Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, said negotiating with the United States was “unwise, unintelligent, and not honorable,” just days after President Trump said he was willing to revive negotiations with Tehran.
But Mr. Khamenei stopped short of ordering Iran’s government, which for months has sent signals that it is interested in negotiations, not to engage with Washington. And though Mr. Khamenei made an unusual gesture last year of openness to talks, he has generally taken a publicly hostile posture toward Washington even while quietly allowing Iranian officials to negotiate.
In comments on Friday, Mr. Khamenei argued that Iran’s previous experiences negotiating with the United States showed that Washington could easily renege on agreements. Under Mr. Trump’s previous administration, the United States unilaterally withdrew from a nuclear deal under which Iran would limit its enrichment and stockpiling of uranium in exchange for sanctions relief.
“Negotiating with America will solve no problem. The proof? Experience,” Mr. Khamenei said, according to Iran’s state news agency, IRNA, which said his comments came during a meeting with commanders and staff from the Iranian armed forces.
“The very same person who is now in office tore up the agreement,” Mr. Khamenei said. “One shall not negotiate with a government like this. Negotiating is unwise, unintelligent, not honorable.”
Ali Vaez, the Iran project director for the International Crisis Group, said on social media that the comments could simply be “in line” with Mr. Khamenei’s previous public approach. In 2011, he had publicly opposed negotiations with the Obama administration, even as he authorized negotiators to meet secretly with U.S. officials in Oman.
“If a true ban, it’s once again his stubbornness making him the antagonist in his own story,” Mr. Vaez said.
The leader’s comments seemed to undercut gestures last week from Iran’s reformist president, Masoud Pezeshkian, who told NBC News he was ready to negotiate with the United States, as long as they “respect our honor and wisdom and are conducted on an equal footing.”
Tehran is feeling weakened by its diminishing influence in the Middle East — including through Israel’s successful decimation of its Lebanese partner, Hezbollah, and the rebel ouster of its longtime ally in Syria, President Bashar al-Assad — which has raised concern that it would be even more inclined to turn to weapons-grade nuclear enrichment.
U.S. officials warned earlier this week that they believe that Iran was working to develop a faster, cruder approach to developing an atomic bomb.
In his comments on Friday, Mr. Khamenei brushed aside concerns that rejecting talks would further hurt Iran’s economy, arguing Iran must find domestic responses to the crisis.
“What resolves those problems is a domestic element,” he said.
Earlier this week, Mr. Trump himself seemed to indicate he was looking to revive negotiations, even as he signed an executive order that would return a “maximum pressure” policy that would seek to block Iranian oil exports, a critical source of revenue for the country.
“This one I’m torn about,” he told reporters as he signed the order. “Everyone wants me to sign it. I’ll do that,” he said, but added he was “unhappy to do it.”
On his social media site, the president this week vowed to negotiate a “verified nuclear peace agreement,” similar to the one he torpedoed in his previous administration. He said he wanted to start working toward a deal “immediately.”
“I want Iran to be a great and successful Country, but one that cannot have a Nuclear Weapon,” he wrote.
But Mr. Trump also threatened this week he would have Iran “obliterated” if its assassins killed him.
Mr. Khamenei’s remarks on Friday included an apparent response to that threat. “If they threaten us, we will threaten them,” he said. “If they actuate that threat, we will actuate ours. If they violate our nation’s security, we will violate their security.”
