Iranian leader jabs at US with nuclear talks stalled
TEHRAN, Iran – Iran’s supreme leader on Wednesday called the U.S. “stubborn” in stalled nuclear talks in Vienna for discussing Tehran’s missiles and regional influence, likely signaling more trouble ahead for the negotiations.
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks come as his hardline protege, Presidentelect Ebrahim Raisi, is poised to be sworn in next week as the head of the country’s civilian government.
While Raisi has said he wants to return to the tattered nuclear deal, which saw Iran limit its enrichment of uranium in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions, Khamenei seemingly called for a more adversarial approach in his remarks. The supreme leader also appeared to describe outgoing President Hassan Rouhani’s eight-year government as naive for its approach in reaching the 2015 agreement – even as Rouhani and his Cabinet sat before him in a farewell meeting.
“Others should use your experiences. This experience is a distrust of the West,” Khamenei said in remarks broadcast by state television. “In this government, it was shown up that trust in the West does not work.”
The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Biden administration days earlier criticized Iran for saying America had delayed a possible prisoner-swap deal, calling it “an outrageous effort to deflect blame for the current impasse.”
French Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Agnes Von Der Muhll also told journalists that it was “urgent for Iran to return to the negotiating table.”
“Through its actions, Iran continues to exacerbate the nuclear situation,” she said Monday. “If it continues down this path, not only will it delay the moment when an agreement might be reached providing for the lifting of sanctions, but it could compromise the very possibility of concluding the Vienna talks and restoring the” deal.
In his remarks Wednesday, Khamenei described American negotiators as verbally promising to lift sanctions, but said any return to the nuclear deal must “include a sentence” on negotiating on other issues.
“By putting this sentence, they want to provide an excuse for their further interventions on the principle of (the deal) and missile program and regional issues,” the leader said. “If Iran refuses to discuss them, they will say that you have violated the agreement and the agreement is over.”
Rouhani sat off to the side at Khamenei’s office during the meeting along with his senior vice president, while officials in his government sat before the supreme leader in socially distanced chairs amid the country’s raging coronavirus outbreak.
All wore masks, making it difficult to see their expressions as Khamenei criticized any outreach to the West while only praising “some” of the country’s diplomats in front of Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif.