Iran says that it is still open to a nuclear deal but they do not want to negotiate in public. Probably a good idea.
The U.S. has previously said that it would be okay with Iran enriching uranium to a low level in order to build a nuclear power program and use for other civil development projects. Now the U.S. says that no uranium enrichment by Iran is acceptable. How did that needle move to 0? Did it have to do with Israel’s insistence that it be zero?
Over the weekend, Ayatollah Khamenei gave a speech in which he accused the U.S. of hypocrisy by seeking peace deals abroad but supporting “the massacre in Gaza.” He said that the U.S. “must and will leave” the Middle East and that Israel is a “dangerous, deadly, cancerous tumor” that “must and will be eliminated.”
He did not chant “Death to Israel” and “Death to the U.S.A.” The people in the audience chanted that and he did not stop them.
This is the temperature of peace negotiations right now but thankfully the Ayatollah is not doing the negotiations himself. Iranian Foreign Minister Araghchi says that “Mastering enrichment technology is a hard-earned and homegrown scientific achievement; an outcome of great sacrifice of both blood and treasure. If the U.S. is interested in ensuring that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, a deal is within reach, and we are ready for a serious conversation to achieve a solution that will forever ensure that outcome. Enrichment in Iran, however, will continue with or without a deal.”
