Ayatollah Responds to US Overtures: Thanks But No Thanks

In a Feb. 7th speech, Iran’s supreme ruler Ayatollah Ali Khamenei rejected the possibility of direct talks between the U.S. and Iran that Barack Obama, Joe Biden, and Chuck Hagel are all pushing: “Some people like the idea of negotiating with America, however, negotiations will not solve the problem.”

In other words, thanks but no thanks.

Khamenei believes the offer of negotiations smacks of desperation: “The Americans have been defeated in the Middle East and now need to play a new card. That card is dragging Iran into negotiations.”

Khamenei describes the American approach to negotiations as a negotiate-or-else scenario; he says Iran will not allow itself to be pressured in that way: “Our nation will not be intimidated by these tactics.”