\n<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s supreme leader, Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, has distanced himself from the agreement with the United States, and made clear that his negotiators had little room to grant concessions to \u201cthe enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n
In his first public comments on the deal, in a statement issued late Thursday, Mr. Khamenei said he had assented to the deal but he did not agree with signing it, \u201cas a matter of principle.\u201d He did not elaborate. The agreement grants Iran broad economic benefits while delaying negotiations on its nuclear program for later.<\/p>\n
Mr. Khamenei said he had authorized the agreement because Iran\u2019s president, Masoud Pezeshkian, had accepted responsibility for it and committed to protect the rights of Iranians and the \u201cresistance front,\u201d likely a reference to the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, which is at war with Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe has also stated explicitly that if the American side seeks excessive demands, he will not submit to them,\u201d Mr. Khamenei wrote, referring to Mr. Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Mr. Khamenei praised Iran\u2019s diplomats and denigrated President Trump, saying he had come to the agreement \u201cout of desperation.\u201d<\/p>\n
In effect, Mr. Khamenei deflected responsibility for the agreement onto Iran\u2019s elected government. Iran has a hybrid system of government, with some elected institutions that hold far less power than the theocratic elements of the government, including the supreme leader, a cleric.<\/p>\n
By referencing \u201cexcessive demands,\u201d Mr. Khamenei is constraining his diplomats\u2019 ability to grant concessions at the negotiating table, although what qualifies as \u201cexcessive\u201d was not specified.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is obvious that the in-person negotiations that will take place in the future do not mean accepting the enemy\u2019s view,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n
Mr. Khamenei\u2019s father and predecessor as supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, often took a similar tack. He allowed Iranian diplomats to conduct talks with the United States and world powers over the country\u2019s nuclear program, and endorsed the resulting deal in 2015, but then publicly criticized<\/a> its implementation and downplayed his own involvement in it.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Mojtaba Khamenei\u2019s message on Thursday signaled that the deal with the United States would not lead to many more such agreements, Ali Afshari, a former activist in Iran and now a political analyst living in the United States, wrote<\/a> on social media.<\/p>\n The message also suggested that the regime\u2019s confrontational foreign policy is unlikely to change, he said.<\/p>\n Soon after the message was released, senior Iranian officials issued their own statements reacting to and expressing gratitude to Mr. Khamenei. One member of an important Iranian consultative body said<\/a> any agreement must observe Mr. Khamenei\u2019s \u201cred lines.\u201d<\/p>\n