Rouhani: Khamenei’s Stance on US Talks Might Shift

Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani attends meeting with Ali Khamenei in Tehran (file photo/Khamenei’s website)
Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani attends meeting with Ali Khamenei in Tehran (file photo/Khamenei’s website)
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Rouhani: Khamenei’s Stance on US Talks Might Shift

Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani attends meeting with Ali Khamenei in Tehran (file photo/Khamenei’s website)
Former Iranian president Hassan Rouhani attends meeting with Ali Khamenei in Tehran (file photo/Khamenei’s website)

Former Iranian President Hassan Rouhani suggested on Saturday that the Supreme Leader’s opposition to negotiations with the United States could change depending on circumstances, describing the situation in Iran as “dangerous.”
“Leader (Ali Khamenei) is not opposed to negotiations on the nuclear program, his position is influenced by the current circumstances, but after a few months, he may agree to negotiate under different circumstances,” Rouhani said during a meeting with former ministers.
“Did we not negotiate with the US on Iraq, Afghanistan, and the nuclear deal? Even back then, the Supreme leader was a witness and an observer,” the former President added.
Iran’s Big Losses
Rouhani then listed his country’s financial losses from the non-implementation of the nuclear deal.
He said since the US withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in 2018, “Iran has lost $100 billion per year.”
Rouhani described the situation in the country as “dangerous,” especially with “a weakened military deterrence capability, which deepened after internal disputes prevented the purchase of advanced defense systems.”
The former president then criticized the disorder of Iran's decision-making system in various fields.
He said, “Anyone who looks from the outside understands what is happening in this country, and sees that we seem to have no plan at all.”
Rouhani also said that solving Iran's economic problems is not possible without constructive engagement with the world, according to a video posted on his website.
The video featured Mohammad Javad Zarif, who recently resigned from his post as deputy to President Masoud Pezeshkian, due to pressure from the conservative current in the Iranian parliament.
Earlier, Zarif said he negotiated with the US side on Iraq in coordination with former Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) commander Qassem Soleimani.
On February 7, Khamenei said talks with the US were “not smart, wise, or honorable,” days after US President Donald Trump said he would “love to make a deal” with Iran.
His remarks were interpreted as orders to ban any direct talks with the US President.
Meanwhile, head of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Iranian Parliament, Ebrahim Azizi, said there was “no point in holding talks with the US unless Iran’s interests are achieved.”
“Tehran does not reject the principle of dialogue and negotiation. But we should avoid any steps that do not serve our interests,” he said.
For his part, Ali Larijani, member of the Expediency Discernment Council, said US officials have two options with dealing with Iran. “Either to respect the shared economic interests, or fall into the trap of thinking that confrontation with Iran will be of low cost,” he said, according to Tasnim, the semi-official news agency associated with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC).
Russian Mediation
In Moscow, Mikhail Ulyanov, Russia’s Permanent Representative to international organizations in Vienna, said he had discussed Iran’s nuclear program with Rafael Grossi, director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).
“[I’ve] met today with IAEA Director General Mr. Rafael Mariano Grossi. We discussed a number of issues related to the Iranian nuclear program,” the Russian diplomat wrote on X.
Russia’s decision to act as an intermediary between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program reflects a conviction at the Kremlin that new ties with the Trump administration would allow both sides to lay the groundwork for a more comprehensive deal.

 



Doctor Deported to Lebanon Had Photos ‘Sympathetic’ to Hezbollah on Phone, US Says

A general view of The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, US, July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Nicholas Pfosi/File Photo
A general view of The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, US, July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Nicholas Pfosi/File Photo
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Doctor Deported to Lebanon Had Photos ‘Sympathetic’ to Hezbollah on Phone, US Says

A general view of The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, US, July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Nicholas Pfosi/File Photo
A general view of The John Joseph Moakley United States Courthouse in Boston, Massachusetts, US, July 27, 2021. REUTERS/Nicholas Pfosi/File Photo

US authorities on Monday said they deported a Rhode Island doctor to Lebanon last week after discovering "sympathetic photos and videos" of the former longtime leader of Hezbollah and its fighters in her cell phone's deleted items folder.

Alawieh had also told agents that while in Lebanon she attended the funeral last month of Hezbollah's slain leader Hassan Nasrallah, whom she supported from a "religious perspective" as a Shiite.

The US Department of Justice provided those details as it sought to assure a federal judge in Boston that US Customs and Border Protection did not willfully disobey an order he issued on Friday that should have halted Dr. Rasha Alawieh's immediate removal.

The 34-year-old Lebanese citizen, who held an H-1B visa, was detained on Thursday at Logan International Airport in Boston after returning from a trip to Lebanon to see family. Her cousin then filed a lawsuit seeking to halt her deportation.

In its first public explanation for her removal, the Justice Department said Alawieh, a kidney specialist and assistant professor at Brown University, was denied re-entry to the United States based on what CBP found on her phone and statements she made during an airport interview.

"It's a purely religious thing," she said about the funeral, according to a transcript of that interview reviewed by Reuters. "He's a very big figure in our community. For me it's not political."

Western governments including the United States designate Hezbollah a terrorist group. The Lebanese armed group is part of the "Axis of Resistance", an alliance of Iran-backed groups across the Middle East that also includes the Palestinian movement Hamas, which sparked the Gaza war by attacking Israel almost a year ago on Oct. 7.

Based on those statements and the discovery of photos on her phone of Nasrallah and Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of Iran, the Justice Department said CBP concluded "her true intentions in the United States could not be determined."

Alawieh and a lawyer for her cousin did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

In Monday's filing, the Justice Department also defended CBP officials against claims by the cousin's legal team that Alawieh was flown out of the country on Friday evening in violation of an order issued by US District Judge Leo Sorokin that day.

The judge had issued an order barring Alawieh's removal from Massachusetts without 48 hours' notice. Yet she was put onto a flight to France that night and is now back in Lebanon.

The judge on Sunday had directed the government to address "serious allegations" that his order was willfully violated ahead of a hearing that had been scheduled for Monday.

That hearing was canceled on Monday at the request of the cousin's lone remaining attorney, after lawyers at the law firm Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer representing her pro bono withdrew, citing "further diligence" about the quickly-moving case.

A lawyer with that firm said she had gone to the airport on Friday and shown a CBP officer a copy of Sorokin's order on her laptop before Alawieh's Air France flight departed, and another CBP official in a declaration on Monday said he was made aware that occurred before taking Alawieh to the boarding area.

But the Justice Department said the notification needed to be received through standard channels and be received by the agency's legal counsel for their review and guidance, which did not happen.

"CBP takes court orders seriously and strives to always abide by a court order," Justice Department attorneys wrote.

The Justice Department's filing was later sealed by Sorokin at the request of a lawyer for the cousin. Reuters reviewed it from a public terminal in the courthouse before access was further restricted.