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To signal and justify possible nuclear concessions in ongoing US talks, Iran's Supreme Leader has once again alluded to a historic concession by a Shi'ite Muslim leader to buy time against a stronger foe.
The reference was the same deployed by the wily 86-year-old theocrat to justify Iran's agreement to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.
Speaking Thursday at a modest religious gathering in his office on Thursday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recalled how the second Shia Imam, Hasan ibn Ali—seen by Shia Muslims as a paragon of just leadership—signed a controversial peace treaty with hated foe Mu'awiya in 661 CE.
Atop Iranian cleric has described ongoing talks with the administration of US President Donald Trump led by his special envoy and fellow property magnate Steve Witkoff as akin to a real estate negotiation in which Iran will prevail.
Mostafa Pourmohammadi, secretary of the Combatant Clergy Association and a former interior and justice minister, said Iran would get a fair deal after initial posturing and an expected back and forth.
Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi who is in Oman for the third round of nuclear talks with the United States, unveiled an Arabic version of his 'Power of Negotiation' book on Friday on the sidelines of his visit to Muscat Book Fair.
US-Iran talks are set to get trickier as the two foes thrash out technical details deciding the limits to Iran's nuclear activity and the scope of inspections, a former senior US negotiator told Eye for Iran.
Richard Nephew, former US deputy special envoy for Iran during part of Joe Biden's presidency, said the level of trust between President Donald Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff augured well for the talks.
Still, as the negotiations are set for their third round on Saturday and first set of technical talks, the devil may be in the technical details.
"We haven't yet really seen a pretty clear sense of consistency or attention to detail on the technical side," he said in an interview with the podcast.
Twenty senior Iranian officials have now been found living in Canada, Global News reported on Friday, citing immigration officials, as Ottawa moves to crack down on top former Islamic Republic figures amid pressure from the Iranian diaspora.
The latest case involves an Iranian citizen accused of serving as a top official in Tehran, the report added.
The man is scheduled to appear before the Immigration and Refugee Board in June.
The report said that his name was initially released to Global News but was later withheld at the request of the board because the deportation hearing will be held behind closed doors.
The man is an official in Iran’s oil ministry, the report said citing Iranian media.
The case is part of a broader crackdown launched by the Canadian government in 2022 targeting alleged high-level Iranian officials living in the country, Global News said.
The deportation hearings for these individuals have been held largely in secret, and according to the report, only one deportation has been completed so far, although some individuals have left Canada voluntarily.
In January, Canadian authorities launched deportation proceedings against an Iranian woman they said was a senior member of the Iranian government.
Earlier in March 2014, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) ordered the deportation of Salman Samani, Iran's deputy minister of interior during Hassan Rouhani's term as president.
Salmani was the second high-ranking Iranian official who had been ordered to leave Canada. In February that year, Majid Iranmanesh, a director general at Iran's Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, was also forced to leave.
In June 2024, after pressure from members of the Iranian diaspora, Ottawa moved to officially designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, effectively barring thousands of senior Iranian officials including top IRGC members from entering Canada.
