EDITOR—Succinctly put, the Supreme Leader made the following observations:
A nuclear deal per se is not panacea for Iran’s problems.
The JCPOA experience shows the US cannot be trusted. While President Barack Obama didn’t follow up that 2015 deal, President Donald Trump simply tore it up.
In retrospect, all the negotiations and all the concessions and compromises that Iran made turned out to be futile.
Negotiating with the US, therefore, is neither a wise nor intelligent thing to do or even an honourable thing.
Indeed, there is no substantive change in the US attitude toward Iran since 2015 when the Obama administration negotiated the JCPOA. Therefore, Khamenei’s remarks principally addressed the polarised domestic public opinion within Iran regarding the efficacy and purpose of renewed negotiations with the US, and implicitly urged national unity. This is the main thing.
