Despite the sharp exchanges between the U.S. and Iranian presidents at the United Nations, new negotiations may not be so far-fetched as sanctions intensify against Tehran.

The central takeaway from Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s Cairo speech is that the United States needs to rely more on allies to stabilize the Middle East.

Since the shah’s ouster in February 1979, Iran’s Islamic regime has been propelled by Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolutionary vision and underpinned by its animus toward the United States.

Iran appears increasingly boxed in by intensifying U.S. sanctions, the latest of which will effectively cut it off from its main oil customers.