Here's What Iran's Supreme Leader is Saying About Those Nuke Talks

Sometimes it just takes a tweet — or in the case of the Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khamenei, who has final, absolute say over his country’s nuclear negotiations, many tweets:

#US should know that ppl of #Iran wouldn’t submit to bullying &negotiators follow the nation in disallowing anyone to bully them.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) March 21, 2015

Talks with #US are only on the nuclear issue & nothing else. We don’t talk over regional issues as their goal is opposite to ours. #ISIS — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) March 21, 2015

That’s a clear reference to Iran’s state sponsorship of terrorism and Iran continuing to hold four Americans. Congressional critics of the administration’s Iran deals have been insistent that how the Islamic Republic continues to wreak havoc across the globe and at home should be on the table in negotiations, but the Obama administration insists a nuclear deal must be forged first. “The day after a deal is reached if we get an agreement, our concerns about other Iranian activities in the region will be exactly the same as they are today,” Deputy National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said at the beginning of the month.

#Iran seeks peace& empowerment of nations.US seeks regional instability& dismantlement of Islamic awakening by arming terrorist groups.#ISIS — Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) March 21, 2015

We reject US fraudulent offer of reaching a deal w #Iran first then lifting sanctions. Lifting sanctions is a part of deal not its outcome.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) March 21, 2015

The clincher that nobody seems to be pressing the administration on — both officials in Iran’s regime and Iranian lawmakers have insisted over the past few weeks they will not agree to a nuclear deal unless all sanctions are repealed first. There’s the ayatollah’s rubber stamp.

#US sanctions are ineffective. Threatening to sanction or military action won’t scare #Iran-ians.God backs Iranian nation’s resistance.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) March 21, 2015

Administration officials have regularly brushed off Khamenei’s opinions during the talks — and there have been lots of them, all anti-U.S., anti-Israel — as rhetoric ginned up for public consumption.

As the Obama administration declares progress is being made on a nuclear agreement, one has to wonder what concessions are on the table. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) has accused the administration of moving the goalposts to get a nuke deal. So what has been going on at the negotiating table for Secretary of State John Kerry to declare today that “genuine progress” has been made in talks?

“We have not yet reached the finish line. But make no mistake, we have the opportunity to try to get this right,” Kerry told reporters in Switzerland. “It’s a matter of political will and tough decision making. It’s a matter of choices, and we must all choose wisely in the days ahead.”