Khamenei’s contradicting statement has confused many as to whether he wants to Pull Back on Nuclear Talks

TEHRAN — With exactly a week left before the deadline for a final agreement to limit Iran’s nuclear program, the country’s supreme leader appeared to undercut several of the central agreements his negotiators have already reached with the West.
In a speech broadcast live on Iran state television, the supreme leader, Khamenei, demanded that most sanctions be lifted before Tehran has dismantled part of its nuclear infrastructure and before international inspectors verify that the country is beginning to meet its commitments. He also ruled out any freeze on Iran’s sensitive nuclear enrichment for as long as a decade, as a preliminary understanding announced in April stipulates, and he repeated his refusal to allow inspections of Iranian military sites.
American officials said they would not be baited into a public debate with the Khamenei, who has the final word on nuclear matters. But with Western foreign ministers already hinting that the negotiations may go past the June 30 deadline, both American and European officials have said in recent weeks that they are increasingly concerned about the possible effects of the Khamenei’s statements.
Even if the remarks were made chiefly to mollify hard-liners and military leaders, they say, they could sharply limit the flexibility of Iran’s chief negotiator, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, as he heads into the week when the most difficult concessions are likely on both sides.
It is possible, outside experts say, that Khamenei’s series of statements over the past two months, seemingly stepping back from major commitments made by Mr. Zarif’s team, are carefully choreographed to bolster Iran’s negotiators, who can argue that they cannot deviate from the supreme leader’s strictures.
“My best judgment is that this is about leverage,” Cliff Kupchan, the chairman of Eurasia Group, a political risk research and consulting firm in Washington, said in a telephone interview. “This is the last time to get the best possible deal. I think what he’s shooting for is the most sanctions relief he can get as soon as he can get it, and the least intrusive inspection regime going forward.”
Almost as interesting as what Khamenei said is what he omitted. He said nothing about lifting the United Nations arms embargo on Iran, which the United States is resisting. Nor did he rule out inspections under the International Atomic Energy Agency’s “additional protocol,” a set of inspection standards that more than 100 other nations allow — and that permit some inspections on military sites. But he did object to “unconventional inspections, interrogating certain Iranian individuals and inspecting military sites.”
By contrast, in the State Department’s “fact sheet” about the preliminary agreements struck in Lausanne, Switzerland, in late March and early April, the United States summarized the agreement on inspections this way: “Iran will be required to grant access to the I.A.E.A. to investigate suspicious sites or allegations of a covert enrichment facility, conversion facility, centrifuge production facility, or yellowcake production facility anywhere in the country.”
Khamenei has repeatedly mixed his unyielding statements with assurances that he supports the negotiations, and tributes to the patriotism of the negotiators. But his remarks on Tuesday were his strongest yet, and came just two or three days before Secretary of State John Kerry and other foreign leaders are supposed to convene in Vienna.
One of his statements, for example, suggested that a central premise of the deal — that sanctions would be lifted only in close coordination with Iran’s dismantlement of centrifuges and reduction of its stocks of low-enriched uranium — is not possible.
“All economic, financial and banking sanctions, implemented either by the United Nations Security Council, the United States Congress or the administration, must be lifted immediately when the deal is signed,” Khamenei said, according to his personal website,
Only after that has happened will Iran start abiding by its commitments, he said. “The rest of the sanctions must be lifted in rational intervals,” he said.
Much may depend on what Khamenei means by the word “signed.” It is possible that Iran will reach an understanding with the United States, Britain, France, Germany, China and Russia, but not “sign” the agreement for months. That would give Iran time to come into compliance with the terms, allowing President Obama to “lift” oil and financial sanctions on the first day of the accord. But Khamenei seemed to rule out any linkage between Iran’s actions and the lifting of sanctions.
Tehran, he said, does not accept the “strange formula” for removing the sanctions, adding that “removing the sanctions must not be dependent on implementing Iran’s commitments.”
Khamenei also said that verification of Iran’s actions by the International Atomic Energy Agency was out of the question.
“We have said from the first place that we want cruel sanctions to be lifted,” Khamenei said. “You cannot ask us to fulfill our commitments and wait for the I.A.E.A.’s confirmation for removing the sanctions. We completely disagree with it.”
Khamenei also vowed to maintain an active nuclear program, which he says is for peaceful purposes. “Freezing Iran’s research and development for a long time, like 10 years or 12 years, is not acceptable,” he said.
Under the preliminary agreements described in April by the United States, some research work would be permitted, but Iran could not operate new, advanced centrifuges for more than a decade.