In two speeches, on Feb. 7 and 16, Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei explained that he neither opposes nor sees utility in negotiations with the United States because he does not perceive Washington as honest or trustworthy in its intentions. Although he has allowed negotiations to proceed, he expects nothing.
Khamenei buttressed his statements of wariness with three historical examples: the 1953 US-backed coup against Prime Minister Mohammad Mossadegh; US support for Saddam Hussein in the Iran-Iraq War from 1980 to 1988; and President George W. Bush including Iran in the so-called axis of evil after cooperation between Washington and Tehran on Afghanistan.
