Iranian ‘supreme leader’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei ruled out any negotiations with the United States on any important issues for the foreseeable future during remarks on Friday, warning his underlings in Tehran that attempting diplomacy with Washington was “dishonorable.”
“Some people pretend that if we sit at the negotiating table, some problem will be solved, but the fact that we must understand correctly is that negotiating with the US has no effect on solving the country’s problems,” Khamenei declared, speaking at an event with the Iranian Air Force to mark the anniversary of the jihadist revolution in 1979.
The “supreme leader” made his remarks after President Donald Trump announced this week that his administration would reinstate the “maximum pressure” policy against the rogue regime that Trump had initially implemented during his first term in office. The goals of the policy are to prevent Iran, the world’s premier state sponsor of terrorism, from accessing large amounts of funds to distribute to its terror proxies, limit its malign influence in the Middle East and Latin America, and prevent Tehran from obtaining a nuclear warhead.
Prior to Trump’s first administration, former President Barack Obama championed a policy of issuing concessions to Tehran in the hope that the Iranian government would use new money and resources to help its citizens rather than finance terrorism. Obama spearheaded the efforts that resulted in the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), or Iran nuclear deal, that laid out a roadmap for lifting sanctions on Iran in exchange for it dismantling its nuclear weapons program. Iran has repeatedly violated the agreement; the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the United Nations body that oversees nuclear development, proclaimed itself extremely dismayed by Iran’s behavior last year.
President Trump pulled America out of the JCPOA during his first term; former President Joe Biden failed to restore Washington’s position in the moribund agreement. The JCPOA still exists in theory, buoyed by the participation of some European nations and China, but IAEA chief Rafael Grossi declared in June the agreement “exists only on paper and means nothing.”
Khamenei’s rejection of any diplomacy with America on Friday appeared to be a warning to the administration of “moderate” President Masoud Pezeshkian not to pursue any similar deals in the future.
“Our government at the time sat down and negotiated – they continued to come and go, they sat down and stood up and negotiated,” Khamenei reminisced about the JCPOA discussions, “they talked, laughed, shook hands, made friends, everyone worked, and a treaty was formed.”
“In this treaty, the Iranian side was very generous, giving many concessions to the other side. But the Americans did not implement the same treaty,” he claimed. “The same person who is in office now [Trump] tore up the treaty. He said he would tear it down and he did.”
“Therefore, negotiating with such a government is unwise, unintelligent and dishonorable and there should be no negotiation with it,” he concluded.
Khamenei’s remarks on the negotiations appear targeted towards Pezeshkian’s administration as much as Trump’s. Pezeshkian has included in his administration the lead Iranian negotiator in the JCPOA talks, Mohammad Javad Zarif, who currently serves as vice president for strategic affairs. Pezeshkian has not taken an aggressive stance against the United States since taking office last year, preferring to allow Khamenei to issue bombastic statements while he promotes language of unity and harmony.
Khamenei delivered on Friday, concluding his speech to the Air Force by declaring of the United States, “If they threaten us, we will threaten them.”
“If they put their threat into practice, we will do the same. If they attack the security of our nation, we will attack their security without hesitation,” he asserted.
Trump made clear during a session signing executive orders on Tuesday that he did not have any interest in issuing concessions to Iran. He signed an executive order implementing the “maximum pressure” policy, which reinforces sanctions, blocks Iran out of the global economy, and undoes Obama- and Biden-era policies softening America’s approach to the rogue state. The executive order, according to the White House, tasks the Secretary of the Treasury to “impose maximum economic pressure on the Government of Iran, including by sanctioning or imposing enforcement mechanisms on those acting in violation of existing sanctions.”
The order also tasks the State Department to close loopholes to Iran sanctions and end waivers to existing sanctions, targeting the Iranian oil industry.
During the executive order signing, Trump addressed threats to his person emanating from Iran. In 2020, Trump ordered an airstrike against Iran’s most effective terrorist operative Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). Following his elimination, several Iranian officials called for Trump’s execution, while Iranian courts criminally charged Trump, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and other Trump administration officials for the airstrike and are demanding millions of dollars in redress.
Killing him, Trump told reporters on Tuesday, “would be a terrible thing for them [Iran] to do.”
“Not because of me. If they did that, they would be obliterated. That would be the end,” Trump explained ominously. “I’ve left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated. There won’t be anything left.”
