Iran's supreme leader opens door to negotiations with US over nuclear programme

Iran's supreme leader opened the door Tuesday to renewed negotiations with the United States over his country's rapidly advancing nuclear programme, telling its civilian government there was "no barrier" to engaging with its "enemy".

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's remarks set clear red lines for any talks taking place under the government of reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian and renewed his warnings that America wasn't to be trusted.

But his comments mirror those around the time of Iran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers, which saw Tehran's nuclear program greatly curtailed in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions.

Yet it remains unclear just how much room Pezeshkian will have to manoeuvre, particularly as tensions remain high in the wider Mideast over the Israel-Hamas war.

“We do not have to pin our hope to the enemy. For our plans, we should not wait for approval by the enemies," Khamenei said in a video broadcast by state television. “It is not contradictory to engage the same enemy in some places, there's no barrier.”

Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, also warned Pezeshkian's Cabinet, “Do not trust the enemy.”

Khamenei, 85, has occasionally urged talks or dismissed them with the US after then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the deal.

The US State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment over Khamenei's remarks. There have been indirect talks between Iran and the US in recent years mediated by Oman and Qatar, two of the US' Mideast interlocutors when it comes to Iran.

Since the deal's collapse, Iran has abandoned all limits the deal put on its program and enriches uranium to up to 60 percent purity — near weapons-grade levels of 90 percent.

Surveillance cameras installed by the International Atomic Energy Agency have been disrupted, while Iran has barred some of the agency’s most experienced inspectors. Iranian officials also have increasingly threatened that they could pursue atomic weapons.

Meanwhile, tensions between Iran and Israel have hit a new high during the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip. Tehran launched an unprecedented drone-and-missile attack on Israel in April after years of a shadow war between the two countries reached a climax with Israel’s apparent attack on an Iranian consular building in Syria that killed two Iranian generals and others.

The assassination in Tehran of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh also prompted Iran to threaten to retaliate against Israel.

Pezeshkian, a former lawmaker who won the presidency after a May helicopter crash killed hard-line President Ebrahim Raisi, campaigned in part on a promise to reengage the West with negotiations. Khamenei's remarks as Iran's paramount leader could provide him with the political cover to do so.

Pezeshkian's new foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, was deeply involved in negotiating the 2015 deal.

Tuesday's meeting between Khamenei and Pezeshkian's Cabinet included an appearance by former Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who helped Iran reach the 2015 deal.

After the meeting, Zarif said in an online message that he would continue to serve as a vice president in the Pezeshkian's administration after earlier publicly resigning over the makeup of the Cabinet.