Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has once again made it clear that he opposes negotiations with the United States, arguing that engaging with Washington would not ease sanctions but make them tougher. He shared his views on March 12 during his yearly dialogue with university students in Tehran, a platform he often uses to speak to Iran’s youth about significant political and strategic matters.
Khamenei acknowledged that the liberals in Iran still wanted talks with the US, questioning why the government hesitated to negotiate. But, the Supreme Leader believes that dealing with the Donald Trump administration would not remove sanctions but would instead tighten their grip, piling even more pressure on Iran. The public refusal was interesting as it came against the backdrop of the news about a letter written by Trump offering negotiations.
In fact Khamenei’s comments coincided with a visit to Tehran by Anwar Gargash, a senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates and an adviser to the UAE president. Gargash brought with him Trump’s letter addressed to Khamenei, calling for fresh dialogue. "I have not seen the letter the US president says he sent," Khamenei told the students.
Despite rocky relations in the past, the UAE has kept a pragmatic stance towards Iran. While it remains a close American ally in the Middle East, hosting American troops, it also enjoys deep-rooted trade links with Tehran. For more than a hundred years, Dubai has been a vital trading centre for Iranian businesses, helping commerce flow even when tensions between Iran and the US have spiked.
Though the details of Trump’s letter remain under wraps, it is thought to have aimed at restarting talks about Iran’s nuclear programme. The US has long wanted to rein in Tehran’s nuclear goals, perhaps by reviving parts of the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, better known as the Iran nuclear deal. Under that agreement, Iran promised to scale back its nuclear work in return for relief from economic sanctions. But in May 2018, Trump pulled the US out of the deal, arguing it fell short of stopping Iran from building nuclear weapons. Since then, Iran has ramped up its uranium enrichment, moving past the agreed 3.57 per cent limit to reach 60 per cent purity, a level worryingly close to the 90 per cent needed for weapons-grade material. Tehran insists it has no intention of making nuclear arms, stressing that its programme is peaceful. Still, the International Atomic Energy Agency has noted a sharp rise in Iran’s stockpile of highly enriched uranium, setting off alarm bells in the US, Israel and among European nations.
Khamenei seems to have little faith in dealing with the US under Trump, remarking, "This man ripped up and tossed aside a done signed deal. How can anyone negotiate with someone like that?" He went further, claiming that even if Iran wanted to build a nuclear bomb, “America couldn’t stop us”. Relations between Tehran and Washington have been strained for decades, but Iran’s advancing nuclear capabilities and its hostility towards Israel have heightened worries in the region. Israel, which sees Iran as a dire threat, has warned time and again that it will resort to military action if talks fail to curb Tehran’s nuclear plans. Just last month, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and stressed that both countries were united in their resolve to block Iran’s nuclear ambitions and check its influence in the region.
Khamenei also issued a blunt warning against any military move on Iran. "Iran isn’t looking for war," he said, "but if the Americans or their allies make a misstep, our response will be firm and sure, and the one who’ll suffer most is America." This reflects Iran’s wider defensive stance, forged through years of friction with the US and its partners in the region. Iranian leaders often say they do not want conflict, but they also make it plain that any attack would trigger a strong counterstrike.
While Khamenei ruled out talks with Washington for now, he did admit that sanctions have hit Iran’s economy hard. "Sanctions aren’t meaningless," he conceded, "but they are not the only reason for our economic woes." Iran has been wrestling with a deepening financial crisis, worsened by domestic mismanagement and regional unrest. The Iranian rial has plummeted, inflation has shot up and jobs are scarce. Despite efforts to dodge sanctions through other trade paths, the country is under immense strain. This mix of economic hardship and regional turmoil has left Iran’s leaders in one of their trickiest spots since the 1979 Islamic Revolution. Though Khamenei sounded resolute, some observers think his words might leave a crack open for future diplomacy. He stopped short of completely shutting the door on talks with Trump, and he notably avoided mentioning the 2020 US strike that killed Qassem Soleimani, commander of the Quds Force, the wing of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) responsible for foreign operations. Back then, Iranian officials swore that Soleimani’s death would kill off any chance of negotiating with Trump, so Khamenei’s silence on the matter has sparked guesses that Iran might soften its stance if the circumstances were right.
Iran’s standing in the region has taken a hit lately, especially with losses among its allies. The ouster of Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, a key partner, was a major setback for Tehran’s sway. Groups like Hamas in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon, both backed by Iran, have also been weakened by Israeli strikes. With economic troubles mounting and its regional clout fading, Iran might eventually rethink its approach to talks. Trump’s choice to send a letter straight to Khamenei, bypassing lower-level officials, signals a deliberate tactic to deal directly with Iran’s top authority. Typically, the US has negotiated with Iranian ministers and bureaucrats, but Trump’s move reflects the reality that Khamenei holds the final say on big decisions like the nuclear programme. "Iran can be dealt with in two ways: through force or a deal," Trump said recently on Fox Business. "I’d rather do a deal because I don’t want to harm Iran." This echoes his earlier outreach to North Korea’s Kim Jong-un, where he swapped letters and met in person, though no lasting deal came from it.
Trump has tried reaching out to Khamenei before. In 2019, he sent a message via Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, but Khamenei brushed it off, and Iranian TV showed Abe tucking the letter away, a sign of Tehran’s dismissal.
Although the chances of US-Iran talks look slim at the moment, changing geopolitical realities might create an opportunity down the line. Khamenei’s speech hints that while Iran stands firm, its leaders know the country is growing more vulnerable. With its allies struggling, its economy battered, and global eyes fixed on its nuclear work, Tehran’s options may shrink. For the moment, Iran’s supreme leader keeps up a defiant front, but his failure to fully rule out future talks leaves room for debate.