{"id":329905,"date":"2025-03-28T20:48:01","date_gmt":"2025-03-28T19:48:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/?p=329905"},"modified":"2025-11-04T19:36:11","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T18:36:11","slug":"khamenei-rejects-talks-but-his-advisors-say-otherwise-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ncr-iran.org\/en\/news\/nuclear\/khamenei-rejects-talks-but-his-advisors-say-otherwise-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Khamenei Rejects Talks\u2014But His Advisors Say Otherwise. Why?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Iranian regime’s Supreme Leader addresses his followers, referred to by the regime as the people of Qom \u2013 January 8, 2024<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Three-minute read<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

As the clock ticks down on another U.S. administration, Tehran is playing a familiar game\u2014stall in public, maneuver in private, and hope the West takes the bait. With the return of the “maximum pressure” policy<\/a>, the regime\u2019s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei slammed the door on direct talks. “Negotiation with America is neither smart nor honorable,” he declared in February 2025. And yet, within days, senior regime figures like FM Abbas Araghchi and Khamenei\u2019s senior advisor Kamal Kharrazi floated<\/a> the idea of indirect negotiations.<\/p>\n

The contradiction isn\u2019t confusion\u2014it\u2019s strategy. Khamenei is trying to avoid direct talks because he knows this time, the outcome won’t be a lopsided deal like 2015. Stripped of legitimacy at home, with proxy networks faltering abroad, any meaningful negotiation would mean exposing the regime’s total surrender. And that’s exactly what he’s trying to avoid.<\/p>\n

Delay is the real goal. Just as it did in 2015, when Tehran dragged out talks until the final stretch of Barack Obama\u2019s presidency, the regime is once again trying to run out the clock. The result of that last deal\u2014the JCPOA\u2014was billions in sanctions relief that never reached the Iranian people. Instead of investment in infrastructure or social programs, the funds fueled repression at home and proxy warfare abroad. Almost 2.5 years later, in December 2017<\/a>, Iranians took to the streets in over 100 cities, chanting \u201cLeave Syria, think of us\u201d and \u201cDeath to the dictator.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The Real Goal of #Iran<\/a>\u2019s Negotiations: Surviving, Not Settling\u00a0https:\/\/t.co\/TaSPUkGx6K<\/a><\/p>\n

— NCRI-FAC (@iran_policy) January 29, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n