‘No Barrier’ to Nuclear Talks With U.S., Iran’s Supreme Leader Says

Iran’s supreme leader suggested that his country would pursue nuclear negotiations with the United States, telling the country’s government there was “no barrier,” to discussions with the “enemy,” in a video broadcast on state television Tuesday.

It was unclear if Ayatollah Ali Khamenei was signaling anything more substantive than the back-channel talks the United States and Iran have held recently on the status of Tehran’s nuclear program and Western sanctions.

His comments, including a warning against trusting the United States, came during a meeting with the cabinet of President Masoud Pezeshkian of Iran, the newly elected reformist leader, amid rising tensions between Iran and Israel.

“It is not contradictory to engage the same enemy in some places, there’s no barrier,” Mr. Khamenei said in the video. “The issue is that we should not pin our hope to the enemy and trust him.”

Dr. Pezeshkian, a cardiac surgeon, won office in a special election held in June after his predecessor, Ebrahim Raisi, died in a helicopter crash. Mr. Raisi was seen as more of a hard-liner, in step with the Shiite Muslim clerics who rule the country, and as a potential successor to Mr. Khamenei as supreme leader.

It remains unclear whether Iran’s change in leadership and the approaching election of a new U.S. president in November could presage a shift in relations between the two countries. But Mr. Khamenei holds the ultimate say in Iran’s government, and the extent to which Dr. Pezeshkian will be able to steer foreign policy is yet to be seen.

During his campaign, Dr. Pezeshkian said he would engage the West in nuclear negotiations to lift economic sanctions crippling Iran’s economy. Mr. Khamenei shares the goal of sanctions relief, but that is complicated by regional tensions, particularly Iran’s backing of armed groups that have been in conflict with Israel and the United States.

“Many people in the previous administration did not think they could negotiate with Trump because they saw him as unpredictable,” said Ray Takeyh, an expert on Iran and a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations. “This is essentially establishing the parameters for negotiations should Kamala Harris win.”

Oman and Qatar have recently acted as intermediaries for informal communication between the United States and Iran. There were indirect talks in Oman in May, and Qatar’s prime minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, visited Iran on Monday.

Mr. Khamenei’s statement on Tuesday likely was not meant as green lighting open, direct talks with the United States, but his public comments have been somewhat inconsistent in recent years, said Mehrzad Boroujerdi, an Iran expert and dean of the College of Arts, Sciences and Education at Missouri University of Science and Technology.

Asked about Mr. Khamenei’s comments, a State Department spokesperson did not address them directly, but said that the United States would judge Iran by its actions, not its words, and that their conflict remained far from resolution.

In 2015, Iran agreed to downsize its nuclear program — specifically its enrichment of uranium, a possible step toward building an atomic bomb — in exchange for the lifting of economic sanctions. But in 2018, President Donald J. Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement, restored the sanctions and imposed new penalties.

Iran then sharply ramped up its uranium enrichment and stopped cooperating with the United Nations nuclear organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency.

Relations between the United States and Iran remain strained, as tensions between Iran and Israel escalate over the war between Israel and Hamas, an Iranian ally. Since that war began, Iran-backed forces in Lebanon and Yemen have repeatedly attacked Israel, and Israel has retaliated. Israel killed a group of Iranian commanders in Syria, and Iran responded with a barrage of missiles and drones aimed at Israel.

Iran recently threatened to retaliate against Israel after the assassination of Ismail Haniyeh, Hamas’s political leader, in Tehran. With the United States and others urging restraint, the full-fledged retaliation has yet to come, but the fear of a greater conflict in the Middle East remains.

Leily Nikounazar contributed reporting.