Some people think that negotiating with the US solves the problems of the country. This is a grave mistake. They are one hundred percent wrong! The other side considers Iran’s accepting and sitting at the negotiating table as bringing the Islamic Republic to its knees. It wants to say that they have finally managed to bring Iran to its knees with severe sanctions until it agreed to sit at the negotiating table with them. It wants to say this to the whole world. It wants to prove that the “maximum pressure” policy is a correct policy that has worked because it has succeeded in bringing the Islamic Republic to the negotiating table. And I will tell you that it wants to say that the US gave no concessions to the Islamic Republic.
If the officials of the Islamic Republic had shown naivety by sitting at the negotiating table with American officials, they would surely and definitely have gained nothing. Neither sanctions nor pressures would have decreased. As soon as they negotiated with them, new expectations and impositions would be brought up. For example, they would say that we should have such and such missiles, that we should not have missiles and that the range of our missiles should not exceed 100, 150 kilometers.
Today, by Allah’s favor, our youth build exact missiles whose range is 2,000 kilometers. At 2,000 kilometers, they strike every target with an error range of one meter! Well, this is very difficult for them. They say that we should destroy these missiles, that their range should not exceed 150 kilometers. They are bringing up these matters. If you accept these terms, you will be ruined! If you do not accept them, it will be the same story you see. They will begin to say the same things that they say today: that the other side will not give any concessions to you.
The Cuba and North Korea experiences are in front of us. They went as far as exchanging words of love with North Korean officials, let alone negotiations. He said, “I love you”, the other one said, “me too” [Audience laughs]! What was the result? They did not reduce even a little bit of the sanctions! They are like this. They do not give concessions. They make you abandon your position and then they show that they have brought Iran to its knees and that they have succeeded in their maximum pressure policy. Then they will say that we Iranians gained nothing in the end. This is how negotiations work.
Amid this, certain governments – such as the French government – act as intermediaries, insisting on this matter by writing letters, making phone calls, visiting our country and organizing numerous meetings in New York. They insist that we should meet with the Americans.
The French president said, if you have one meeting with them, all your problems will be solved! One really wonders at this. Either he is very naïve or we should say that they are collaboratiing with the Americans! It is one of these situations.
No problem will be solved with meetings and with negotiations. No problem whatsoever! I was confident that this would not be practical, but in order to clarify the situation for everyone, I said fine, they should correct the mistake that they made by leaving the Bar-Jaam [JCPOA] and they should return to it. They should lift all sanctions and then they should participate in the Bar-Jaam group. If they do this, I have no objections. I knew that this would not happen. Well, it did not happen and they did not accept it.
If they are not sick and if they are sincere, they should accept these terms, but they do not want to solve any problem! They will bring up new demands which will surely not be accepted by the Iranian side. It is clear how the situation is. They will say that we should not be active in the region, that we should not help the Resistance, that we should not be present in such and such a country and that we should not have missiles. They will impose such things and they will gradually touch on other areas.
They will say that we should not insist on the issue of hijab and on the issue of religious rules. They will bring up such demands because there is no limit to their demands! A few years ago, I asked officials in this very Hussainiyah to show me the point where the US will stop and where he will not make new demands. Their demands are infinite!
They are after restoring the condition that existed before the Revolution in the country. This Revolution was against the US. They want to restore the same condition, but the Revolution is much stronger. The Islamic Republic is much more powerful than such claims. By Allah’s favor, the willpower ruling over the Islamic Republic is made of steel and it has firm determination. It will not allow the US to return to the country with these tricks.