Ayatollah Khamenei's Office Issues Statement on Controversial 'I Made a Mistake' Comment

The office of Ayatollah Ali Khamenei republished part of his controversial remarks after they were removed from Iranian websites and news agencies, claiming that his previous statements had been distorted. In a statement on Wednesday, August 24, the office mentioned that the Iranian leader said during his meeting on Tuesday: 'In the case of the JCPOA, I made a mistake by allowing our foreign minister to talk to them; we suffered losses.' The office of the Iranian leader clarified that Khamenei's reference was to allowing the foreign minister of the eleventh government, Mohammad Javad Zarif, to negotiate with his American counterpart, John Kerry. Meanwhile, some Iranian news sites referred to an interview from Farvardin 1393 (April 2014) with Ali Akbar Salehi, stating that Khamenei had allowed negotiations with the U.S. at Salehi's insistence, allowing for an 'experience' in negotiations. Salehi mentioned in that interview that when he was in the Foreign Ministry about two and a half or three years ago, he presented the issue to the leader and requested permission to negotiate with the Americans regarding the nuclear issue. Khamenei had said that one cannot trust the Americans and provided examples in this regard. Salehi then told him that if he allowed it, they would also experience this in the nuclear issue. Khamenei replied, 'It's fine, go ahead and do it, but know that this will be a final warning.' Iranian news agencies quoted the leader on Tuesday as saying: 'In the negotiations, I made a mistake and allowed the experience at the insistence of gentlemen, but they crossed the defined red lines.' According to IRNA, he added: 'Of course, the red lines we set were not respected; therefore, Imam prohibited negotiations with the U.S., and I will prohibit it as well.' This is the first time that the leader of the Islamic Republic has spoken of his 'mistake' regarding negotiations with the U.S. Over the past three years, he has repeatedly accused the negotiating team and the government of Hassan Rouhani of making mistakes in negotiations. Despite two days passing since Khamenei's speech, the office of the Iranian leader has yet to publish a video or audio of this part of his remarks. Websites and news agencies that initially published this part of Khamenei's statements were later forced to censor it. Many social media users, especially those close to the Islamic Republic, criticized why this part of Khamenei's remarks was censored, interpreting it as the leader's office believing that 'he does not make mistakes.' A user who claims to have attended Khamenei's speech on Tuesday recounted more details of his controversial remarks. Yasser Habzavi wrote: 'Now that the sites have deleted it, I will write the exact words of the leader that I heard myself: Last time we negotiated, I made a mistake by allowing it; the person who came and insisted said you have experienced everything, experience this too. I also, at that moment, you see sometimes a person becomes naive, I became naive at that moment and accepted, and I made a mistake.' The negotiations led by Mohammad Javad Zarif with six countries, including the U.S., Russia, China, France, and the UK, along with Germany, lasted two years and eventually resulted in an agreement known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) in July 2015. Under this agreement, Iran agreed to halt many of its nuclear activities in exchange for the lifting of U.S., UN, and European sanctions against Tehran. Donald Trump, the U.S. President, exited the JCPOA on May 8 and on August 6 issued an executive order reinstating the first round of suspended sanctions against Iran. However, Trump expressed readiness on August 1 to negotiate with Iranian officials for another agreement, a proposal that was rejected by Khamenei, President Hassan Rouhani, and other officials of the Islamic Republic.