Trump’s antagonism towards Iran means making a new deal won’t be easy for Biden if he wins the presidency

If Democrats want to avoid the potentially catastrophic armed conflict towards which US-Iran hostilities are drifting, they need to create a strategy now, writes Borzou Daragahi

Joe Biden will look to change US foreign policy if he makes it to the White House (Getty)

Iran has become a big sore spot in US politics, with Donald Trump’s antagonism towards Tehran pushing the two countries further and further apart.

According to Joe Biden’s election platform, the Democratic nominee would seek to drastically dial down tensions with Iran should he capture the presidency, in a return to one of the issues that helped define the tenure of Barack Obama, who had Biden as his vice-president.

But would Iran be willing to come back to the negotiating table? Just four or five months after a new Democratic administration would take office if Biden wins, Iran is due to hold its own presidential elections that could establish a hardline administration in Tehran in no mood to talk with the US about much of anything.