Possible Witkoff visit to Tehran is an opportunity, lawmaker says

The United States uses negotiations to escape military and ideological defeat, Gholamreza Mirzaei, an Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday.

“Americans know they will lose against the faith of the Iranian people and the modern weapons of Iran’s armed forces, so negotiations are their way to avoid failure,” he said.

The government’s decision to resume nuclear talks contradicts Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s past warnings, Iranian hardline lawmaker Amirhossein Sabeti said.

“We don’t know what changed after Khamenei clearly said negotiations were neither wise nor honorable,” Sabeti said on Sunday.

He added that while the government could pursue talks to lift sanctions, “experience shows this path will not succeed, and the United States won’t give in.”

Khamenei had previously called negotiations with US “unwise, undignified, and dishonorable.” However, he later agreed to indirect negotiations.

Lawmakers have been informed about indirect nuclear negotiations in Oman, Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf said on Sunday, rejecting remarks by Tehran ultraconservative MP Mehdi Kouchakzadeh during an open session of parliament.

“You cannot speak on behalf of the parliament and say it has not been informed. Parliament has definitely been in the loop,” Ghalibaf said.

“No action takes place outside legal procedures, and what you said was neither correct nor accurate.”

“People of Iran, know that the parliament has no information about these negotiations, but now that this action is to be carried out in full bitterness, we do not oppose it,” Kouchakzadeh told the chamber earlier in the day.

A hardline Iranian lawmaker said on Sunday that the indirect nuclear talks with the United States in Oman were authorized by the Supreme Leader to illustrate the unreliability and unreasonable conduct of American officials to those within Iran who remain optimistic about engagement.

Addressing the parliament, Tehran representative Hamid Rasaei said the purpose of the talks was to make "some of the elite and some officials who are still optimistic once again understand the breach of promises and the illogicality of the American authorities."

Talks with the United States remain confined to the nuclear file and lifting of sanctions, Iran’s foreign ministry said on Sunday.

“The correspondence that initiated the Muscat channel included nothing but the nuclear issue,” spokesman Esmail Baghaei said.

“We are committed to discussions only on the nuclear file and lifting sanctions.”

The Foreign Ministry spokesperson also dismissed as a rumor the possibility of indirect talks becoming direct if negotiations progress

Baghaei added that Iran’s position is based on directives from the country’s top authorities.