1938 Alert from Fox News:
TEHRAN, Iran -- Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the possibility of nuclear talks with the United States Tuesday saying nothing would be gained from them, state television reported.
"Negotiations with the United States would have no benefit for us, and we do not need them," the television quoted Khamenei as telling Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.
The U.S. has said it would only take part with European nations in negotiations with Iran over their nuclear nuclear program if Tehran accepted an incentives package offered earlier this month.
The Washington move was seen as a major concession as the U.S. lists Iran as a sponsor of international terrorism and there have been no diplomatic relations between the two countries since 1979, when militants stormed the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took Americans hostage for 444 days.
The package of incentives seeks to persuade Iran to place a long-term moratorium on the enrichment of uranium, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear generators or the material for nuclear warheads. Iran has long refused to backdown on its enrichment program, saying it has a right to the peaceful exploitation of nuclear energy.
"We do not negotiate with anybody on achieving and exploiting nuclear technology," the TV quoted Khamenei as saying. "But if they recognize our nuclear rights, we are ready to negotiate about controls, supervisions and international guarantees."
Khamenei, who has final say on all state matters, said that the West would misuse such a negotiating process to put pressure on the country.
According to this story, the Bush administration has already "dismissed" Khamenei's comments, saying "officials don't consider the supreme leader's comments to be an official response."
It's like saying Andrei Gromyko, who was elected Soviet president under Andropov/Chernenko (forget which one?), was the only Soviet leader that the US would deal with, and the real leader - the Chairman of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet - wasn't the official leader. Despite the fact that everyone knew that Chernenko was the one who mattered.
Actually, Khamenei is the one who counts. Just as in Iraq, it's Sistani who matters, not al Maliki, not Jaafari, not Allawi. The only reason Talabani matters is that being a Kurd, his is now the swing power.
If this administration existed during the time of the Islamic prophet, they'd be wanting to deal with the official head of the Qureishi tribe, rather than Mohammed.
Their brilliance is breathtaking.
I don't how they couldn't know it by now, Infidel Pride. They do know more than they say. They're trying to avoid the start of hostilities as much as possible, but we're not going to get the free pass they're searching for on this one. The are trying to define the other side as opponents rather than enemies to give the other side a chance to change its mind. That isn't going to happen, we both know it. Who wants to start it? Really? We're talking about something really, really bad, disruptive and destructive here.
I'm thinking they'll never come out and say what they know until we have a catastrophic event.
With Russia and China on their side, Iran has no real incentive to deal with any country in the western world, including the United States.
No surprises here, except for the large number of people still thinking that Iran will cave to the west. It won't. At least not now.
I used to worry about the Russia and China angle too. Not anymore. Putin is not going to war over Iran. And the commies too have their heads on. They are actually persuading NK to desist. Pythagoras, iran has the visible/invisible support of islam. Nothing else.
If we can only get Putin to understand that Iran was behind the beheading and murders of the Russian diplomatic corps in Iraq.