DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 27 Aug (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s supreme leader opened the door Tuesday to renewed negotiations with the United States over his country\u2019s rapidly advancing nuclear program, telling its civilian government there was \u201cno barrier\u201d to engaging with its \u201cenemy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u2019s remarks set clear red lines for any talks taking place under the government of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and renewed his warnings that Washington wasn\u2019t to be trusted.<\/p>\n
But his comments mirror those around the time of Iran\u2019s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran\u2019s nuclear program greatly curtailed in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. Yet it remains unclear just how much room Pezeshkian will have to maneuver, particularly as tensions remain high in the wider Middle East over the Israel-Hamas war and as the U.S. prepares for a presidential election in November.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do not have to pin our hope to the enemy. For our plans, we should not wait for approval by the enemies,\u201d Khamenei said in a video broadcast by state television. \u201cIt is not contradictory to engage the same enemy in some places, there\u2019s no barrier.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, also warned Pezeshkian\u2019s Cabinet, \u201cDo not trust the enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Khamenei, 85, has occasionally urged talks or dismissed them with Washington after then President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew the United States from the deal in 2018.<\/p>\n
There have been indirect talks between Iran and the U.S. in recent years mediated by Oman and Qatar, two of the United States\u2019 Middle East interlocutors when it comes to Iran. Khamenei\u2019s remarks came a day after Qatar\u2019s prime minister visited the country.<\/p>\n
Asked for comment, the U.S. State Department told The Associated Press: \u201cWe will judge Iran\u2019s leadership by their actions, not their words.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have long said that we ultimately view diplomacy as the best way to achieve an effective, sustainable solution with regard to Iran\u2019s nuclear program,\u201d it said. \u201cHowever, we are far away from anything like that right now given Iran\u2019s escalations across the board, including its nuclear escalations and its failure to cooperate\u201d with the International Atomic Energy Agency, the United Nations nuclear watchdog.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf Iran wants to demonstrate seriousness or a new approach, they should stop nuclear escalations and start meaningfully cooperating with the IAEA,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
Since the deal\u2019s collapse, Iran has abandoned all limits that the deal put on its program, and enriches uranium to up to 60% purity \u2014 near weapons-grade levels of 90%.<\/p>\n
Surveillance cameras installed by the IAEA have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the Vienna-based agency\u2019s most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials also have increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and Israel have hit a new high during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel in April after years of a shadow war between the two countries reached a climax with Israel\u2019s apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and others.<\/p>\n
The assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh also prompted Iran to threaten to retaliate against Israel.<\/p>\n
Pezeshkian, a former lawmaker who won the presidency after a May helicopter crash killed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, campaigned in part on a promise to reengage the West with negotiations. Khamenei\u2019s remarks as Iran\u2019s paramount leader could provide him with the political cover to do so. Pezeshkian\u2019s new foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was deeply involved in negotiations on the 2015 deal.<\/p>\n
However, it\u2019s not just Iran that\u2019s facing a new presidency. The U.S. will hold a presidential election on Nov. 5, with Vice President Kamala Harris and Trump as the leading candidates. Iran has been concerned about Trump returning to power.<\/p>\n
While the U.S. engaged in indirect talks with Iran under President Joe Biden, it remains unclear how that would carry over to a possible Harris administration. Harris, in a speech to the Democratic National Convention last week, said: \u201cI will never hesitate to take whatever action is necessary to defend our forces and our interests against Iran and Iran-backed terrorists.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tuesday\u2019s meeting between Khamenei and Pezeshkian\u2019s Cabinet included an appearance by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who helped Iran reach the 2015 deal. After the meeting, Zarif said in an online message that he would continue to serve as a vice president in Pezeshkian\u2019s administration after earlier publicly resigning over the makeup of the Cabinet.<\/p>\n
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DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, 27 Aug (AP) \u2014 Iran\u2019s supreme leader opened the door Tuesday to renewed negotiations with the United States over his country\u2019s rapidly advancing nuclear program, telling its civilian government there was \u201cno barrier\u201d to engaging with its \u201cenemy.\u201d Ayatollah Ali Khamenei\u2019s remarks set clear red lines for any talks taking place […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-247278","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-world"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247278","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247278"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247278\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247278"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247278"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247278"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}