Khamenei admits mistake over talks on landmark deal
TEHERAN — Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has admitted he made a mistake in allowing the country’s foreign minister to speak to his US counterpart during negotiations that led to a 2015 international nuclear agreement.
International sanctions on Iran were lifted when the pact with world powers came into force in 2016, but the expected level of foreign investment to help revive the economy has never materialized. Then this May, US President Donald Trump pulled out of the agreement and is now reimposing new sanctions in stages.
Khamenei, who rarely admits in public to making errors, said he had done just that over the nuclear talks. “With the issue of the nuclear negotiations, I made a mistake in permitting our foreign minister to speak with them. It was a loss for us,” he said.
The comments made by Khamenei, the highest authority in the country, were tweeted on Wednesday by The Khat-e Hezbollah newspaper, a weekly affiliated with his official website.
Khamenei made the remarks on Monday, but the newspaper said it was now quoting them due to inaccurate accounts published previously by other media.
Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif negotiated the deal with counterparts from six powers, including then US Secretary of State John Kerry. Teheran undertook to curb its nuclear program in return for relief from the international sanctions which have been throttling its economy.
New US sanctions against Iran took effect last week, and Trump said companies doing business with the country will be barred from the United States. Washington had said Teheran’s only chance of avoiding the sanctions would be to accept an offer by Trump to negotiate a tougher nuclear deal.
US offer rejected
Iranian officials, from Khamenei down, have rejected the offer. Vice-President Eshaq Jahangiri said on Wednesday that the US is trying to make Teheran surrender through the imposition of sanctions.
“The first priority for all of us under a sanctions situation is to work toward managing the country in a way that brings the least amount of damage to people’s lives,” Fars News quoted Jahangiri as saying.
“America is trying by applying various pressures on our society to force us to retreat and surrender.”
The new sanctions targeted Iranian purchases of dollars, metals trading, coal, industrial software and its auto sector, though the toughest measures targeting oil exports do not take effect for four more months.
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani made similar comments to Jahangiri, although he did not specifically refer to the US. “We will not let the enemy bring us to our knees,” Rouhani said, according to state TV.