Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Tuesday that he was “neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic” about talks with the US over Iran’s nuclear program, in an apparent move by Tehran to play down growing public expectations of the deal.
Failure to reach a deal with President Donald Trump to end Iran’s decades-long dispute with the West could deeply damage the Islamic Republic, Iranian politicians and insiders said, even if Tehran subsequently blames Washington.
After talks between Tehran and Washington in Oman last weekend, which both sides described as positive, Iranian expectations of an economic recovery have risen, according to Iranians we spoke to by phone and messages posted by Iranians on social media.
Both sides agreed to hold additional talks on April 19 in Oman.
Iran’s battered rial has rallied about 20 percent against the dollar in the past few days, with many Iranians hoping a deal to end Iran’s economic isolation is within reach.
“We are neither overly optimistic nor pessimistic about them. After all, it is a process that has been decided and its first steps have been well implemented,” Khamenei said at a meeting with lawmakers, according to state media.
Tehran has approached the talks cautiously, doubting the likelihood of a deal and suspicious of Trump, who abandoned Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with six powers during his first term in 2018 and has repeatedly threatened to bomb Iran if there is no deal.
“From here (talks) must be carefully monitored, with clearly defined red lines for both the other side and for us. Negotiations may or may not lead to results,” Khamenei said.
“Avoid connecting the fate of the country with these negotiations,” he added.
Since relations with Washington were severed after Iran’s 1979 Islamic Revolution that toppled the US-backed Shah, hostility towards the United States has been a rallying point for Iran’s clerical rulers.
But inflation, unemployment and a lack of investment as a result of crippling sanctions, reimposed after Trump abandoned the 2015 nuclear deal, have convinced Khamenei to support talks with the Trump administration.
The United States, Israel and Western powers accuse Tehran of developing nuclear weapons, but Iran says its program is for civilian purposes only.
