Khameini doubts positive outcome of ongoing nuclear talks, calls US position ‘utter nonsense’

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the probability of any progress in nuclear talks with the United States and criticised Washington’s stand on Iran’s uranium enrichment rights.

“We don’t think it will lead to any outcome. We don’t know what will happen,” Khamenei said on Tuesday in his address at a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of former president Ebrahim Raeisi’s demise, reported AFP.

He asserted that attempts to deny Iran its right to enrich uranium were “a big mistake.”

“For the Americans to say, ‘We won’t allow Iran to enrich uranium,’ is utter nonsense. We aren’t waiting for anyone’s permission. The Islamic Republic has certain policies, and it will pursue them,” he added.

“I’d like to give a reminder to the other side. The Americans who are talking in these indirect negotiations should avoid talking nonsense. For them to say, ‘We won’t allow Iran to enrich uranium,’ is utter nonsense.”

Khamenei also voiced scepticism on the outcome of indirect talks underway, saying they are unlikely to yield results, and recalled that similar negotiations took place during the presidency of the late Ebrahim Raisi but ended without results.

“Indirect negotiations took place during Martyr Raisi’s term, similar to what’s happening now. Needless to say, there was no result. We don’t think these negotiations will yield results now either.”

‘Raeisi never allowed ‘the enemy’ to claim they could force Iran to come to negotiation table’

He also criticised US for seeking direct talks and questioned its motives for doing so.

Khamenei praised Raeisi, saying his firm stand never allowed ‘the enemy’ to claim that they could force Iran to come to the negotiation table through threats, enticement, or trickery.

“The reason the US insists so much on direct negotiations is to claim that they’ve been able to bring Iran to the negotiating table using threats, inducements, and tricks. Martyr Raisi didn’t allow that.”

“The insistence on direct negotiations by the parties is due to this.”

“At another appropriate time, I will explain to the Iranian people why the Americans and their Western allies insist so strongly on stopping uranium enrichment in Iran. I will make it clear what their real intentions are.”

Meanwhile, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said that the location and date for the next round of Iran-U.S. nuclear talks are not yet decided.

Iran studying contradictory and constantly changing positions of American side: Baqaei

“The Islamic Republic of Iran is studying the issue, taking into account the contradictory and constantly changing positions of the American side,” Baqaei told state-run IRNA news agency.

Iranian negotiators, led by Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi, engaged in a fourth round of discussions with an American delegation in Muscat on Sunday. The American team was headed by the US President’s Special Envoy, Steve Witkoff.

The talks, mediated by Oman and described by both sides as productive and progressing well, are primarily focused on Iran’s nuclear programme and the lifting of sanctions through a potential agreement to replace the 2015 landmark deal, which the US unilaterally withdrew from during Trump’s first term.