JOIN USIran’s top leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei signals nuclear talks to resume despite Natanz sabotage
Iran’s top leader said Wednesday that his country would keep negotiating with world powers over how to salvage the 2015 nuclear deal, quashing speculation that Iran’s delegation would boycott or quit participating in protest of the apparent Israeli sabotage of a major uranium enrichment site.
The declaration by the top leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the last word on security matters in the country of 80 million, came three days after an explosive blast at the Natanz enrichment site plunged the heavily guarded facility into a blackout and disabled or destroyed hundreds of underground centrifuges used to process uranium into fuel.
Suspicion for the destruction immediately fell on Israel, which has sabotaged the Natanz site before. Israel neither confirmed nor denied the accusation but intelligence officials said it was a clandestine Israeli operation.
Outraged and embarrassed over such a security lapse, Iran vowed Tuesday to triple its uranium enrichment purity — the most brazen departure yet from its commitments under the nuclear deal.
But Khamenei’s remarks Wednesday showed that he does not want to abandon negotiations to save the deal, which has promised Iran relief from onerous economic sanctions imposed by the United States if Iranian nuclear activities are limited.
“Officials have determined that we negotiate to achieve our policies,” Khamenei said.
“We have no issue with this on the condition that they are careful for negotiations not to wear out and the parties don’t drag out the negotiations because it won’t benefit the country,” Khamenei said.
President Hassan Rouhani of Iran, who had been ambiguous about whether Iran would walk away from the negotiations, told a televised Cabinet meeting that “the Supreme Leader has clearly defined the framework of our negotiations and we will continue our work within that framework.”
The European Union, which is overseeing the diplomatic discussions in Vienna, also said they would resume, at 12:30 p.m. local time Thursday.
The discussions, which began early this month and recessed last Friday, are intended to map out a plan for the return of both Iran and the United States to compliance with the deal.
It has teetered on collapse since President Donald Trump abruptly withdrew the United States from it three years ago, restored economic sanctions and imposed new punitive measures as part of a “maximum pressure” strategy aimed at forcing Iran to agree to more restrictive terms.