Iran’s Khamenei maintains tough rhetoric with US despite nuclear talks

Tehran’s chief diplomat says some ‘guiding principles’ are agreed, but the supreme leader presents a different tone.

Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has shot back at United States President Donald Trump and cast a pessimistic tone on negotiations with his administration even as Iran’s foreign minister

“This is a good confession. You will not be able to do this either,” Khamenei said in an apparent reference to the US president telling reporters this week that a change in government would be “the best thing that could happen” in Iran.

Khamenei also used religious symbolism to draw parallels with figures who fought against Shia Muslim imams more than 1,350 years ago to cast doubt on any meaningful rapprochement with the US today. He said the Iranian nation “will not pledge allegiance to corrupt leaders like those who are in power in America today” based on religious beliefs.

“They say let us negotiate over your nuclear energy, and the result of the negotiation should be that you must not have this energy,” Khamenei said before adding that if any real negotiations were to take place, they cannot be predicated on any “foolish” demand that Iran move to zero enrichment of uranium.

His comments came hours before a statement made by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi after the conclusion of indirect talks with the US in Geneva.

“I can say, compared to the last round, we’ve had very serious discussions, and there was a constructive atmosphere where we exchanged our point of view,” Araghchi told reporters after the talks. “Those ideas were discussed, and we came to some agreements and some guiding principles. We will eventually draft a document. … We are hopeful we can achieve this.”

For the US, which was also holding parallel talks with Ukraine and Russia in Switzerland, special envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner acted as lead representatives.