TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei met on Tuesday afternoon with a number of high-ranking government officials at Imam Khomeini’s Hussainiya.

In the speech he delivered at the meeting, the Leader addressed a variety of issues in connection with the situation in the country. 

At the beginning of the meeting, Ayatollah Khamenei shone a light on the notion of seeking forgiveness from God, saying that seeking forgiveness means apologizing to God for all “the deeds that we have done and haven’t.”

One should not approach forgiveness in such a way that it would be confined to personal sins or purifying hearts, the Leader said, adding that “forgiveness also has function and effect on the big social and national realms.”

“It gets us to great successes,” the Leader underlined.

The Leader then addressed the current state of play between Iran and major world powers in Vienna, where protracted talks are underway between Iran the P4+1 group of countries (China, Russia, France, and the UK plus Germany). 

Ayatollah Khamenei instructed government officials not to tie things to the outcome of the talks in Vienna over how to remove U.S. sanctions on Iran and revive a 2015 nuclear deal, officially called the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

Addressing government officials, the Leader said, “In planning for things, you should by no means keep waiting [for the outcome of the Vienna talks] and move things forward.” 

The Leader underlined that the officials should not act in such a way that their work be disrupted if there was a positive, quasi-positive, or negative outcome coming out of the Vienna talks.

“Negotiations are going well, and the negotiating team, the president, the Supreme National Security Council, and others are being informed, and they make decisions, and move forward,” the Leader stated. 

Ayatollah Khamenei also praised Iran’s negotiating team for holding firm in the face of the “excessive demands of the other side.”

“Our negotiating team has so far resisted the excessive demands of the other side, and God willing, it will continue to do so,” the Leader noted. 

Also, Ayatollah Khamenei shone a light on the need to be fair and acting in good faith when criticizing the officials. 

“There is no wrong with criticizing the officials’ behaviors. But criticism should have an optimistic view and be free of distrust. No one should be distrustful of an official who is on the front line,” the Leader remarked. 

Ayatollah Khamenei defended the negotiating team against criticism that is being directed at it for the U.S. withdrawal from the JCPOA. 

“The party that didn’t comply is the other side. And now they are entangled in their non-compliance. Now they have reached a dead-end, not us,” the Leader said. 

The United States withdrew from the JCPOA in May 2018. But after the election of Joe Biden in 2020, Washington expressed a willingness to rejoin the nuclear pact. Since April 2021, negotiations over how to get the U.S. back into the JCPOA have been underway with no tangible success. Iran has said that the main obstacle to concluding the talks is the excessive demands that the U.S. keeps presenting in the talks. 

Word of advice for Saudi officials

The Leader also commented on the issue of Yemen, saying, “I have a word of advice for the Saudi officials, and it is really out of benevolence. Why do you continue the war that you are sure you will not win? Is it possible for the Saudis to win the war in Yemen? It is not possible.”

Ayatollah Khamenei added, “With the efforts of the Yemenis, with the courage that their leaders show, with this practical initiative that they have in different sectors, there is no chance of victory. So why does a war in which there is no chance of victory continue? Find a way out of this war.”