Iran's paramount leader suggested
on Sunday he would back a nuclear accord with world powers in
which neither side got everything it wanted, boosting Iranian
negotiators under fire from hardliners at home opposed to
rapprochement with the West.
"I would go along with any agreement that could be made. Of
course, I am not for a bad deal. No agreement is better than an
agreement which runs contrary to our nation's interests,"
clerical Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in a
statement issued by his office carried by ISNA news agency.
In a direct gesture of support for moderate President Hassan
Rouhani, who revived diplomacy with Western powers soon after
his landslide election in 2013, Khamenei said: "The respected
president mentioned something good, which is, 'Negotiations are
all about trying to reach a common stand'.
"This means that one side would not end up getting all it
wants," said Khamenei, in office since 1989 and long known for
his rejectionist stances against detente with the West until he
cleared Rouhani to try to end the long-running nuclear dispute
with the West, which has cost Iran international isolation.
The West suspects Iran of covertly seeking a nuclear weapons
capability instead of, as the major oil producer maintains, an
alternative civilian energy source through its enrichment of
uranium. Iran denies having any nuclear arms agenda.
A comprehensive nuclear deal is seen as crucial to reducing
the risk of a wider Middle East war, at a time when Iran is
deeply involved in conflicts in Syria and Iraq. After nearly a
year of talks, negotiators failed for the second time in
November to meet a self-imposed deadline for an agreement.
The negotiations between Iran and the six powers - the
United States, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - have
a deadline of June 30 for a final agreement that would curb
Iran's disputed nuclear activity in return for a phased lifting
of sanctions imposed on Tehran.
Major sticking points continue to be the pace at which
sanctions would be removed, the size of Iran's nuclear
fuel-producing capacity - a key consideration in preventing any
output of bomb material - and the length of any agreement.
"Our (nuclear) negotiators are trying to take the weapon of
sanctions away from the enemy. If they can, so much the better.
If they fail, everyone should know there are many ways at our
disposal to dull this weapon," said Khamenei.
Khamenei, who holds the highest office in the Islamic
Republic with powers to overrule laws, has taken a sceptical
stand on the nuclear talks. But he has also repeatedly endorsed
Rouhani's course on ending the economically crippling nuclear
stand-off against harsh criticism from hardliners in parliament,
the Shi'ite clergy and the powerful Revolutionary Guards.
Tehran and Washington severed diplomatic relations after
Iran's 1979 Islamic Revolution, but later restored tentative
direct contact on specific issues such as the wars in
Afghanistan and Iraq and more recently as part of bilateral
consultations to help settle the 12-year nuclear dispute.
Late last month, Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, who
heads Tehran's nuclear negotiating team, was summoned by
parliament for a rebuke over a promenade with U.S. Secretary of
State John Kerry along Lake Geneva during a round of talks.
Separately, Zarif denied on Sunday a Reuters report quoting
unidentified senior Iranian officials that he had told the
United States during the talks that Rouhani's political clout
would be heavily damaged if negotiations failed.
REUTERS