Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday that the country’s diplomatic corps now bears an even greater responsibility after Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei firmly rejected negotiations with the United States.
Speaking to a group of air force personnel in Tehran on Friday, Khamenei dismissed the idea of talks with Washington, saying, “Negotiating with such a government should not be done; it is neither wise, intelligent, nor honorable.”
His remarks seemed to undermine both US President Donald Trump’s call for a new nuclear deal and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian’s stated willingness to engage with Washington.
Araghchi thanked Khamenei for his guidance and said, "The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in fulfilling its core duties and based on the three principles of dignity, wisdom, and expediency, will utilize all available capacities to advance a comprehensive, active, and effective foreign policy. This will be aimed at safeguarding national interests and security, as well as enhancing the country's strength and stature through political and diplomatic engagements."
The three principles Araghchi cited are the same ones Khamenei has used to justify rejecting negotiations with Washington.
Khamenei also accused the US of betrayal regarding the 2015 nuclear deal, from which Trump withdrew in 2018, reinstating the "maximum pressure" policy earlier this week despite signaling a preference for a new agreement.
In response to Khamenei’s speech, Araghchi said that his words, as always, serve as a guide for government officials, particularly within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
“His Excellency’s recognition of our efforts is a source of pride, but it further heightens our critical responsibility in advancing the lofty goals of the system in the realm of diplomacy and foreign policy,” Araghchi said.
Khamenei has the final say in all state matters, but specially regarding the country's foreign policy and control of the military.
“The issue of Palestine is a fundamental matter for us, and the victory of Palestine is a certainty,” Khamenei said during the meeting.
The Hamas delegation was led by Mohammad Ismail Darwish, Chairman of the Hamas Shura Council, and included Khalil al-Hayya, Deputy Head of Hamas' Political Bureau, and Zaher Jabarin, Hamas’ head in the West Bank. The senior officials celebrated what they described as a 'great victory of the resistance in Gaza' and praised Iran's consistent support.
The meeting took place as the US reinstated its “maximum pressure” policy on Tehran, with President Donald Trump indicating a preference for renewed nuclear talks. However, in a separate address on Friday, Khamenei firmly rejected any prospect of negotiations, stating, "Negotiating with such a government should not be done; it is neither wise, intelligent, nor honorable."
On Saturday, Khamenei also dismissed US pressure on Iran, asserting, "These threats do not affect the mindset of our nation, our officials, or our youth." He reiterated that Iran’s support for the Palestinian cause remains steadfast, describing it as "a resolved matter in the minds of the Iranian people."
Addressing the Hamas leaders, Khamenei said, “You have not only defeated the Zionist regime but, in reality, you have overcome the United States,” framing Gaza’s recent military actions as part of a broader resistance against Western influence.
In addition to rejecting diplomatic overtures, Khamenei dismissed the notion that negotiations could ease Iran’s economic struggles.
Since 2018, when Trump reimposed sanctions targeting Iran’s oil exports and banking sector, the country’s economy has sharply deteriorated. This decline has been further compounded by decades of domestic mismanagement, corruption, and a focus on foreign activities over internal welfare.
The Iranian rial has lost 95% of its value, plunging 22-fold, while inflation has hovered around 40% for the past five years. Official estimates suggest that more than one-third of the population now lives below the poverty line.
Reformist figures, including political commentators Abbas Abdi and Ahmad Zeidabadi, have repeatedly urged Pezeshkian to initiate negotiations with the United States to ease or lift sanctions. Calls for diplomacy grew louder in the media after US President Donald Trump stated earlier this week that he was ready to meet his Iranian counterpart.
This may shift after Khamenei’s February 7 speech, where he rejected talks with Washington and warned that Iran would respond to threats in kind. A relative media blackout in Iran on Friday suggested a changing landscape. Still, warnings to Pezeshkian remain relevant.
In one of the latest warnings, Abdi wrote in Etemad newspaper that Pezeshkian risks losing public trust if he fails to uphold his promises. Citing an example, Abdi noted that Pezeshkian has yet to deliver on his pledge to lift internet restrictions. He warned that "soon, Iranians will no longer need filter-breakers (VPNs), thanks to Elon Musk’s help."
Abdi also noted that "public trust in Pezeshkian’s administration was low from the outset, as many believed that meaningful change was unlikely under the current political structure. They were convinced that achieving anything effective was nearly impossible."
In Iran, references to phrases like “the current political structure” are widely understood to imply that Khamenei, as the ultimate decision-maker, opposes opening up to the West and abandoning his nuclear ambitions.
Two weeks ago, when Khamenei appeared to signal approval for talks with Washington, Zeidabadi criticized Pezeshkian for his inaction. "What are you waiting for? Why don’t you pick up the phone and call Trump?" he asked. Zeidabadi was not alone—many centrist and pro-reform politicians in Iran also urged Pezeshkian to take the initiative and reach out to Trump.
With Khamenei's hardline stance, calls for rapprochement with Washington are unlikely to persist, at least for now. However, since Khamenei cannot be openly criticized or challenged, the press and politicians will likely shift back to blaming the Pezeshkian administration for inaction and inefficiency in improving people's lives.
Even in his Friday speech, Khamenei assigned Pezeshkian the task of fixing the country's economic problems—as if unaware that without resolving Iran’s biggest foreign policy issue with the United States, any economic improvement is unlikely. This has been evident since 2018 when Trump withdrew from the nuclear deal after Tehran refused to address broader US concerns over its regional activities.
Abbas Abdi in turn called on Pezeshkian "to be honest with the people as honesty is the only remedy for distrust."
The challenge for Pezeshkian is that he cannot openly admit to the public that his ability to fix the economy is severely limited or point to Khamenei’s hardline stance as the root of their hardships.
According to Etemad in its introduction to Abdi’s article, "public trust in Pezeshkian has significantly declined since September, and his popularity has suffered due to his failure to fulfill his promises." Abdi warned that "if Pezeshkian cannot deliver meaningful progress by the Iranian New Year in late March, he will have little time to recover what he has lost."
Abdi and several other commentators argue that Pezeshkian has raised public expectations for lifting sanctions and improving the economy, making it his biggest challenge alongside ongoing energy shortages. Etemad reported that "a September poll found that 59 percent of Iranians considered lifting sanctions their top priority."
Since Tehran’s media is unlikely to criticize Khamenei for his hardline speech on Friday, state television instead praised him and his threats against the United States. Meanwhile, print media is left with only one option—criticizing Pezeshkian while avoiding any mention of Khamenei’s role in the economic crisis.
This comes as hardline former Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli told the press on Friday that "Iran's situation is currently far more complicated than in November 2019," when one of the largest protests in the country's history left around 1,500 dead, according to some reports.
Iridium Hexafluoride (IR46) has multiple applications, including in brachytherapy (internal radiotherapy), low-dose medical radiography, and the production of IR192, which serves as a substitute for cobalt-60 (Co-60) in radiotherapy, according to state news ISNA. Additionally, Iran says IR192 is widely used as a radiography source, particularly in the oil and gas industries, non-destructive testing (NDT), and radiobiology research to study the effects of radiation on living tissues.
With the successful production of IR46, Iran says it joins a select group of countries possessing this advanced technology, opening possibilities for exporting the product to other nations.
Mohammad Eslami, the Head of the Atomic Energy Organization of Iran (AEOI), visited Isfahan on Saturday to inaugurate several key projects, including the Iridium Hexafluoride (IR46) production line, a comprehensive technical safety testing facility, a semi-industrial sintering furnace for fuel pellets, and a resistance welding (RW) machine at the Shahid Raeisi Nuclear Site.
The Trump administration has reinstated its "maximum pressure" policy on Iran, emphasizing that sanctions will remain unless Tehran agrees to a new deal with the US.
Under pressure for uranium enrichment and alleged secret nuclear activities, Iran always insists that its nuclear program is only for peaceful purposes and scientific advancement.
While President Trump has expressed openness to negotiations, Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei firmly rejected the idea, calling talks with Washington unwise and dishonorable. Khamenei criticized the US for withdrawing from the 2015 nuclear deal, labeling it an act of betrayal. Despite Trump's stated desire for peace, he remains committed to preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, maintaining a hardline stance unless a new agreement is reached.
The long calls for listing the IRGC became too loud to ignore in 2022. Thousands of Iranians marched in Canada for weeks, denouncing the guards' brutality back home, they killed and maim to quell the uprising known by its central chant, Woman Life Freedom.
In April 2023, I helped organize Montreal’s first rally demanding the listing by the Canadian and UK governments. A year later, our efforts bore fruit with Parliament’s unanimous vote supporting the IRGC’s designation as a terrorist entity.
But the triumph that followed after the official listing yielded no solace. Within months, former conscripts were targeted. Branded as IRGC members, they saw their application for permanent residency (PR) denied. Procedural fairness letters piled up.
We had long warned about this and were assured by Canada’s government that the listing would be conducted with precision, ensuring that conscripts would not suffer.
Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau confirmed this publicly in a PS752 commemoration day. “We know there is more to do to hold the regime to account and we will continue our work, including continuing to look for ways to responsibly list the IRGC as a terrorist organization.”
The key word was “responsibly”. He signaled that his government understood that the designation could come with complications, particularly for conscripts, and was ready to tackle it.
That’s not how it’s turned out though. The debacle we see today is not what we fought for.
Forsaken at the edge
The listing has left countless individuals in ruins. Their accounts reveal a systemic thoughtlessness that is perpetuating this injustice.
Take Sina, a father of two, denied residency after five years of work in Canada. He was accused of being an IRGC-affiliated university lecturer during his military service. His documents, though, showed he served as a faculty member at Islamic Azad University, fulfilling mandatory service by law.
The irony is that all cards issued to conscripts completing their service in this scheme are categorized under the IRGC branch of Iran’s Military Service Organization. The IRGC’s security-oriented universities like Imam Hussain University, where real associations occur, have faculty who are career IRGC members or state affiliates, their identities largely concealed. The Canadian system, nonetheless, reduces everything to a conscription card, ignoring the realities of compulsory service.
