A senior aide to the Iranian president said on Sunday that conditions were not currently suitable for negotiations with the United States, while stressing that any such decision would follow a process involving Iran’s leadership and top security bodies.
“In the current situation, the conditions for negotiations with the United States are not ready,” said Mehdi Tabatabaei, deputy for communications and information at the president’s office, in an interview with Iranian media.
“Today this possibility does not exist, but 40 days from now, when the president is in New York, the situation may be different. We live in a state of uncertainty,” he said, referring to President Masoud Pezeshkian’s upcoming visit for the UN General Assembly in late September.
Tabatabaei added that any decision on talks with Washington would not rest solely with the government and would require final approval from the Supreme Leader.
“The considerations of the Supreme National Security Council are always taken into account, but its resolutions only gain effect when approved by the Supreme Leader.”
He added that Iran’s president, who also heads the Supreme National Security Council, remains bound by the authority of Ali Khamenei.
“In the case of the president, there is complete alignment and obedience to the considerations, strategies and views of the Supreme Leader,” he said.
Asked whether there had been differences in the past, Tabatabaei said, “At one point, the president’s view was to negotiate, but the Supreme Leader was not in agreement. The president said that the Supreme Leader’s opinion comes first, even if it is against his own view. Later, when conditions changed, the decision for negotiations also changed, and the government implemented it.”
“If conditions remain as they are now, no, there will be no talks. But it is not possible to rule out changes by then,” he said.
Tabatabaei also rejected suggestions of division within the leadership over Iran’s foreign policy, saying, “The coordination that exists today between the branches of government and the Supreme Leader is extraordinary. This unity of view and trust helped the country overcome the recent aggression by the Zionist regime and the United States.”
According to a recent report by Reuters, Supreme Leader and the country’s power structure have reached a consensus to resume nuclear negotiations with the United States, viewing them as vital to the Islamic Republic’s survival.
Amid deteriorating ties with Europe and the looming threat of another war with Israel, Iran’s president Masoud Pezeshkian is under mounting attack from Tehran’s hardliners, who question both his competence and his political judgment.
Allegations of a “shadow government” meddling in Iran’s foreign policy have also reignited concerns about the country’s diplomatic direction, just as high-stakes nuclear talks with the West hang in the balance.
