Iranian regime leader breaks silence, rejects negotiations with U.S.

Reporting by PMOI/MEK

Iran, September 18, 2019—After a month of silence, Iranian regime supreme leader Ali Khamenei finally made remarks on recent rumors and prospects about possible negotiations between his regime and the U.S. administration. Khamenei outright rejected any plans for talks with U.S. authorities, unless they “repent.”

Khamenei also dismissed efforts by European states to mediate talks between the U.S. and the Iranian regime as part of the "maximum pressure" campaign.

Khamenei had gone into silence during the past month, especially as infighting among senior regime officials was intensifying.

Khamenei’s remarks come a day after Iranian regime president Hassan Rouhani rejected rumors of possible unconditioned talks with the U.S., and a few days after the regime launched a massive missile attack on Saudi Arabia.

In his remarks, Khamenei described promises of negotiations as a “trick” and said, “Sometimes, they say negotiations without prerequisites, other times, they say negotiations with 12 conditions. Such remarks are either due to their turbulent politics or a trick to confuse the other party.” Khamenei concluded that in any negotiations, his regime would have to concede to the demands of its counterparts.

Regarding the current policy of the U.S. toward the Iranian regime, Khamenei acknowledged that his regime will not change its behavior unless there's a firm policy. “The U.S. pursues a policy of maximum pressure on Iran through various embargoes, intimidation, and distorted claims, because the current U.S. government believes that the Islamic Republic cannot be brought to its knees, humiliated, and made to submit, through any indirect approach,” Khamenei said.

Previous U.S. administrations had sought to cajole the Iranian regime and curb its illicit activities through concessions and appeasement. But by closing their eyes on the many crimes this regime commits, they had only provoked the regime to intensify its illicit activities.

Khamenei remarked that any negotiations would be a defeat for his regime and said, “Their goal of pursuing negotiation is to prove to everyone that maximum pressure has been effective, and the Islamic Republic officials were forced to sit at the negotiating table despite claiming that they would not negotiate. Thus, the only way of dealing with Iran is through maximum pressure.”

Khamenei also dismissed any mediations by European countries to talk with U.S. authorities, describing their efforts as the extension of the U.S.’s maximum pressure policy. “[The Europeans] are insisting that a meeting with the U.S. President would solve all our problems, because they want to prove that the maximum pressure policy has been effective in dealing with Iran, and this policy must be pursued,” Khamenei said.

Khamenei concluded by saying that any negotiations with the U.S. would be the imposition of the U.S.’s demands on his regime, and any negotiations would be proof that the maximum pressure campaign of the U.S. has been effective.

“It is for this reason that the country's officials, from the President to the Foreign minister and others, have unanimously announced that we would not take part in talks, be it bilateral or multilateral, with the United States,” Khamenei said. “If the U.S. backs off and repents, and implements the nuclear deal from which they have withdrawn, then the U.S. can also take part in and talk during negotiations between Iran and the countries that are part of this deal. Otherwise, there will be absolutely no negotiation between the officials of the Islamic Republic and the U.S. at any level; neither in New York and not anywhere else.”

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