On October 7, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that further negotiations with the United States are “forbidden." In an address to Revolutionary Guards commanders, he claimed that talks expose Iran to U.S. influence and harm Iran’s national interests. The following are excerpted remarks from Khamenei on negotiating with the United States.
Negotiation with US is forbidden due to many disadvantages and no advantages it has.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) October 7, 2015
"Negotiations with the United States open gates to their economic, cultural, political and security influence. Even during the nuclear negotiations they tried to harm our national interests.”
"Our negotiators were vigilant but the Americans took advantage of a few chances.”
"Through negotiations Americans seek to influence Iran ... but there are naive people in Iran who don't understand this.”
In #IranTalks they took any chance to infiltrate; Iranian side was vigilant, but they gained chances & acted against our national interests.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) October 7, 2015
"We are in a critical situation now as the enemies are trying to change the mentality of our officials and our people on the revolution and our national interests.”
There is a reason we are against talks with US; IRAN's negotiation with US means infiltration. They want to pave the way for imposition.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) October 7, 2015
“The problem currently facing the country is due to certain individuals who are quite thoughtless or quite credulous and don’t understand these realities."
Translations via Reuters and Iran Front Page
Photo via Khamenei's facebook page