Leave it to the good ol’ Ayatollah to tattle on U.S. officials.
If Atatollah Khamenei’s Twitter feed is any indicator, Iran is not too keen on the idea of nuclear inspections. Early this morning, Iran’s Supreme Leader tweeted:
The New York Times Ayatollah Khamenei, “ruled out inspections of Iranian military sites and interviews of Iranian nuclear scientists in any potential deal on its nuclear program,” at a graduation speech Wednesday.
In a speech at a graduation ceremony at the Imam Hussein Military University in Tehran, the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denounced what he said were escalating demands in the nuclear talks between Iran and world powers that resumed on Wednesday in Vienna.“They say new things in the negotiations. Regarding inspections, we have said that we will not let foreigners inspect any military center,” Ayatollah Khamenei said, according to a text of the speech released on his personal website, Khamenei.ir.After the last round of talks ended on Friday, a barrage of complaints erupted on the Iranian state news media over reported demands by the United States for broad mandates for nuclear inspectors working for the United Nations nuclear watchdog.
Ahead of yet another looming arbitrary deadline to reach a “deal,” Iran is making quite clear they have absolutely no interest in allowing inspections.
The comments by Ayatollah Khamenei seemingly cement the Iranian position that a requirement for inspections of sites not designated by the country as part of its nuclear energy program is a nonstarter. While not new, the statement could further tie the hands of Iran’s negotiating team, led by Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who on Friday said that a comprehensive deal before the self-imposed June 30 deadline was still possible.
Rewind to early April. The White House and Secretary Kerry announced what was an allegedly historic “Iran deal.” Almost immediately, Ayatollah Khamenei blasted holes in the administration’s claims one tweet at a time.
As Professor Jacobson pointed out in April, contrast Obama’s version of the Iran deal (beneath), with Iran’s understanding of the soft, frameless, non-agreement, agreement:
Add President Obama’s double talk on Iranian sanctions to the White House’s fit-pitching over Congressional review of Iran negotiations. Toss in the fact that virtually everything the administration says about anything Iran-related is then contradicted by Iranian officials, and this is one nasty foreign policy cocktail.
It’s a sad day when the most reliable source of intrastate diplomatic information comes from a Supreme Leader’s Twitter feed, alas…
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