In a speech at Bushehr University on April 22, former Iranian nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili argued that Iran and the United States cannot have a relationship because of how America views its role in the world. Jalili, who is Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s representative to the Supreme National Security Council (SNSC), was Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator from 2007 to 2013, when he was the secretary of the SNSC. The Iran-Iraq war veteran is one of the most vocal voices against better ties with the West.
“Every foreign policy is a paradigm, in which considered principles, goals, and values and interests and rights are described, that give shape to opportunities for cooperation or confrontation,” Jalili said. On the United States and Iran, Jalili asked, “Why do we have a special approach and outlook toward the United States of America?”