Khamenei: Relations With America Only Bring Harm

Rooz Online

In a meeting with Iranian ambassadors and senior officials from the country’s ministry of foreign affairs, Iran’s leader ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the benefits of talks with the US and said the talks were actually of no benefit on some issues.

The leader’s remarks came just two days after President Hassan Rouhani spoke to the same group of officials. Khamenei implicitly concurred with what Rouhani said about the need to have relations with “the whole world,” but adding that there were two exceptions: “the Zionist regime and the US.”

According to the ayatollah, “relations with the Zionist regime were out of the question,” and on relations with the US he said it was the same, “except on some specific issues. Not only are there no benefits in relations with the US, there is harm in it. Who in his sane mind would pursue an unbeneficial effort?”

He added, “So long as the current situation, meaning the animosity of the Americans and the aggressive remarks of the American government and Congress on Iran, continues, there is no place for relations with them.”

About the nuclear talks, Khamenei said, “We are not banning talks (with the US) in the nuclear negotiations and the work that Dr. Zarif and his friends have begun and have progressed well till today will continue. But this was another valuable experience for all to note that talks with the US have absolutely no effect on diminishing their animosity and they have no benefits.”

This is not the first time Iran’s leader has made similar negative remarks. He has on a number of occasions stressed the point that he is pessimistic about Iran’s talks with the West and the US, while at the same time not opposing the talks from being held.

He has also said several times that he does not oppose the specific current diplomatic process to take its course. For example, in his Nowruz address (on March 21st) he said, “There is no problem in having talks on (certain) specific issues; but as I have said before, I do not trust this; I am not optimistic about the talks. But if they want to talk, they should talk. We will not be hurt (because of the talks),”

Last year, after Iran’s President Rouhani went to New York for the annual UN General Assembly gathering, and for the first time spoke with US President Barack Obama on the phone, Khamenei said, “We support the diplomatic efforts of the government and take the diplomatic efforts seriously, and support what happened during the recent trip. Of course some of the things that took place in New York were not appropriate from our perspective, but we are positive about the diplomatic team of our government but are pessimistic about the Americans.”

A few weeks after that talk, in November, Khamenei again repeated his earlier views and said, “As I have said before I am not optimistic. I do not believe that these talks will produce the results that the Iranian people expect. But still this is an experience and will increase the experience of the Iranian nation and strengthen it. There is no harm but the nation needs to be vigilant. We strongly and solidly support our officials who are working on the diplomatic front. But the nation must be vigilant and know what is going on so that some of the mercenary propagandists of the enemy and those propagandist who are not associated to them – who out of naivety – do not succeed in mislead the public.”

These latest remarks by Khamenei are similar in content to what he has been saying all along. He has said, in recent years “some presented the notion that if we sat at the negotiations table with the Americans many of our problems would be resolved. We of course knew this was not the case. The events of this last year proved this for the umpteenth time.”

While Khamenei did not name who these “some” individuals were, it is commonly believed he was referencing members of Ahmadinejad’s administration and even the former president himself who on a number of occasions had called for direct talks with the US.

In his talk, Khamenei also claimed that “there had been absolutely no contacts between Iranian and American officials,” but that after Rouhani’s administration came to office and because of “sensitive nuclear issues, and the need to try (the diplomatic channel), it was agreed that officials up to the ministry of foreign affairs level should have contacts, sittings and talks.” He qualified that by saying that the talks “not only did not bring any benefits but the tone of the Americans became more aggressive and insulting as they raised ore demands during the talks and in public forums.”

But this narrative of Khamenei differs from what some officials of the Islamic republic and even a website close to the Revolutionary Guards have written or said about contacts between Iranian and American officials prior to Rouhani’s administration. They have said that secret sittings were held between the two.

Ali Akbar Salehi, Iran’s foreign minister during Ahmadinejad’s final years had told al-Alam network that some officials from Ahmadinejad’s administration believed that Iran needed to have direct and bilateral talks with the US. According to him, he had mentioned this idea to ayatollah Khamenei who had told him, “Americans can’t be trusted … they break their promises, break their agreements and so cannot be trusted and have no sincerity.”

But he said ultimately the ayatollah told him, “There is no problem, go and do this (talk with the Americans). But know that this is the last time. This will take the excuses away from them and we shall announce to our people that we did try every opportunity to peacefully resolve this issue within the context of our pride, wisdom and interests so that they cannot play with public opinion.”

At that time (during Ahmadinejad’s administration), an Iranian website Nuclear Iran which is closely associated with the Revolutionary Guards wrote that ayatollah Khamenei had specified four conditions for talks with the US, which included the non-participation of the minister of foreign affairs at the talks, and specific tangible results in the short term. The site further claims that the policy making regarding the talks would be carried out by a “three-man committee that includes three senior members of the government” but that Ahmadinejad had no significant role in this. The talks be the responsibility of “an experienced deputy foreign minister.” On the US side, Jack Sullivan, US Vice-President Biden’s advisor and William Burns, a deputy US secretary of state participated in the secret talks. This site wrote that three rounds of talks were held in Muscat by the two sides before the election of a new president in Iran in 2009. The Americans, the site claims, “formally accepted Iran’s right to enrichment during those talks, and announced this to Iran in writing.”

Now Khamenei claims that since the talks, “Not only have the Americans not diminished their animosity, but have increased the sanctions as well. They keep saying these sanctions are not new but in fact they are new. The talks have not been beneficial regarding the sanctions.”

Last September and after Rouhani’s presidential victory, ayatollah Khamenei told a group of Revolutionary Guard commander, “The field of diplomacy is that of smiles and request for talks, and talks. But these actions must be understood within the context of the main conflict. I accept the notion of heroic flexibility that I raised years ago because such a step is good and necessary at times, provided it is based on the fundamental condition.”