Ayatollah Ali Khamenei raised hopes that he may genuinely be seeking a negotiated solution to Tehran's nuclear impasse with the West.
Iran's supreme leader took the unusual step of praising President Barack Obama for eschewing the language of war yesterday (Thursday), raising hopes that he may genuinely be seeking a negotiated solution to Tehran's nuclear impasse with the West.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei chose to ignore a toughening in US rhetoric in recent days, focusing instead on Mr Obama's insistence that there was still a "window of opportunity" to resolve the dispute with Tehran in a peaceful manner.
"We heard two days ago that the US president said that [they] are not thinking about war with Iran," the Iranian leader was quoted as saying. "These words are good words and an exit from delusion."
Although the ayatollah's compliment was undoubtedly barbed, it represented a significant departure from the virulently anti-Western demagoguery he normally employed, leading some observers to suggest that he was sending a conciliatory message to Washington.
In recent days, Iran has partially revised its refusal to allow UN weapons inspectors into Parchin, a military site where scientists are suspected of having tested components used in a nuclear bomb.
Tehran's six negotiating partners - the US, Britain, France, Germany, Russia and China - accepted an Iranian offer this week to resume talks over its nuclear programme after a hiatus of more than a year. Sir Richard Dalton, one of Britain's former ambassadors to Iran, said Ayatollah Khomenei was testing the water, and had authorised negotiations "to feel what the other side is really after, to see if there is scope for conflict by diplomatic means".
Israel and its Western allies are likely to remain deeply sceptical, particularly after satellite imagery released on Wednesday suggested that efforts had been made to remove potentially sensitive materials from Parchin before it could be inspected.
Iran has also been accused of using previous talks as diplomatic cover to advance its nuclear programme, although Russia, Tehran's most powerful ally, believes that this time the regime is serious. Reluctant to appear foolish by accepting talks that could prove to be a ruse, the six powers demanded yesterday that Iran prove its sincerity by dropping all restrictions it imposed on an inspection of Parchin.
Israel, which has warned that it could take unilateral military action against Iran within months, has given only a lukewarm welcome to the planned resumption of talks and remains suspicious over Ayatollah Khamenei's apparent change of heart.
An Israeli official pointed to comments made by the supreme leader just over a week ago, when he declared: "No obstacles can stop Iran's nuclear work." He also stated: "The Zionist regime is a true cancer tumour on this region that should be cut off and it definitely will be cut off."
Having rebuffed several previous pleas to negotiate from Mr Obama, the supreme leader, as architect of Iran's nuclear programme, is unlikely to countenance a total abandonment of enrichment activities even if he were serious.
After seeing the fate of Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, who gave up his nuclear ambitions only to be forced from power by Western military might, the regime is said to have concluded that its enrichment programme is its best protection against foreign-imposed regime change. Even so, international pressure may be starting to tell.
Despite an acceleration of its uranium enrichment activities this year, the Iranian regime could be experiencing doubts over the wisdom of continued defiance after tightened sanctions inflicted significant economic damage.
Having recently consolidated his domestic position following a parliamentary election that left his rival, President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, shorn of a support base, Ayatollah Khamenei may have concluded that he is now strong enough to pursue compromise in the interest of self-preservation.
"His priority is to continue the nuclear programme without endangering the regime," said Meir Javedanfar, an Israeli specialist on Iranian politics. "If he thinks the economic cost is not sustainable he could show compromise. The regime can live without its nuclear programme but it cannot live without its economy."
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