When Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said last week that the U.S. was open to talks with Tehran without preconditions, it looked like there might be an opening in a 40-year deep freeze since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Iran’s President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif both hinted that discussions might be possible if the U.S. respected Iran’s Islamic Revolution. Today’s comments by Iran’s 80-year-old Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei slam the door on any future talks. “The fate of more that 300 million humans is in the hands of a person with such characteristics, that is a sign of Amrerica’s political decline,” Khamenei said in a speech on live TV. Choosing to go it alone, Khamenei thinks it’s best to reject any involvement with the U.S., especially after 72-year-old President Donald Trump exited May 8, 2018 the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action [JCPA] AKA the “Iranian Nuke Deal.”
Khaemenei knows that Trump re-imposing new economic sanctions has driven Iran’s Rial currency to the lowest level on record. Trump has warned U.S. allies that it will impose strict consequences on any country continuing to sell Persian oil. Since oil is the lifeblood of Iran’s economy, banning oil experts cripples the Persian economy, leaving ordinary Iranians financially strapped. “In America itself there is so much discussion on his mental and moral stability,” Khamenei said, commemorating the 30 –year anniversary of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomenei’s death. Khamenei’s heated rhetoric makes it all-but-impossible to open up a dialogue with the U.S.. Khamenei’s support for Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Gaza’s Hamas terrorists and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia makes it difficult for the U.S. and Iran to resume normal relations. After monopolizing Iran’s cash industries, Khamenei refuses to surrender power.
When you consider that Iran gets virtually nothing for backing Houthi rebels, Hamas terrorists and Hezbollah’s armed militia, it makes you wonder why it won’t do business with the U.S. Trump wants Iran to cease-and-desist its malign activities, sponsoring revolution in Yemen, Syria and threatening the State of Israel. Ayatollah Khamenei encourages “death to America” and “death to Israel” chants, now claiming the Persian nation’s doing just fine under U.S. sanctions. Khamenei knows that Iran’s economy has been on the brink since Trump imposed new sanctions. Ordinary Iranians grow weary of Khamenei’s anti-American chants, knowing that the U.S. is home to the largest Persian ex-pat community on the planet. U.S. citizens and residents of Persian descent would like nothing more than have both countries return to normal diplomatic relations.
Khomenei wants to blame Trump for all Iran’s problems but even the most brainwashed Iranians know that the Mullah regime has not delivered on prosperity once promised in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. “When such a person is president of a country, this shows the political and moral decline of that country,” said Khamenei, refusing to take any responsibility for driving the Persian nation to the brink. Khamenei’s Osari clan has plundered Iran’s economy since evicting Shah Mohammed Rezi Pahlavi in 1979. Iranian professionals, engineers, doctors, journalists, college professors., etc. left Iran in droves after the Revolution. With the Ayatollah’s crackdown on free speech and human rights, more Iranians look to get out the country. When Trump designated Iran’s Revolutionary Guards Corps. [IRGC] a terrorist group May 8, Iran continued to rail against the Trump presidency, leading to Ayatollah’s insults.
If Ayatollah Khamenei were interested in anyone but himself, he would make every effort to dialogue with the U.S. Trump has given Pompeo the green-light to speak openly to the Persian Republic to deal with certain foreign policy decisions that have made Iran radioactive. Iran continues to threaten the Iranian Nuke Deal by saying they’re able-and-willing to ramp up uranium enrichment activity. While Iran denies that it’s working on an A-bomb, Rouhani threatens to ramp up uranium production if the P5+1 [U.K., France, Russia, China and Germany] countries stop doing business with Iran. Nothing hurts the Persian economy more that restricting its oil exports. Several Arab Gulf States, including Qatar and Saudi Arabia, want Iran to stop supplying arms-and-cash to Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Hamas and Hezbollah, something that could re-ignite old hatreds in the Mideast.
Playing macho with Trump hurts the Persian economy by leaving Iran a pariah state. If Ayatollah Khamenei wants to improve the Persian economy, he needs to stop funding Yemen’s Houthi rebels, Gaza’s Hamas terrorists and Lebanon’s Hezbollah militia. Trump doesn’t want war with Iran: He wants Iran to stop fomenting revolution to stabilize the region. Iran gets nothing from the Houthis, Hamas or Hezbollah, something he would no doubt improve by dialoging with the U.S. Iran has nothing to lose and all-to-gain by taking Pompeo up on its offer to engage in dialogue with the U.S. Zarif said Persians don’t deal with pressure, something Pompeo promised would not be applied. When Trump and Pompeo talk without preconditions, they mean it, opening the door to more dialogue. Ayatollah Khamenei should rethink his bias against the U.S. and give dialogue a chance.
