27 month chronology of events in Iran

10-18-17  Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei today ruled out any negotiations with Western powers over Iran’s missile program and regional activities  and warned that Iran would rip the 2015 nuclear agreement to pieces if the “other side” walks away from it. He made the remarks five days after the Trump administration decertified the Iran nuclear deal and imposed new sanctions on the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (I.R.G.C.) for its support for terrorism.  https://www.mei.edu/publications/khamenei-iran-will-shred-nuclear-deal-if-other-side-leaves-it

………………………….     

5-23-18  Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has set out several conditions for staying in the nuclear deal with world powers.

  The conditions include protecting Iran oil sales and safeguarding trade.  US President Donald Trump has said he is withdrawing from the deal, and on Monday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said sanctions lifted after the 2015 deal would be re-imposed.

Under the deal, Iran agreed to curb its nuclear activity in return for the lifting of sanctions.

  Since campaigning to be president, Mr Trump has been heavily critical of the deal, and earlier this month he threatened economic sanctions on companies which did business with both Washington and Tehran.

  The UK, France and Germany, meanwhile, have been trying to keep the deal alive, and Iran says it will restart its nuclear programme unless its concerns are met.  https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-44230983

………....................

8-29-18  Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Iran should stop pinning its hopes on Europe saving the international nuclear deal battered by the U.S. withdrawal, as he signaled his nation too may exit the agreement.

  “There is no problem with continuing relations and negotiations with Europe, but hope should be abandoned regarding matters such as the nuclear deal,” Khamenei said in a meeting with President Hassan Rouhani and members of his cabinet, according to the leader’s website.      The accord “is not an end but a means and naturally, if we get to the conclusion that this tool doesn’t allow us to stand by our national interests, we will set it aside.”    https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-29/khamenei-sees-no-hope-for-europe-to-salvage-iran-nuclear-deal

…………………..……

6-3-19   Iran's supreme leader has once again said the country has no interest in acquiring nuclear weapons—but also warned that if it did want to, the U.S. would not be able to stop it.

  Speaking during a meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Abe on Thursday, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said his nation would not reopen negotiations with the U.S. as President Donald Trump had done nothing to earn it, according to the Ayatollah's personal website.  https://www.newsweek.com/iran-nuclear-weapons-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-us-donald-trump-1443801

…………………………

8-10-19   Iran’s Supreme Leaders had been previously quoted as saying:   "We consider the use of such weapons as haraam [religiously forbidden] and believe that it is everyone's duty to make efforts to secure humanity against this great disaster".

Going even further, the Supreme Leader claimed that the production or use of nuclear weapons are governed by Islamic laws which ban them. On his official website, he adds that "Both sharia [Islamic laws] and aqli [related to logic and reason] fatwas dictate that we do not pursue them."

If history is anything to go by, the Supreme Leader's statement is barely worth a pinch of salt.  It is notable that that the first time Ayatollah Khamenei issued a fatwa against nuclear weapons took place right after his government was caught red-handed pursuing secret nuclear activities and enriching uranium in two clandestine nuclear sites in Natanz and Arak in 2002 in violation of the Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Having had their deception found out, the Iranian authorities subsequently adopted deception as a national policy by promoting the narrative of aversion to nuclear weapons to the world while embracing and furthering their nuclear activities privately.

  In a letter to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), for instance, Iran deployed Khamenei's declaration of a fatwa to dodge further discussion about its nuclear program. Iran claimed that "the production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons are forbidden under Islam and that the Islamic Republic of Iran shall never acquire these weapons.”  https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14667/iran-nuclear-weapons-fatwa

…………….

LONDON – After days of protests across Iran last month, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei appeared impatient. Gathering his top security and government officials together, he issued an order:  Do whatever it takes to stop them.

That order, confirmed by three sources close to the supreme leader’s inner circle and a fourth official, set in motion the bloodiest crackdown on protesters since the Islamic Revolution in 1979.

About 1,500 people were killed during less than two weeks of unrest that started on Nov. 15. The toll, provided to Reuters by three Iranian interior ministry officials, included at least 17 teenagers and about 400 women as well as some members of the security forces and police.   https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2019/12/26/world/how-khamenei-ordered-crackdown-iran/#.XhQHo7Q-BE4

…………………………………

1-3-20   Some had speculated that Soleimani, given his popularity in Iran, might one day run for president.  But that would have arguably been a demotion; as leader of the Quds Force, Soleimani reported directly to Iran’s Supreme Leader, commanded more than 10,000 troops, and essentially set Iran’s Middle East policy.  Indeed after the assassination US Sen. Chris Murphy referred to Soleimani as the “second most powerful (dead) person in Iran.”     https://thebulletin.org/2020/01/deterrence-why-killing-irans-qasem-soleimani-doesnt-do-it/