{"id":552413,"date":"2026-07-21T14:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/552413\/"},"modified":"2026-07-21T14:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T14:24:11","slug":"iran-fm-reveals-security-committee-led-nuclear-talks-says-he-never-met-khamenei","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/552413\/","title":{"rendered":"Iran FM reveals security committee led nuclear talks, says he never met Khamenei"},"content":{"rendered":"

A six-person subcommittee in the Supreme National Security Council was behind the \u201con the spot\u201d decisions made while negotiating the now-defunct Memorandum of Understanding<\/a> with the United States, Iran\u2019s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi told Asriran, admitting that he has never met Iran\u2019s Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei.<\/p>\n

Experts have frequently called into question the role of Khamenei<\/a>, who has not been seen since being injured in the same attack that killed his predecessor, his father Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, in February.<\/p>\n

In the new Khamenei\u2019s absence, global analysts and commentators have increasingly looked toward Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf and IRGC Commander Ahmad Vahidi as the minds behind Tehran\u2019s trajectory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a six-member committee consisting of people like the president, Ghalibaf, the secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and myself, who made decisions for the negotiations on the spot, because it was difficult to communicate with the top,\u201d Araghchi admitted.<\/p>\n

The committee, which does not include all 11 members of the SNSC, reportedly includes only Araghchi<\/a>, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, Ghalibaf, and SNSC Secretary Mohammad Bagher Zolghadr and two other unnamed persons.<\/p>\n

\"MinisterMinister of Foreign Affairs of Iran, Seyyed Abbas Araghchi, centre, at the Buergenstock resort in Obbuergen, near Lucerne, Switzerland, Sunday, June 20, 2026. (credit: Urs Flueeler\/Pool via REUTERS)Iranian nuclear committee evolved into negotiation committee<\/p>\n

Araghchi said the committee was formed after the 12 Day War and was initially headed by Shahid Shamkhani, a longtime figure in Iran\u2019s IRGC, and was initially considered a nuclear committee before evolving into a negotiating committee under the chairmanship of Ali Larijani.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll discussions related to the negotiations took place in this committee, and its approvals followed exactly the same procedure as those of the Supreme National Security Council. There, interesting expressions were used about the negotiators,\u201d Araghchi said.<\/p>\n

The foreign minister added, \u201cI have not seen Mr. Mojtaba<\/a> so far, and I don\u2019t think anyone else has seen him in the current era, except for a few people. He was always considered one of the most worthy leaders, and the final decision was made by the Assembly of Experts. His election showed the world that there has been no change in the ideals and principles of the Islamic Republic and there will be no change.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Institute for the Study of War published in an analysis of Araghchi\u2019s comments that it displayed the limited role Khamenei has played in decision-making over the past few months.<\/p>\n

Dr. Menahem Merhavi, a researcher specializing in modern Iran and Shia Islam, told The Jerusalem Post he thought Araghchi\u2019s comments were like an attempt to garner support for his line of negotiations \u201cand direct more criticism at the IRGC, by implying they unknowingly serve foreign interests.\u201d<\/p>\n

The minister stressed during the interview that Iran was winning the war, but defended the pursuit of negotiations to end or pause the conflict. The comments came after the Wall Street Journal reported that Vahidi pushed for harder lines in the talks in Pakistan, overruling Araghchi and Pezeshkian.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe war must end at the point of victory. Wars end either with absolute military victory or with negotiations. Absolute military victory means that the other side raises its hands and surrenders, like what happened to Saddam. When we are not able to do this, negotiations must be held,\u201d Araghchi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNegotiations must be held when we have the upper hand on the military front. Continuing the war was a risk, and we cannot take risks with the lives of the people and the fate of the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur strategic achievements were completed in the first two weeks of the war, although we suffered losses. If we had accepted the ceasefire 10 days earlier, our achievements would still be in place. We must calculate whether the war will further strengthen our position in the negotiations or weaken our position due to the additional losses. If our infrastructure is in a situation where we are crippled for gas and electricity for the people, can we become stronger in the negotiation field? Therefore, it is very important to recognize the point of negotiation.\u201d<\/p>\n

Merhavi said he thought that the comments were an indication of that the ongoing power struggle in Iran has \u201centered a new phase\u201d and the absence of an effective supreme leader is leaving that struggle more \u201cexposed\u201d now than before. \u00a0I think it\u2019s a power struggle that has entered a new phase after the death of Khamenei senior, but not all that different. However, due to the absence of an effective supreme leader, it is somewhat more exposed<\/p>\n

\u201cBottom line: Vahidi et al are the ones who call the shots, giving the negotiators room for maneuver to lull the US,\u201d he concluded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A six-person subcommittee in the Supreme National Security Council was behind the \u201con the spot\u201d decisions made while…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":552414,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[50433,91926,42,87,53065,21453,1486,159370,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-552413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-abbas-araghchi","tag-ali-larijani","tag-headlines","tag-iran","tag-irgc","tag-islamic-revolutionary-guard-corps","tag-memorandum-of-understanding","tag-mojtaba-khamenei","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=552413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/552413\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/552414"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=552413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=552413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=552413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}