Khamenei appears to back away from commitments his negotiators made in April
Strict terms set by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on his country’s nuclear program this week rattled Western governments and staunch supporters of the White House’s negotiations with Tehran just days ahead of a diplomatic deadline.
Mr. Khamenei’s hard-line positions, announced in a nationally televised speech, appeared to back away from commitments his negotiators made in April to restrain parts of Iran’s nuclear program and to allow international inspections of the country’s military sites.
U.S. and European officials said they believed Mr. Khamenei was publicly asserting himself ahead of the June 30 deadline in a bid to extract more concessions from the Obama administration and its negotiating partners.
But there is concern in Washington and Europe that Iran’s paramount political leader may be boxing in his own diplomats by establishing terms they can’t deliver on. The 75-year-old cleric is viewed by the White House as the final decision maker on all issues concerning Iran’s nuclear program and foreign policy.
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“Though a solid, long-term deal is within sight, there is reason to worry that clumsy, 11th-hour attempts to gain negotiating leverage—like Khamenei’s latest ‘red lines’—will backfire,” said Daryl Kimball, executive director of the Arms Control Association, and an outspoken supporter of the U.S.’s Iran diplomacy. “He is unnecessarily risking an Iranian own-goal.”
French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, who is among the most hawkish of the Western diplomats engaged in the Iran talks, warned Iran against backsliding.
“France wants a deal, but wants the deal to be robust,” he told reporters in Paris on Wednesday. “A certain number of statements [from Iran] do not seem to go in that direction.”Read the rest of the story HERE.
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