In an unusual move, senior Iranian officials have warned the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, that he must accept negotiations with the United States on Iran’s nuclear program
Otherwise, the regime could face serious risks, including its downfall, The New York Times reported.
Iran and the United States are scheduled to meet in Oman on Saturday to discuss Iran’s nuclear program, which has raised international concerns.
The newspaper’s sources, two senior Iranian officials, said that Khamenei met with leaders of the judiciary and parliament last month.
The leaders, in a rare joint effort, have pressed the supreme leader to accept talks with the Americans, including directly.
They warned Khamenei that threats of military strikes by the United States and Israel against Iranian nuclear facilities, such as Natanz and Fordow, are real.
If Iran refuses to hold talks or if they fail, strikes are inevitable, they said.
Furthermore, with the country’s economy already in crisis, a war could lead to internal protests and further destabilize Iran, posing a serious threat to the regime.
Among the arguments, Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf, a former commander of the Revolutionary Guards and current speaker of parliament, said that a war, coupled with the economic crisis, could quickly spiral out of control.
President Masoud Pezeshkian also stressed that managing the country amid current crises, such as power outages affecting factories and water shortages in the city of Yazd, is unsustainable.
Iran had previously rejected negotiations, but changed its position after threats from US President Donald Trump.
Hossein Mousavian, a former Iranian diplomat and now a researcher at Princeton University, told the newspaper that the change shows that Khamenei’s priority is to protect the regime.
“Preserving the regime is the greatest necessity,” Mousavian said.
Khamenei accepted negotiations, but with conditions.
According to three Iranian sources, he agreed to discuss strict monitoring of Iran’s nuclear program and reducing production of enriched uranium.
However, he made it clear that Iran’s missile program, which he considers essential to the country’s defense, would not be discussed.
That could make a deal more difficult.
On the other hand, Iran would be willing to talk about its regional policies and its support for groups such as Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis in Yemen, which are facing conflict and have recently lost strength.
The United States, for its part, insists it will not allow Iran to develop nuclear weapons.
Trump has already threatened to attack the country if a deal is not reached.
Iranian officials said on Friday that they were giving the negotiations a “real chance” and that without American threats, there was a good chance of reaching an agreement.
The talks will be led by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US special envoy Steve Witkoff, with Omani Foreign Minister Badr al-Busaidi mediating.
While Trump calls the negotiations “direct,” Iran says they will be “indirect.” An adviser to Khamenei, Ali Shamkhani, wrote on the social network X that Iran seeks a fair, low-key deal and that important proposals are already ready.
He said that if the US shows commitment, the path to an agreement will be open.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the US should value the decision to engage in dialogue, despite what they called “hostile rhetoric” from Washington.
Trump, in turn, reinforced that military strikes are a possibility if the negotiations fail.
In Iran, the more conservative press, such as the Kayhan newspaper, views the negotiations with suspicion, calling the US an enemy and criticizing the dialogue.
Reformist outlets, on the other hand, highlight the economic benefits that an agreement could bring.
The negotiations are taking place at a delicate time, after Trump abandoned, during his first term, a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and six world powers (the US, Russia, China, France, the UK and Germany).
Iran has since failed to comply with parts of the deal, increasing its uranium enrichment to alarming levels that make international monitoring difficult.
Iran has also recently held talks with France, Germany and the United Kingdom, which signed the 2015 deal.
Germany on Friday called for the two sides to reach a “diplomatic solution,” calling the talks a positive step.
Published in 04/12/2025 02h07
Text adapted by AI (Grok) and translated via Google API in the English version. Images from public image libraries or credits in the caption.
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