On Tuesday, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei issued another genocidal threat against the state of Israel.
Khamenei described the effort to eliminate the Zionist regime from the region as “a religious, human duty. This infographic examines the reasons why these efforts must be considered a duty.”
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Why must the Zionist regime be eliminated from the region?
https://t.co/lU2JBda4nv pic.twitter.com/EAmonZ8Zw2
— Khamenei Media (@Khamenei_m) April 15, 2025
“So here you have the ruler of Iran openly declaring — again — that his goal is to destroy the State of Israel. And the most brazen thing about this is that he issues this while he’s negotiating — supposedly — peace with the United States,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video message on social media.
The U.S. will hold another meeting with the Iranian foreign minister on Saturday in Rome. Khamenei downplayed the significance of the discussions.
“We’re neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about the Oman talks. The actions taken in the initial steps of the Oman talks were good. And from hereon, this must be pursued carefully. The red lines are clear. They’re clear for the other side, and they’re clear for us too,” Khamenei said.
U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff meanwhile appeared to walk back his comments earlier this week where he suggested that Washington would be satisfied with a limitation on Iran’s nuclear program rather than a full dismantling.
In an interview on Fox News on Monday, Mr. Witkoff said that Iran won’t need to enrich uranium past 3.67 percent if it wants to run a civil nuclear program.
The conversation with the Iranians are going to be “much about verification on the enrichment program and then ultimately verification on weaponization — that includes the type of missiles they have stockpiled there and the trigger for a bomb,” Mr. Witkoff said, sparking debate about the U.S. position.
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Witkoff cleared up any ambiguity in his statements about enrichment.
“A deal with Iran will only be completed if it is a Trump deal. Any final arrangement must set a framework for peace, stability, and prosperity in the Middle East — meaning that Iran must stop and eliminate its nuclear enrichment and weaponization program. It is imperative for…
— Office of the Special Envoy to the Middle East (@SE_MiddleEast) April 15, 2025
It’s hard to read what Iran is thinking through all the bluster and threats. But a potentially significant harbinger of those talks came with the abrupt resignation of one of the key negotiators for Iran during the 2015 Obama-era deal.
The former vice president, Mohammad Javad Zarif, served as a key supporter of Pezeshkian in his election last year but drew criticism from hard-liners within Iran’s Shiite theocracy, who long have alleged Zarif gave away too much in negotiations.
In March, Zarif tendered his resignation to Pezeshkian. However, the president did not immediately respond to the letter. Zarif has used resignation announcements in the past in his political career as leverage, including in a dispute last year over the composition of Pezeshkian’s Cabinet. The president had rejected that resignation.
But on late Tuesday, a statement from the presidency said Pezeshkian wrote Zarif a letter praising him but accepting his resignation.
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This is probably a sign that Khamenei is stalling, and he has no intention of making any kind of deal. By eliminating a deal maker from his position, he’s making it clear that he’s preparing for war.
Khamenei should be careful what he wishes for.
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