Iran’s supreme leader said yesterday he could accept a compromise in nuclear talks and gave his strongest defence yet of President Hassan Rouhani’s decision to negotiate with the West, a policy opposed by powerful hardliners at home.

As his foreign minister met counterparties in the talks at a conference in Munich, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said he “firmly” backed a fair nuclear deal.

“I would go along with any agreement that could be made. Of course, if it is not a bad deal. No agreement is better than an agreement which runs contrary to our nation’s interests,” Mr Khamenei told Iranian air force personnel, according to official news agencies.

In a speech that still underlined his suspicions about Western nations that he characterised as “bullies”, Mr Khamenei backed Mr Rouhani’s negotiations with them and said any workable deal would mean both sides easing their demands.

Expectations

“I am for reaching a good settlement and the Iranian nation too will certainly not oppose any deal to uphold its dignity and integrity,” Mr Khamenei said, an apparent warning to hardliners that they might have to accept a deal with powers including the United States, commonly known in Iran as “the Great Satan”.

Negotiators have set a June 30th final deadline for a nuclear deal, and Western officials have said they aim to agree on the substance of such an accord by March. In Israel, Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who is due to address the US Congress on Iran on March 3rd – to the annoyance of the Obama administration – said he would strive to thwart what would be a “bad and dangerous agreement”.

Nuclear weaponry

The nuclear talks with the US, Russia, China, Britain, Germany and France are aimed at clinching a deal that would ease Western concerns that Tehran could pursue a convert nuclear weapons programme, in return for the lifting of sanctions that have ravaged the Iranian economy.

Major sticking points are the pace at which sanctions would be removed, the size of Iran’s nuclear fuel-producing capacity – a key consideration in preventing any output of bomb materials – and the length of any agreement.

US senator John McCain warned that while Iran was negotiating now, its underlying goal was “to drive Western influence out of the Middle East”. – (Reuters)