LATEST: Tehran Friday Prayer — West is Despotic…But They’ll Have to Give In to Us

Amid signs that his regime is splitting over Iran’s nuclear talks with the US and other powers, the Supreme Leader renewed his support for the discussions on Thursday.

On Monday, Iran and the 5+1 Powers (US, Britain, France, Germany, China, and Russia) failed to reach a comprehensive agreement before a midnight deadline. Instead, they extended the interim arrangements for Iran’s nuclear program until July 1 to allow talks to continue, with the Islamic Republic continuing to limit production of 20% uranium and receiving $4.2 billion in unfrozen assets over the next six months.

Addressing a conference of Basij militia on Thursday, Ayatollah Khamenei said, “I am not opposed to the extension of the nuclear talks for the same reason that I was not against negotiating.” At the same time, he said Iran would not compromise on its fundamental demands over the right to a civilian nuclear program with self-sufficiency in enriched uranium:

In the negotiations, if sensible things are said and fair and wise arrangements are made, we will agree to them; but, Iranians, from the top all the way to the bottom, from the masses of the people to all its officials, will stand up to excessive demands.

Ayatollah Khamenei’s remarks came a day after the Revolutionary Guards and hard-line critics of the talks broke their silence over the Vienna discussions, declaring that Iran’s negotiating team had been weak and failed to defend the country’s position. One outlet, Raja News, even attacked the Supreme Leader’s top foreign policy advisor, Ali Akbar Velayati, as it said Iran had “given up all its winning cards” in the talks.

See Iran Daily, Nov 27: Regime Splits Over the Nuclear Talks

The Supreme Leader pushed back in his speech, “Iran’s nuclear delegation is truly diligent and serious. They do resist against being bullied and work hard out of logic and caring.”

At the same time, he appeared to acknowledge the scepticism of the critics, “If the talks fail, the one who will lose the most will be the Americans not us.”

Even more importantly, he held out the alternative to an agreement: if negotiations broke down, Iran would support itself — despite sanctions — through the “Resistance Economy” that Khamenei has promoted since 2012.

Tehran Friday Prayer: West is Despotic — But They’ll Have to Give In to Us

Delivering the Tehran Friday Prayer, Ayatollah Mohammad Emami Kashani has denounced the 5+1 Powers for trying to force an Iranian capitulation in the nuclear talks, “The posture adopted by the P5+1 group in the negotiations was a despotic one.”

However, the cleric reassured the audience at Tehran University that the US and its allies would have to give way, “They have to get along with Iran, and they can’t bring the Islamic Republic to its knees.