“If they want negotiations to take shape, they must certainly abandon threats, excessive demands, and the raising of irrational issues,” he added. The foreign minister went on to say that negotiations must take place “from an equal footing, based on mutual respect and for mutual benefit.” “That one side seeks to achieve its objectives through force is unacceptable. That is not diplomacy. Negotiations under threat do not add up. Talks can only take place when threats and excessive demands are set aside,” he stressed.
Amen
Crossposted from https://altmedia.house/post/185013?scrollToComments=true
I honestly don’t understand Iranian thinking. They had the axis of resistance but let it be destroyed over the last years. Without the bomb they’re not going to survive. What is their plan?? Israel/us is just going to keep chipping away until there’s regime change or civil war.
The issue is that the leadership doesn’t want to create ongoing crisis with the reformist faction that holds a massive amount of influence in the country.
Reformists are propped up by Iranian capitalists, and they hold the idea that the best option for Iran is to globalize and work with the west rather than develop national sovereignty. They’ve consistently been unable to negotiate a good deal from the west though, and instead blame everything on the principlists by stating they refuse to give concessions.
This Interview with Ali Alizadeh of Jedal TV gives a good overview for the issues that Iran faces internally. I Highly suggest watching it to put into perspective the situation Iran faces.
Have the Reformists now learned that West only wants to enslave Iran after the recent colour revolution or do they still keep their wishful thinking?
The reformists are largely motivated by a technocratic elite in Iran and a faction of the Iranian bourgeoisie. These people are largely more affluent, have children in the west or who deal with large amounts of dollars comparatively to the rest of the country, and use western neoliberal economic theories. For these reasons many of them, particularly because of the Iranian bourgeoisie, have a material interest in the current state of affairs.
For example, Zarif, who was foreign minister of Iran for 8 years, has multiple children who are a part of one sanctions avoidance method. They hold accounts with millions of dollars in the UAE and Qatar, and are supposed to use those accounts to siphon dollars into the country, however they’re easily bribed to just let it sit and live off the money. Also the US is aware of this situation and basically just allows it to happen. The reformists often have investments in property in Canada and London, while their children will often live and study in these western countries. To put it mildly, this section of the Iranian bourgeoisie has a material interest in a reaproachnment with the US and much less interest in pivoting East (for example, it would be harder for them to invest in property in China because the PRC will change its policies if that capital starts hurting the Chinese working class).
Now the Iranian bourgeoisie also doesn’t want the country to become a western puppet, as that would lose them a lot of influence and capital, however it’s also against their interest to progress towards a more soverign economy. So the situation ends up being this needless factional infighting because of their stubbornness and economic failure.
What needs to happen isn’t the reformists waking up, they simply won’t. What needs to occur is that the Principalist faction must mobilize the public into completely liquidating the reformists from the state apparatus. No more allowing them to run in elections, no more allowing them to parrot lies of reproachment, and seizing their assets for the sake of national sovereignty.
In other words, part of the Iranian bourgeoisie is a semi-comprador class that must be liquidated in some way to stop stalling Iran’s national development with the global south.
Essentially. The way Ali Alizadeh describes it is a “Hybrid State” with a revolutionary facion (which holds sub factions) that includes the IRGC and Khamenei himself, and reformists faction (with subfactions of its own) which includes the reformists who make up part of the Iranian bourgeoisie and technocrats, who habe their politics stuck as if it’s still the late 80s early 90s. The second faction includes former president even, and introduced shock therapy to the country in the 90s and beyond, dismantling many of the welfare systems which were part of the War Economy built up during the 8 year Iraq-Iran war.
Thank you for explaining this.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
