Ruhollah Rahimpour, journalist and political analyst, said that, with reference to the change in the Islamic Republic’s approach from Ali Khamenei’s “neither war nor negotiations” to “both war and negotiations,” Khamenei also, in practice, did not adhere to his declared policy and had authorized negotiations before the wars.

He added that the aim of the “neither war nor negotiations” policy was to buy time, and that the current “both war and negotiations” approach pursues the same goal; the Islamic Republic uses limited military operations to buy time in negotiations and uses negotiations to prepare for and strengthen its forces.