Tehran:
Iran reportedly enlisted the help of psychiatric professionals to deal with US President Donald Trump’s “erratic behaviour” while negotiating a peace deal aimed at ending the war in the Middle East. The team of two senior psychologists was deployed to develop an assessment of Trump’s mental condition and to assist Iranian negotiators in crafting messages passed to the US leader by regional mediators, according to a report by Drop Site.
The unusual tactic was used to better navigate Trump’s ever-changing temper.
“We added two senior psychologists to the negotiations’ advisory circle so that we can shape messages intended for President Trump from the perspective of managing what we regard as psychopathic behaviour patterns,” an Iranian official told Drop Site.
According to the Iranian official, who was not authorised to speak publicly, the psychiatric professionals began assisting Iranian negotiators following the initial round of bilateral talks in Islamabad in April, after Washington and Tehran began exchanging proposed terms for a potential Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for a permanent end to the war.
“[Trump’s] reactions have improved noticeably since we began incorporating the recommendations of these advisers into our messages and written communications,” the official said.
They added that because the exchanged texts will ultimately become part of the historical record, Tehran conducted negotiations in a manner that “ensures the relative weight and sophistication of each party’s negotiating techniques will be evident should these communications be made public in the years ahead”.
Trump’s Erratic Behaviour
A Reuters/Ipsos poll earlier this year found that six in 10 Americans, including a significant slice of Republicans, think Trump has become erratic as he ages.
Overall, 61 per cent of respondents in the poll said they would describe the 80-year-old leader as having “become erratic with age.” Some 89 per cent of Democrats, 30 per cent of Republicans and 64 per cent of independents described him this way.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Trump returned to office in January 2025 at age 78, becoming the oldest president on inauguration day in history. Since then, he has unveiled new policies and proposals at a dizzying pace, ordering sweeping tariffs on imports from dozens of countries and deploying masked federal agents across the country to crack down on unauthorised immigration and even thrusting the US into a war that many analysts believed America was unlikely to win.
After nearly 4 months of negotiations, the US and Iran reached a tentative deal to end the war. The deal is expected to be signed on Friday in Switzerland. Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said his country’s top negotiator, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, will attend the signing with an Iranian delegation, according to state television.
The US delegation will be headed by Vice President JD Vance, he added.
