Washington maintains that sanctions against Tehran represent the best way to pressure the Islamic Republic, and Iranian leaders, according to recent media reports, appear to believe this as well.

Iran is mulling a proposal by Russia to halt the expansion of its nuclear program, in a bid to avoid new sanctions by the EU, which could come into effect in July.

Such statements aren’t much of a surprise, coming a week or so after a meeting in Turkey between Iranian officials and representatives of the “P5+1” group of countries, to deal with Tehran’s nuclear program.

The actual results of these talks weren’t publicized, but the latest ideas being floated indicate that politicians are once again trying to see whether deals can be made.

The latest comment by Israel’s top military official adds a new element to the mix. Chief of staff Benny Gantz told a newspaper that he didn’t think Iran would actually build a nuclear bomb, and that the Iranian leadership was full of rational individuals. Gantz gave a thumbs-up to the campaign of political pressure and economic sanctions on the regime in Tehran, predicting that the policy would eventually bear fruit.

The comments represent a clear divergence with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has openly campaigned against the effectiveness of sanctions.

After months of a rising chorus of voices in the U.S. and Israel, casting doubt on any possibility of resolving the stand-off amicably, Gantz’s comments represent a sharp climb-down.

The world has been treated to a steady stream of rhetoric about the danger posed by Iran, and this has only made a jittery region more nervous. Suddenly, the notion that sanctions might work, and that leaders in Tehran behave according to the same type of calculations that are used elsewhere, gains ground.

The verbal threats and posturing unleashed by world leaders were probably sincere, but didn’t represent the only game in town, since key players undoubtedly prefer to resolve the dispute through negotiations. As people know, the value of a military confrontation between Iran and the international community has been challenged by many skeptics, and the economic fallout from such a step could prove disastrous not only for the Middle East, but for the global economy as a whole.

The principals in this drama are playing the game as expected, namely based on their political calculations, and not an open-ended commitment to bringing down the Iranian regime. Those in the region who bank on such apocalyptic scenarios should pay close attention to the issue as more and more trial balloons are floated.