Khamenei Blames ‘Cowardly’ US for Pause in Nuclear Talks

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a televised speech in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2021. Official Khamenei Website/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a televised speech in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2021. Official Khamenei Website/Handout via REUTERS
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Khamenei Blames ‘Cowardly’ US for Pause in Nuclear Talks

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a televised speech in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2021. Official Khamenei Website/Handout via REUTERS
Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei delivers a televised speech in Tehran, Iran, January 8, 2021. Official Khamenei Website/Handout via REUTERS

Iran's supreme leader on Wednesday declared Tehran would not accept Washington's "stubborn" demands in talks to revive a 2015 nuclear deal and said the United States had failed to guarantee that it would never abandon the pact again.

"The Americans acted completely cowardly and maliciously," state TV quoted Ali Khamenei as saying.

"They once violated the nuclear deal at no cost by exiting it. Now they explicitly say that they cannot give guarantees that it would not happen again."

Since April 9, Tehran and six world powers have been in talks to revive the nuclear pact ditched three years ago by then US President Donald Trump, who argued it favored Iran.

The sixth round of indirect talks between Tehran and Washington adjourned on June 20, two days after hardline cleric Ebrahim Raisi was elected president.

Parties involved in the negotiations have yet to announce when the next round of negotiations will resume.

Like Khamenei, Raisi has backed the revival of the nuclear pact but officials have said that his government might adopt "a hardline" approach. Khamenei, not the president, has the last say on Iran's state matters, including the nuclear policy.

Iranian and Western officials have said significant gaps remained to reinstate the deal, under which Iran agreed to curb its nuclear program to make it harder to obtain fissile material for a weapon in return for relief from tough sanctions. Iran says it has never sought nuclear weapons and never would.

Harsh sanctions reimposed by Trump since 2018 have prompted Tehran to violate the deal's limits. However, Tehran says its nuclear steps are reversible if Washington lifts all sanctions.

US President Joe Biden seeks to reinstate and eventually broaden the pact to put more limits on Iran’s nuclear work and its missile development and constrain its regional activities.

Khamenei again flatly rejected adding any other issues to the deal, Reuters reported.

"In the recent nuclear talks, the Americans staunchly insisted on their obstinate stance. When making promises and on paper they say they will remove sanctions, but in practice they have not and they will not," Khamenei said.

Khamenei said Washington is "stubborn" and insists on adding a sentence to the existing nuclear deal.

"By adding this sentence, they want to provide an excuse for their further interventions on the nuclear deal and (Iran's) missile work and regional issues," Khamenei said. "Then if we refuse to discuss those issues, Americans will accuse Iran of violating the nuclear deal and they will say the agreement is over."



Grossi Urges Iran to Reach an Understanding with Trump

21 January 2025, Switzerland, Davos: Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks at "Road to Tripling Nuclear Capacity session" during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. (Valeriano Di Domenico/World Economic Forum/dpa)
21 January 2025, Switzerland, Davos: Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks at "Road to Tripling Nuclear Capacity session" during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. (Valeriano Di Domenico/World Economic Forum/dpa)
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Grossi Urges Iran to Reach an Understanding with Trump

21 January 2025, Switzerland, Davos: Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks at "Road to Tripling Nuclear Capacity session" during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. (Valeriano Di Domenico/World Economic Forum/dpa)
21 January 2025, Switzerland, Davos: Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Rafael Grossi speaks at "Road to Tripling Nuclear Capacity session" during the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting. (Valeriano Di Domenico/World Economic Forum/dpa)

The head of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) urged on Tuesday Iran to reach an understanding over its atomic activity with the administration of US President Donald Trump in order to avoid being dragged into another military conflict in the Middle East.

UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi said that Iran has accelerated its enrichment of uranium to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% level that is weapons grade.

He spoke about Trump’s decision six-and-a-half years ago to quit the 2015 nuclear deal that gave Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for strict limits on its nuclear activities.

“There was an agreement that existed before President Trump decided that was not the path he wanted to follow,” Grossi said at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “Now we need to come to terms with how we deal with this, excluding of course, a war. We don’t want more wars.”

He confirmed Iran continues to produce large quantities of highly-enriched uranium. In December, Tehran’s engineers increased capacity sevenfold, to about 34 kilograms a month in response to a diplomatic censure in November.

Iran ready for more talks

Meanwhile, Iran threw the ball into the West’s court, declaring its readiness to revive negotiations on its advanced nuclear program.

Deputy Foreign Minister Kazem Gharibabadi said on Tuesday his country wants to pursue discussions with European nations (France, Germany and the UK) after both sides held a third round of talks in Geneva last week.

“We agreed to continue discussions. We will determine the date and time for them through joint consultations,” he said.

Both Iran and the so-called E3 countries had described previous talks as “frank and constructive.” Iran said the third round, which started last September in New York, aimed at exploring how Tehran can return to the negotiations table.

Gharibabadi said: “The most logical path forward is to initiate talks on lifting sanctions.”

Speaking to reporters, he reiterated Iran's willingness to engage in diplomacy. The country, as always, is ready to initiate and resume negotiations aimed at lifting sanctions, he said.

“We have consistently been prepared, and if the other parties demonstrate the same readiness, we are confident that talks can proceed and yield positive results,” he said, according to the state-owned Iranian Students' News Agency (ISNA).

He underscored the peaceful nature of Iran’s nuclear program, adding that “there are proper opportunities for dialogue and understanding” and noting that “unilateral sanctions were ineffective.”

Both US and Iranian officials have sent mixed signals about whether they were headed to a confrontation or explore diplomatic solutions now that Trump has assumed office.

Maximum pressure

Tehran fears that Trump will return to his previous “maximum pressure” policy that he had applied on Iran during his first term in office. It also fears Britain, France and Germany could trigger the so-called “snapback mechanism,” part of the 2015 deal, which allows signatories to reimpose UN sanctions on Iran in cases of the “significant non-performance” of commitments.

The option to trigger the mechanism expires in October this year, adding urgency to the ongoing diplomatic efforts.

Last Friday, reports said Iranian officials had informed their European counterparts that Tehran would withdraw from the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty if the snapback mechanism is implemented.

Last week, Bloomberg reported that Trump could blow a $30 billion hole in Iran’s economy should he return reimpose his maximum pressure policy.

It said the president’s key advisers are looking at a big sanctions package that hits major players in Iran’s oil industry, which could come as early as February.

On Sunday, Trump’s national security adviser, Mike Waltz, said in an interview that the administration will make key decisions concerning Iran over the next month.

He said the Israeli strikes against Hamas and Hezbollah, in addition to the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime in Syria, have all prepared the circumstances for the US to soon take strategic decisions.