Iranians Read Trump's "The Art of the Deal" Before US Talks: Report

As U.S.-Iran talks got underway in Switzerland last weekend, Iran's chief negotiator Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf was seated across from Vice President JD Vance when an aide slipped in with an urgent message: Trump had just posted a social media threat to attack Iran if it didn't stop funding Hezbollah.

Ghalibaf had left his phone outside the room.

He read the message, turned to Vance, and told him the post violated the opening paragraph of the memorandum of understanding Trump had signed just days earlier, which committed both sides not to attack or threaten each other.

Then his team ended the face-to-face talks, according to The Washington Post.

"I told Vance, 'Today your president has issued threats. Understand that we never negotiate under threats or pressure,'" Ghalibaf said in an interview with Iranian state television.

"The American side sought another meeting through the mediators, but we refused."

It was not an isolated incident. It was the continuation of Trump’s attempt to create a new normal.

From Real Estate Days, Trump’s Way of Making Deals

People familiar with the process revealed that Iranian diplomats have been consulting a team of psychologists to help them understand Trump's mindset and to work with the specialists to predict how Trump might publicly respond to Iranian proposals before making them.

They have also been reading "The Art of the Deal," Trump's 1987 book co-written with journalist Tony Schwartz, in which the future president outlines his negotiating tactics as a real-estate developer.

The book advises using extreme and unpredictable demands to unsettle the other side and extract concessions.

Mediators confirmed that Iranian officials had repeatedly flagged the social media posts as a serious obstacle throughout the long process.

"Trump is applying the lessons of 'The Art of the Deal,' making extreme threats to test the other side's resolve," said Mohamed Amersi, an Iran expert and member of the Global Advisory Council of the Wilson Center.

"But the Iranians are well aware of his tactics. It won't change the dynamics."

Theater, Strategy, or Both?

Trump was aware of the effect his posts were having.

After issuing a vulgar warning to Iran in April to open the Strait of Hormuz, adding "Praise be to Allah," Trump told an aide he wanted to look as unstable as possible to push Iran toward the negotiating table.

He later threatened to destroy Iran's export terminal at Kharg Island, its power stations and, on April 7, posted: "A whole civilization will die tonight."

At the time, the U.S. was seeking a 45-day ceasefire.

Iran, fearing the extended window would be used by Washington and Israel to regroup, decided to treat the threat as a negotiating tactic and ignored it, securing a 15-day truce instead.

A U.S. official familiar with the matter said Trump's April 7 post was not a bluff, and that it prompted direct communications with Iran.

The posts have not always worked as intended. 10 days after the April ceasefire, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi declared the Strait of Hormuz completely open following a truce in Lebanon.

Trump immediately posted on social media that the U.S. naval blockade would remain in force.

Iran's security forces, who opposed any concessions to Washington, seized on the post, later declaring the strait remained shut.

Inside the Room, Outside the Deal

Inside the Switzerland negotiating room, Vance told the Iranians that Trump's post meant the U.S. would respond if Tehran violated the deal, not that it was issuing a new threat.

He also pushed for a break in talks to allow Iran time to consider US proposals, which a U.S. official said was unrelated to the social media post.

Later, Vance publicly defended Trump by saying he was responding to Iranian "trash talk" to "correct the record," without elaborating further.

Talks resumed through Pakistani and Qatari mediators after Ghalibaf's delegation walked out of the venue.

Iran succeeded in keeping any reference to the IAEA out of the final version while locking in an agreement allowing Iranian oil sales in dollars.

A separate U.S. source pushed back, saying the IAEA was never meant to be part of that document and was always planned to be discussed in a later stage.

Beyond the negotiating table, mediators say the real casualty of Trump's posting habit has been Iran's internal politics.

Officials in Tehran who were trying to persuade hardliners that Washington could be taken at its word have struggled to make that case each time a new post lands.

The mediators raised the issue with the U.S. side repeatedly throughout the process, warning that the posts were putting the entire effort at risk.