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The U.S. and Iran have been holding meetings over the past few months to try to hammer out a nuclear agreement. At times, President Trump has announced that a deal is close. Other times, it seems that talks could fall apart and that he could unleash airstrikes. Despite the high stakes, as NPR international affairs correspondent Jackie Northam reports, some Iranians are greeting the news with a shrug.
JACKIE NORTHAM, BYLINE: In 2015, when the nuclear deal between Iran, the U.S. and other world powers was signed, Zahra (ph) was in her mid-20s. The unemployed fashion designer from the northwestern Iranian city of Hamadan remembers the excitement at the time about Iran's future.
ZAHRA: (Non-English language spoken).
NORTHAM: She says she remembers a sense of hope and belief back then. The nuclear deal placed stringent restrictions on Iran's nuclear program in exchange for an end to crippling sanctions on the country. Zahra, like all the other people who spoke to NPR for this report, asked that her full name not be used out of fear of retribution from Iran's hard-line government. She said, back then, people believed the leadership wanted to better Iran.
ZAHRA: (Non-English language spoken).
NORTHAM: She says she believed things would become normal and saw it as an opportunity to connect to the world. Instead, the Iranian regime continued to be corrupt and crackdown on dissent. Trump pulled out of that deal during his first term. Now he wants a new, very similar deal. Zahra doesn't think anything will change if there's another nuclear agreement. That sense of resignation is widespread, says Davood (ph), a 45-year-old architect who runs construction projects in Mashhad in northeast Iran.
DAVOOD: (Through interpreter) I don't see or hear people talking about the nuclear negotiations. Most people aren't following it. There's a huge indifference among the people.
NORTHAM: But Davood says there are jokes about the Iranian leaders' handling of the nuclear talks, including one about the vitamin B2.
DAVOOD: (Through interpreter) People say if B2 vitamin had been used earlier, the Iranian leadership would have been controlled earlier. They mean B-2 bombers.
NORTHAM: Thirty-year-old Negar (ph), an English teacher in Tehran, said there's no surprise Iranians are making jokes about the nuclear negotiations with the Trump administration.
NEGAR: (Through interpreter) I don't really think either side knows exactly what they're doing. I think they're forced into these negotiations out of desperation.
NORTHAM: Trump says, unlike the first deal, he doesn't want Iran to be able to enrich uranium. Tehran says it has the right to enrich small amounts to run power plants and the like. Negar says Trump likely thinks Iran is vulnerable. Its economy is in shambles and has been militarily weakened by Israel. Trump has warned he will back military action if Iran won't agree to a deal. Negar thinks that's a bluff.
NEGAR: (Through interpreter) I don't think Trump will really take military action or give Israel the green light to do this because he has always touted the idea of noninterference and reducing American interference in the rest of the world.
NORTHAM: Negar says the Iranian government has probably reached a similar conclusion and doesn't take Trump's threat seriously. She says that's why they keep stalling and prolonging the talks.
Jackie Northam, NPR News.
(SOUNDBITE OF BADBADNOTGOOD AND GHOSTFACE KILLAH SONG, "FOOD") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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