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.
