Ayatollah Ali Khamenei suggested Tehran would not pursue negotiations with Washington. President Donald Trump recently signed an executive order that imposed additional sanctions on Tehran, aimed at destroying the Iranian economy.
“First, negotiations with the US have no effect on solving [Iran’s] problems. The reason? Experience!” Khamenei said on Friday. During the Barack Obama presidency, “we sat down and negotiated with the US for about two years, and an agreement was formed. In this agreement, the Iranian side was very generous and gave many concessions to the other side.”
“But the US did not carry out that agreement. The same person who is now in office tore up that agreement. We must learn from this experience.” He continued, “One must not negotiate with a government like the US government. Negotiations with it is not wise, it is not intelligent, and is not honorable.”
Khamenei is referring to the 2015 Iran Nuclear Deal that required Tehran to take steps to limit its nuclear energy program in exchange for the lifting of US sanctions.
Many of the sanctions on Iran were never lifted. Once Trump took office in 2017, he worked to undermine the deal even as Tehran was in full compliance.
In 2018, Trump withdrew from the agreement and reimposed sanctions on Tehran. Under President Joe Biden, the sanctions on Iran remained in place and largely unchanged. However, over the past four years, Tehran has found new trading partners that are unafraid of American sanctions.
Earlier this week, Trump asserted that Biden has loosened the sanctions on Iran, and ordered a return to his “maximum pressure” strategy. While signing the executive order, Trump said the sanctions were to ensure that Iran does not get nuclear weapons and even noted that high-ranking Iranian officials oppose developing a nuke.
Khamenei has issued a decree against developing weapons of mass destruction. The CIA has repeated several times over the past year that Iran is not working on a nuclear weapon.
Still, Trump added new sanctions on Iran, targeting oil shipments to China.
The US sanctions and Khamenei denouncing diplomacy with Washington dashes hopes that the new Trump administration would open a window for diplomacy. It is notable that Khamenei criticized talks with the US but did not forbid Tehran from speaking with Washington.
Kyle Anzalone is the opinion editor of Antiwar.com and news editor of the Libertarian Institute. He hosts The Kyle Anzalone Show and is co-host of Conflicts of Interest with Connor Freeman.
Oh, so we now trust the CIA more than Trump??? You leftists are so inconsistent. The CIA has been created conflicts worldwide for many years.
The deep state puts out these "Iran is about to have a nuclear weapon" stories a few times a year. Why wouldn't Iran develop a nuclear weapon? Israel has them.
I trust the CIA and Trump equally, and for the same reasons.
Which is to say, not at all because they’ve both been caught lying too many times for that to be a good bet.
Trump and the CIA are in together. Getting rid of the CIA by Trump is just for show. If Trump were really serious of getting rid of the CIA assassination attempts would not miss.
Only fascists trust trump.
The author is said to direct "the Libertarian Institute", which in US parlance sounds rather far right. How's that "leftists"? Is everyone you disagree with a "leftist"?
On a side note, I'm persuaded that Iran did conduct a nuclear test last year. It's unofficial but they do have the bomb (and the missile arsenal to launch it all the way to Western Europe).
Nukes are hugely expensive and can't be used without astronomical consequences, that's why sensible nations don't build them. Indeed though Iran is massively threatened militarily including with nukes and is sanctioned maximally as if they were developing them at top speed, so we might eventually self-fulfill that prophecy.
Nukes are century-old terrorist technology.
Being an outsider, Trump runs on the promise of drying up the swamp that is Washington. He gets elected, goes into the swamp that is Washington, reports back to the American people that its pretty bad in the swamp. And then he just turns around again and goes back in to the swamp.
Trump was never an actual “outsider,” and the “swamp” is just a larger version of the milieu that produced him (real estate scam artistry).
He’s just another politician, albeit one with a flair for more melodramatic styles of self-promotion.
Just not a career politician but he has been playing politics all his life, cheating, stealing and bullying.
“But the US did not carry out that agreement. The same person who is now in office tore up that agreement. We must learn from this experience.” He continued, “One must not negotiate with a government like the US government. Negotiations with it is not wise, it is not intelligent, and is not honorable.”
To be fair to Trump, the US never abided by the agreement so tearing it up was just a formality. But that's about the only thing the Ayatollah wasn't completely accurate about. How sad is that?
Iran knew US Obama admin didn't abide with sanction relief, so they waited around for Trump hoping he would… which didn't happen until he cancelled the deal obeying the criminal minister wishes…!
Also notice that he made these statements after Trump revived the maximum pressure campaign… showing his patience…!
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.
"There's an old saying in Tennessee, I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, fool me once, shame on … shame on you. Fool me … can't get fooled again." – Duh-bya
Funny.
Bush The Younger has a way with words.
