Just days after US Vice President Joe Biden said his country was willing to have direct talks with Iranian officials, Washington imposed more sanctions on Iran. <br /><br />The economic penalties have left the country with a depreciated currency, rising unemployment, and a shortage in medicine. <br /><br />Despite the impact of the sanctions on their lives, a recent Gallup poll found that 63 percent of Iranians surveyed want their country's nuclear programme to continue. And nearly half say responsibility for the sanctions lies with the US.<br /><br />In a statement released this week, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on the US to explain "what it means to offer talks while simultaneously continuing pressure and threats".<br /><br />So, can direct talks be successful amidst sanctions and "all options" remaining on the table? <br /><br />To discuss this, Inside Story Americas with presenter Shihab Rattansi is joined by guests: Flynt Leverett, a professor of international affairs at Penn State University, and the co- author of the book, Going to Tehran: Why the United States Must Come to Terms with the Islamic Republic of Iran; Ali Reza Eshraghi, a media and communication consultant at the Institute for War and Peace Reporting; and Ambassador John Limbert, the former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Iran.
