🔻Kalibaf in response to the editor of Kayhan newspaper: Negotiation neither has inherent value nor is it taboo Mohammad-Baqer Kalibaf, head of Iran’s negotiating team, in response to criticism by Hossein Shariatmadari regarding talks with the United States, said that for him “negotiation neither has inherent value nor is it taboo.”

Hossein Shariatmadari, editor of Kayhan, had recently written in a note titled “We want to cut Trump’s head off,” saying that Iran’s negotiating team should clearly state that it is not willing to hold talks with those who killed Ali Khamenei, the former leader of Iran.

In his response, Mr. Kalibaf wrote: “Engaging with the world is different from dependence and surrender,” and added that in the current circumstances, “emptying oneself of the responsibility of negotiating with the enemy and waiting in ambush to then call any achievement by the negotiating team betrayal is exactly an act of a cowardly appeasement.”

He also wrote that while “drawing a line with West-orientation,” any forceful dialogue or effort to obtain the people’s rights should not be interpreted as “compromise and passivity.”

At the end, Mr. Kalibaf asked Hossein Shariatmadari to avoid “hasty interpretations and political atmosphere-making.”