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Ayatollah Khamenei: Pessimistic Negotiator, Optimistic Strategist
(Washington Institute for Near East Policy) Mehdi Khalaji - Although Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has officially permitted the government to negotiate with the P5+1 on the nuclear program, he has expressed his disappointment about the interim Joint Plan of Action signed in Geneva in November. Indeed, while the Supreme Leader supports the negotiation team in public, he does not miss any chance to reiterate his pessimism about reaching a final resolution or decry the fundamentally deceptive nature of the "enemy," especially U.S. Khamenei does not seem to believe that the U.S. or Israeli military threat is credible. This belief is based on four perceptions within the main power circle: first, that the chaos in Syria has made the West fearful of spillover to neighboring countries in the event of an attack on Iran; second, that the West is extremely concerned about Iran's potential reaction to an attack; third, that Israel cannot strike Iran without either waiting for a green light from Washington or jeopardizing its relations with the U.S.; and fourth, that an attack would give Iran enough legitimacy to militarize its nuclear program, which the West and Israel want to avoid most. The writer is a senior fellow at The Washington Institute.