iran’s negotiating team has reportedly taken the unusual step of bringing in outside psychologists to better understand Donald Trump’s thinking during sensitive talks with the United States in Switzerland. According to a report Wednesday in The Wall Street Journal, Iranian diplomats have moved away from standard diplomatic methods and are trying to translate Trump’s unpredictable social media threats into a framework they can use in the negotiations.
The tense backdrop came after Trump posted a threatening message against Iran over the weekend while the sides were still talking in Switzerland. Mohammad Kalibaf, who heads the Iranian delegation, reportedly left his phone outside the room. After being briefed on the post, he halted direct talks in protest. Intermediaries involved in the negotiations said the Iranians are using psychologists to build a profile of Trump and predict how he might react publicly to Iranian proposals.
There is, however, disagreement over how far that effort goes. A source familiar with the Iranian delegation said no psychologists are present in the formal negotiating team, and that Iran, at least officially, prefers not to speculate psychologically about Trump’s motives. At the same time, the delegation is also rereading Trump’s 1987 book, “The Art of the Deal,” which lays out his approach to bargaining through extreme, unpredictable demands meant to create pressure and force concessions.
Mohammed Amersi, an Iran specialist at the Wilson Center, said Trump is clearly applying those lessons by using extreme threats to test the other side’s resolve. He added that the Iranians understand the tactic well, even if that does not change the dynamics of the talks. Trump’s use of social media as a diplomatic tool has, in Amersi’s view, created a new reality that overshadows traditional channels. Over recent months, Trump has threatened Iran’s energy infrastructure and even its cultural integrity, while Iran has sometimes ignored the threats and at other times used his posts to widen internal divisions between pragmatists and hardliners. The report suggests the psychological effort reflects growing diplomatic frustration, with the results of the attempt to read Trump still unknown.