Hope is lost Kyle…! Even if there would be a new deal, it'll be all for show to credit Trump…! So it would be the repeat of the last deal with US non-compliance…!
Hope is lost Kyle…! Even if there would be a new deal, it'll be all for show to credit Trump…! So it would be the repeat of the last deal with US non-compliance…!
A big problem for the so-called "the West" (US Empire) is that "we" have lost all credibility after failing to uphold our promises and treaties over and over, be it in Ukraine, Palestine or Iran (among other places). The so-called "rules-based order" does not exist anymore: it's a disorder in which the only rule is the caprice of Uncle Sam. This leads to everyone showing their backs to the global hegemon and its European vassals, naturally. They say: you may be powerful but you are not all powerful, we can live without you and even it's better to be against you than being under your arrogant oppressive dictatorship.
Still that global hegemon is continuing in full force. Trudeau just came out saying, to take Trump's annexing Canada very seriously. Netanyahu being interviewed by Newsmax insisted that Trump's idea is brilliant and very workable. Mexico has caved.
Trump still has lots of support even according to CNN because many do like some of the stuff he is delivering adn they do not like the counter measures Democrats are using of blocking highways, screaming, doxing and threatening.
Would Israel and the US be willing to kill all Palestinians in Gaza if they refuse to leave? At the moment from what I see unfortunately the answer is "yes" and too many voting Israelis and voting Americans actually agree. We with Israel have become the Hitler Nazi force in the world.
Canada and even Greenland are lesser issues: they may look great in a Mercator projection map but they have been all but in name part of the USA since at least WW2. It’s like when Roman Emperor Claudius annexed Mauretania, which had been a client state since the days of Hannibal and Scipio: nobody remembers, nobody almost noticed even in his day. Now, when he went on to conquer Britain… that was a very different story.
I can understand why Trump has support, especially among his ideological backers, he’s doing radical things like purging the deep state (in his favor ultimately but no need to explain that to the unwashed masses, you know, they’ll find out eventually). In any case he has the perfect rivals in the sense that they’re doing and will probably do everything wrong. Only when they lose several times, every time by greater margin, not because of the merits of Trump or his successors but because of their own horrible demerits and crimes, and very especially once a socialist alternative emerges (as it will no doubt, this unprecedented civilizational megacrisis can only lead to eco-communism or total human extinction, Capitalism is too predatory to be redeemed, I’m quite certain), they will try to rebuild something half-credible but it’ll be too late (as it is already for the discredited PS in France, etc.) In the meantime… enjoy neo-Tsarism or whatever Dr. Strangemusk is about.
And of course it is indeed some sort of neo-nazism (with the variance that modern antisemitism is Islamophobia). As a young US volunteer in Ukraine found out as soon as he arrived: “we are the Nazis”. He managed to escape to Russia and tell his story, many of his colleagues couldn’t.
Israel is definitely willing to try again to exterminate the Palestinians in both Gaza and the West Bank: it’s their existencial ambition (there may be individual exceptions but in general the Israeli society is totally brainwashed into that genocidal path, the ones with some common sense are just leaving for Brooklyn or wherever). Now, as for the USA, I don’t know: it’s a very costly strategy in terms of PR. Trump and his entourage seem willing to but Trump often backtracks after facing reality for what it is (war with Yemen is guaranteed, war with Iran extremely likely, if that happens, Hamas remains strong, Hizbollah hasn’t been defeated either, the Arabs and Muslims are extremely angry in general and may easily topple US-friendly governments as result). So… we’ll see. I hope that cooler heads prevail.
As I said before it would take Israel 20 years to kill all the Gaza Palestinians…! A lot could happen between now and then…!
Gaza Palestinians would outlive Trump Administration or the criminal minster premiership…!
I do not believe Americans can be counted on by Israelis. Yes, brainwashed totalitarian police and militias will rampage yet they will not prevail.
Mexico did not cave. I listened to President Claudia Sheinbaum give a speech and she roused a gallery of Mexicans to their feet for defense of their country. Yes, Mexican troops were sent to the border,,, To defend Mexico,
Wise decision, he's probably afraid Trump will annex Iran to go with Greenland and Gaza.
So much for the report that Tehran was being coy re a mutual defense pact with Russia because they were have back-channel negotiations with Witkoff (?) with the thought that relations with the West were still possible.
The only reason Trump was elected was because how rotten Biden and Kamalala are. USA scraped the bottom of the barrel in the 2024 elections. What Israel wants is all that now matters,,shocking!
https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/ayatollah-shuts-door-negotiations-us-after-trump-restores-maximum-pressure
If I'm reading the tea leaves correctly, Russia won't bother negotiating a nuclear weapons treaty with Trump and Kellogg.