Khamenei: The Negotiations Team Has No Right To Retreat

Speaking to thousands of Basiji para-military men and their commanders in Tehran just hours before the start of the second round of nuclear talks this month between Iran and the group of P5+1 major powers in Geneva, Iran’s supreme leader ayatollah Khamenei verbally barraged the US and the West and despite his supporting words to  Hassan Rouhani’s administration stressed that the country’s negotiations team had no right to retreat from the red-lines that have been set on the nuclear issue. And while the Majlis issued a resolution in support of nuclear diplomacy, state-controlled Kayhan newspaper published a list of what it called were the concessions that Iran had given in the talks, called on the negotiators to end giving any further ones and wrote that it was now the West’s turn to give concessions. At the same time, US Congress postponed the passage of the set of new sanctions it had prepared and the White House national security advisor said that if an initial deal was signed between Iran and the P5+1, Iran would gain some 10 billion US Dollars. Radio Farda, however, quoted an AP report that six Republican and Democrat senators had written a letter to US secretary of state John Kerry expressing their skepticism about the proposal that is to be presented to Iran in Geneva and called on Obama’s administration not to agree on a lenient deal with Iran.

Khamenei’s Language

In the large gathering of Basiji-men and amid intense security measures in Tehran’s Mosala grounds which greatly disrupted the capital’s normal traffic flow, Khamenei said, “Some have interpreted “heroic flexibility” (a term Khamenei launched on the eve of the this month’s nuclear talks) to mean the suspension of the principles and ideals of the Islamic order and some enemies too have claimed that the Islamic system has retreated from its principles. These interpretations are not true and are misinterpretations. Heroic flexibility means creative maneuverings and the use of various ways to attain the goals and various ideals of the Islamic system.”

He said Israel was on its way to be “dismantled” and labeled the leaders of that country to be “a band of savages and animals,” words that the Basiji’s welcomed with applause. “Is the Islamic system after war with others? These words come from the mouth of the dirty dogs of the region, the Zionist regime, which claims that Iran is a threat to the world. The real threats to the world come from those who have brought nothing except problems to this world, such as this very illegitimate regime. The Zionist regime is condemned to disintegration because it has been created on the basis of force and imposition and no imposed notion can last,” he bombasted.

“I am sorry about the flattery that some European governments bestow on the Zionists who are in fact not human beings. There was a time when France enjoyed political credibility because its president stood against Britain and America, whereas now France’s statesmen express subservience not only to the US but even to the filthy Zionist regime, which is an embarrassment for the French nation for which they must find a solution,” Khamenei continued.

Regarding the United States, he used the usual nasty words such as “bully,” “tormentor,” and “blood-thirsty” and mocking the warnings that “all options are on the table” called the threats against Iran nasty.

On the nuclear negotiations team, he said, “I support the negotiations team because it is our duty (to do so)” but he also harshly criticized the course of the talks and attacked them using insulting words.

He said, “I insist on supporting the government and domestic officials and those who are involved in implementing the talks because I see it my duty to support al governments. I myself was had executive responsibility for some years and have felt the pressures and hardships of executive work and so I know that the executive officials need help and support. Therefore, my support of the government and officials is firm. On the other hand, I also stress on the recognition of the rights of the Iranian nation, including the nuclear right and insist that the rights of the Iranian nation should not be retreated even by a step. I will not interfere in the details of the talks but there are red lines that must be observed and officials have a duty to respect these red lines and they should not be influenced by the threats and atmospherics of the enemy. America’s vengeance against Iran is like that of a camel and the purpose of the pressures is that perhaps the nation will surrender. But they are making a mistake because the Iranian nation will not surrender to any one because of pressure. By the grace of God, the Iranian nation will bear the pressures and will turn them into opportunities. Sanctions will not work and the Americans themselves have come to realize this because along with the sanctions they also utilize military threats, which show that sanctions have not produced their desired goals. Of course the military threats that the president and other American officials has repeatedly made is a disgusting and nasty act. Rather than threatening the Iranian nation with military force they should ponder about their ruined economy and their debts. They should go and think so that the government is not shut down for more than two weeks. The Iranian nation respects all the nations of the world but the response of the Iranian nation to an aggressor will cause the aggressor to regret his actions and it will slap the aggressor in a manner that they will never forget.”

Khamenei’s long and harsh tirade also included attacks on social media such as Facebook and Twitter. “During the 2009 sedition while one of the online social networks needed repairs, the US government prevented that from happening because it wanted it to continue to provide assistance to the seditionists.” Sedition is a term Iranian officials use for the popular protests against the rigged 2009 presidential elections, which they also claim were engineered from the outside.

Khamenei’s remarks were repeatedly applauded by the participating Basiji men who had been brought to the spot by government provided buses. The interruptions were so frequent that at one point Khamenei asked the Basijis to chant them at the “right place.”

While Khamenei mentioned the notion of red lines in the Iran-P5+1 talks, he did not clarify what they were, but analysts have said it is nuclear enrichment up to 3.5 percent purity.

The Majlis passed a resolution signed by 220 deputies in support of Khamenei’s remarks and called on the need to respect the red lines at the nuclear talks. The resolution said that the representatives wanted to support the negotiations team but also warned that the Majlis would intervene if the talks were used to tire out Iran or would reconsider the country’s relations with the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Hardline state run Kayhan newspaper covered Khamenei’s speech and wrote, “While Iran’s leader has said that the Iranian nation desires relations with the nations of all countries, including the American nation, some media have portrayed his comments incorrectly. Reuters, al-Arabie and Times of Israel have distorted the words of the leader of the revolution and have suggested that the leader desires friendly relations with the US.” In its yesterday’s issue, it listed the concessions that Iran had given to the West in the nuclear talks and called for reciprocity from the P5+1. It wrote that in West’s additional demands, “The president of France has laid four new conditions for reaching a nuclear deal with Iran. The newspaper, which is known to closely tow the official thinking and positions of the supreme leader, said that the new IAEA report was Tehran’s concession to the West. It wrote that according to the IAEA report Iran had added only four new centrifuges to its Natanz uranium enrichment facility, that no new centrifuges had been added in Fardow, and that enrichment activities had come to a complete halt.