Trump moving away from coercion rhetoric, Khamenei advisor says

Iran’s nuclear negotiating team lacks an economic expert, even though sanctions have inflicted major damage on the country’s economy, the Iranian economic daily Donyaye Eghtesad reported on Saturday.

"There is no report of any economic expert being part of Iran’s negotiating team against Witkoff," the daily said. "This comes despite the fact that the most serious harm during the sanctions period has been economic."

While Iranian officials have occasionally spoken about the economy and foreign investment opportunities, "there is no information suggesting even one economic advisor or sanctions specialist is part of the delegation," it added.

Deputy Foreign Ministers Majid Takht-Ravanchi and Kazem Gharibabadi are leading Iran’s technical delegation in the expert-level talks with the United States. The delegation also includes Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei, BRICS affairs director Kamal Dehghani, and nuclear deal expert Behzad Saberi among others, according to Donyaye Eghtesad.

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Negotiations with the United States could succeed if approached strategically, said the former senior advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and current head of Iran's Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences.

"Indirect negotiation can be a path to success and is not inherently a sham," Mohammad Javad Larijani told Farhikhtegan conservative daily on Saturday.

He cautioned Iranian officials against projecting weakness, arguing that desperation, not criticism, undermines Tehran’s position. "It is the logic of desperation that weakens us, not legitimate criticism," he said.

Larijani criticized past nuclear talks for yielding too much without ensuring verifiable steps from Washington and said that negotiating without verifying promises would risk Iran becoming, in his words, "America's dairy cow."

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The US President Donald Trump resembled "a sheep wearing a wolf’s mask," Iran’s ultra-hardline Kayhan newspaper, managed by a representative of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, said on Saturday.

"Trump is addicted to empty boasts and is like a sheep that has put on a wolf’s mask," Kayhan wrote in an editorial.
"If America had even the slightest chance of success in its threats of military action against Iran, it would not hesitate for a moment."

The editorial said US threats were a cover for seeking concessions in negotiations, adding that Iran’s "proven strength" had deterred Washington from taking military action.

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US-Iran talks are set to get trickier as the two foes thrash out technical details deciding the limits to Iran's nuclear activity and the scope of inspections, a former senior US negotiator told Eye for Iran.

Richard Nephew, former US deputy special envoy for Iran during part of Joe Biden's presidency, said the level of trust between President Donald Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff augured well for the talks.

Still, as the negotiations are set for their third round on Saturday and first set of technical talks, the devil may be in the technical details.

"We haven't yet really seen a pretty clear sense of consistency or attention to detail on the technical side," he said in an interview with the podcast.

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Still, Iranian officials appear to have been willing to share information with Russian and Chinese counterparts.

While foreign ministry officials have openly expressed a desire to maintain secrecy about the talks' contents, they have coordinated closely with Russian and Chinese counterparts on their progress.

The Revolutionary Guards-linked newspaper Javan reported on Wednesday that Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi's decision to withdraw from a preplanned online meeting at the Carnegie Endowment in New York on Saturday earlier in the week was a "calculated move aimed at controlling the narrative surrounding the Iran-US talks."

"Iran has no intention to negotiate in public," Aragchi said in a post on X on Monday.

Araghchi accused unnamed "special Interest groups" of "attempting to manipulate the course of diplomacy by smearing negotiators and pressuring the US administration to adopt maximalist demands."

While he emphasized that his focus was on "Iran's thoughts and objectives in the talks," he has not provided any substantive explanations to the Iranian public about these goals.

Officials have only vaguely mentioned their primary aim of lifting sanctions.

Araghchi also cited his concerns about the format of the Carnegie Endowment discussion, explaining that he feared his keynote address might turn into "an open Q&A."

Following this, the Carnegie Endowment expressed regret, noting that changes to the agreed format meant they had to cancel Araghchi's attendance.

Seeking a Controlled Narrative

Meanwhile, the Javan newspaper quoted a source saying Tehran is intent on crafting a "controlled narrative" to bolster its position in the talks.

"Iran understands the impact of public perceptions on diplomatic outcomes," the source added. "Avoiding a public platform strengthens its stance and demonstrates its commitment to achieving diplomatic results."

Promoting a Dominant Narrative

This aligns with remarks made by Iranian Government Spokeswoman Fatemeh Mohajerani on April 22, who described Iran's approach to presenting a "dominant narrative" about the negotiations.

"We aim to offer the first narrative after every round of talks," she added. "Consequently, many media outlets have adopted Iran's perspective following statements by Foreign Ministry Spokesman Esmail Baghaei immediately after the meetings."

Mohajerani portrayed this as a method of managing media coverage in the interest of transparency and accurate information dissemination. However, her assertion about transparency contradicted Baghaei's earlier comments on April 21.

"Details about the negotiations are not meant to be disclosed to the media," he said.