The anatomy of compulsion
Each year, hundreds of thousands are conscripted into a mechanistic system, serving no more than two years. Assignments are normally not known in advance. A prospective conscript may be called to serve in the Army, Police, or IRGC. He would have to endure a few months of rough training followed by many more months of mundane work.
IRGC conscription—not to be mistaken with actual recruitment which leads to membership—is generally less rigorous than other military organizations, exposing the hollow grandeur ascribed to its service.
Mandatory conscription imposes duties on all conscripts, regardless of their past or branch. These typically involve administrative tasks, logistical support, or basic labor, with educated conscripts teaching or assisting in research but excluded from sensitive roles.
The banality of compulsory service is evident in the preferential treatment of those affiliated with the paramilitary Basij, who enjoy months of service reductions. Others, ordinary young men who are assigned to IRGC, are in some ways making up for the Basijis who remain fully active but in their own bases outside the conscription ecosystem.
The IRGC could never function if it relied on annual conscription or allowed the unwilling draftees to access to its modus operandi.
The importance of this fact cannot be overstated: no conscript in Iran qualifies as a member of a military organization in Iran, least of all the IRGC. Many IRGC conscripts are trained in civilian trades such as woodwork or plumbing, just as they do in the Army.
Conscription is a dated, largely unnecessary system, going back to 1925, when Iran wanted to fashion its first modern armed force. Conscripts do not join the IRGC, they are called to do their term. Conflating conscription with membership is wrong—and in Canada, at least, is destroying lives.
IRGC members arise through specialized domains, not brief, menial service often deemed the worst of youths’ lives.
The IRGC operates its own well-established, high-security universities and recruitment centers, with specialized training that prepares loyal individuals for service, be it in the Quds force, Cyber or Aerospace divisions.. To equate these members, the Sepahis, with conscripts who toil for two years to get an end-of-service card that’s required for any job, any transaction, to register marriage even, is a farce bordering on moral bankruptcy.
The Canadian government, long briefed on these matters, bears the responsibility to educate its immigration officers properly.
Guilty until proven innocent
Take another example: Alireza, whose PR application was denied because his two-year conscription with the IRGC was deemed membership. An immigration officer redefined his service as formal affiliation, claiming “membership does not have a temporal element.”
This argument, appearing in many cases, disregards the IRGC’s distinct recruitment process and its separation from mandatory military service. Even the federal court precedents referenced in refusal letters, such as Afanasyev v. Canada, 2012, are tenuous to conscription cases.
In Jalloh v. Canada, 2012, the court stated, “A person cannot be considered a member of a group when his or her involvement with it is based on duress.” That should apply to Alireza and others who had no choice but to do their time with the armed forces. Iran’s compulsory military service is by definition serving under duress.
Masoud, too, faced a refusal rooted in flawed interpretations. Despite detailing his basic training and mundane tasks like checking sign-in sheets, he received a letter that lectured him on the IRGC’s history, followed by a barrage of absurd questions: “If you are no longer involved with the IRGC, when and why did you leave?” or “Did you ever try to escape your duties?”
These betray a limited grasp of military service in Iran and severe punishments deserters face, including the loss of civil rights, acknowledged even in Canadian tribunal records.
Ironically, all those Iranians affected by the IRGC’s designation have declared their service voluntarily, while real IRGC operatives and affiliates—masters of covert operations and false identities—remain untouched. To date, no IRGC career member has been identified or penalized under current nebulous policies.
In refusal letters shared with me the individuals are accused of terrorism by a representative of the Minister of Immigration pursuant to IRPA. Shockingly, the same ministry denies targeting conscripts when speaking to Farsi-speaking outlets, cloaking itself in propaganda despite overwhelming evidence. This travesty, if deliberate, betrays any commitment to fairness and rectitude.
Trudeau’s government cannot feign ignorance of Iran’s conscription ecosystem. For years, advocates and victims laid the truth bare, only to see it dismissed. It is time to bring aspects of this truth to the forefront, demanding a fair reckoning.
The Fight for Redemption
Kaveh Shahrooz, a Canadian lawyer and advocate for listing the IRGC, likens conscripts to hostages of the regime. Freed at last, many are now finding their lives taken hostage again by their innocent past, by an immigration system that purports to be fighting their hostage-takers in Iran.
Some among the Iranian community in Canada—accused of sympathizing with the Islamic Republic—have sought to take advantage of the conscripts’ plight, demanding the removal of its terrorist designation. Former conscripts and families have condemned this move, stressing that they are “innocent individuals forcibly conscripted and enslaved by the IRGC.”
Feeling abandoned by Canada’s Liberal administration, they hope for reprieve through other legislative avenues. Bill C-350, introduced by Conservatives, serves as an example and proposes an exception for conscripts. Thousands have rallied behind it, motivated by Pierre Poilievre’s assurance of protection for those conscripted.
Resolving this issue is crucial for Canada’s standing and could set a precedent for nations like the UK and Australia. Failing to address conscripts’ suffering risks eroding diaspora support, already scarred by the IRGC’s brutality. Should this tragic course continue, there will be only one victor: the IRGC.
True accountability demands Canada hear the voices of innocent conscripts today and confront its failure with integrity and principle.