During a speech to government officials today, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, discussed the ongoing nuclear negotiations and Iran’s plans for moving forward with or without a nuclear deal. 

Khamenei said that the direction of the nuclear talks is going well. Khamenei presumably meant Iran’s position in the nuclear talks is strong, since the talks are essentially stalled as the United States has been hesitant to remove the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from its list of Foreign Terrorist Organizations.

Khamenei praised Iran’s foreign minister and nuclear negotiators for their reports about the state of the nuclear talks. He added that criticism about the nuclear talks is permissible but that it must not “weaken” Iran’s position at the negotiation table or “create hopelessness” among Iranians. Recently, a group of lawmakers sent a letter to President Ebrahim Raisi requesting that conditions be set for the revival of the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), which the United States exited in 2018 and the Biden administration is trying to reenter. 

Khamenei praised the Iranian nuclear negotiators for their “resistance” against what he said were excessive American demands. He said that the United States “broke its commitments and exited the JCPOA" and is now feeling “helpless and at a dead end.” He also said that US officials admitting the “maximum pressure” campaign of former President Donald Trump was a failure is an important victory that Iranian officials must not forget.