The reason why they speak about negotiating with our country is that they want to infiltrate. Some people adopt a naive and simple-minded outlook towards the issue of negotiations. They have not understood the issue correctly. Now, there are some people who are indifferent- society's indifferent class- whatever happens, they do not care. They do not care if the interests of the country - our national interests - are violated. We have nothing to do with them.
But some people are not indifferent, rather they are simple-minded and they do not understand the depth of the issues. When there is a debate over negotiations, they say, "Why are you opposed to negotiating with the U.S.? Well, the Commander of the Faithful- Imam Ali (pbuh) and Imam Hussain (pbuh) negotiated with such and such individuals." Such outlooks are a sign of simple-mindedness. They show that these people have not understood the depth of the matter. We cannot analyze the issues of the country like that. We cannot ensure the interests of the country with such a simple-minded approach.
First of all, when the Commander of the Faithful (pbuh) speaks to Zubayr and when Imam Hussain (pbuh) speaks to Ibn Sa'ad, they offer them words of advice. The issue was not about negotiation in the modern sense of the term. Negotiation, in its modern sense, means a deal. It means giving something and receiving something else in return. Did the Commander of the Faithful (pbuh) have a give-and-take deal with Zubayr? Did Imam Hussain (pbuh) have a give-and-take deal with Ibn Sa'ad? Was that the case? Is that how you understand history? Is that your analysis of the lives of the Holy Prophet's (pbuh) household (pbut)? Imam Hussain (pbuh) criticized and advised Ibn Sa'ad. He said to him that he should fear God. The Commander of the Faithful (pbuh) offered words of advice to Zubayr. He reminded him of an incident that took place during the Holy Prophet's (pbuh) life, reminding him that he should be wary of God [‘s laws]. This piece of advice was completely effective as Zubayr refrained from engaging in the war.
Today, negotiations do not have a meaning. In order to make us negotiate with the U.S.- which is the Great Satan- some people naively and simple-mindedly cite quotations from the Imams (pbut) in their newspapers, websites and speeches without understanding the realities of the present time. They say, "Why do you not negotiate with the United States while the Commander of the Faithful (pbuh) negotiated with Zubayr? They have misunderstood the matter to such an extent! This is while negotiation did not have such a meaning at that time.
Second, we are not against negotiation in its modern sense either. Currently, we are negotiating with the whole world. We negotiate with certain governments. We negotiate with European governments, with Latin American governments. All these are examples of negotiations. We have no problems with negotiation. When we say that we will not negotiate with the U.S., this does not mean that we are opposed to the essence of negotiation. This is not the case. We are opposed to negotiating with the United States- and there are certain reasons for our opposition.
Smart people should understand why. And when we negotiate with others, it is not as if they are our close friends. Some of them are our enemies and some of them are neutral. We negotiate with them and we have no problems with that, but in the case of America, negotiations with the Islamic Republic of Iran means infiltration. This is their definition of negotiation and they want to open the way for imposition.
Today, the great monster of international propaganda is in the hands of the United States. Today, the Zionist orientation, which is the arch-enemy of humanity and of morality, disguises the same way America does. They collaborate with one another and they work together. Negotiating with them means opening the way for their infiltration into economic, cultural, political and security areas.
During the negotiations on the nuclear energy issue, they exerted influence and carried out a harmful move against our national interests whenever they found an opportunity and whenever they were allowed to enter the arena. Of course, the Iranian side was— thankfully—careful, but they found certain opportunities anyway.
What is forbidden is this: Negotiation with America is forbidden, because of its countless detriments and because of alleged advantages of which it has none whatsoever. This is different from negotiating with some government that neither has such resources nor such motivations. These two are different from each other, but some people do not understand that.
The current problem of the country is, unfortunately, the existence of individuals who are to some extent indifferent and simple-minded. Of course, such individuals are few in number and they form a minority in the country. They are few compared to the enormous number of revolutionary, wise and insightful individuals who exist in the country— but they are active. They write, deliver speeches, repeat and repeat again. And the enemy helps them do so.
Imam Khaemeni, Oct 7, 2015