After a secret meeting, Khamenei gives Iran free rein for direct negotiations with the United States.
After a secret meeting, Khamenei gives Iran free rein for direct negotiations with the United States.
2025-04-11 09:47
Shafaq News/ A New York Times report on Friday highlighted the sudden shift in Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s position on direct negotiations with the United States, which are scheduled to begin Saturday in the Sultanate of Oman.
According to Iranian officials who spoke to the newspaper on condition of anonymity, “senior Iranian officials pressured Khamenei to allow negotiations with Washington, arguing that the threat of war and the country’s worsening economic crisis could lead to the regime’s downfall.”
Officials told the newspaper that the decision was made during a secret, urgent meeting held last month in response to the US president’s invitation to Khamenei to negotiate over Iran’s nuclear program.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Judiciary Chief Gholamhossein Mohseni Ejei, and Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf attended the meeting, according to two senior Iranian officials familiar with the details.
According to the newspaper, “the clear and explicit message they conveyed to Khamenei included allowing Tehran to negotiate with Washington, even directly if necessary, because the alternative is the potential overthrow of the Islamic Republic.”
Iranian officials warned that “the risk of war with the United States and Israel is very serious,” and informed Khamenei that if Iran refuses to engage in talks or the negotiations fail, military strikes on two of Iran’s most important nuclear sites, Natanz and Fordow, would be inevitable.
The officials told Khamenei that “Iran would then be forced to respond, exposing it to the risk of a wider war, a scenario that would exacerbate the deteriorating economy and fuel domestic unrest.” They emphasized that fighting on two fronts, internal and external, poses an existential threat to the regime.
At the end of the hours-long meeting, Khamenei reversed his position and granted permission for talks, initially indirectly through a mediator and then directly if things went well, according to the two officials.
shafaq.com
