“There is a remarkable moment of pressure in the region as a whole. In some ways, I would say Iran is under less pressure than it was five years ago. Five years ago, it didn’t have the relations with the Europeans that it does today. The nuclear deal was still a very, very significant international crisis,” said Trita Parsi, President of NIAC to Steve Inskeep. “Sanctions were underway. Much of that is now starting to change, and certainly the relationship with Europe is very, very different today. But the region is under a tremendous amount of pressure. And we see how the rivalry between Saudi Arabia and Iran has really escalated in the last couple of months.”