Technical details may bedevil US-Iran talks, former US negotiator says

US-Iran talks are set to get trickier as the two foes thrash out technical details deciding the limits to Iran's nuclear activity and the scope of inspections, a former senior US negotiator told Eye for Iran.

Richard Nephew, former US deputy special envoy for Iran during part of Joe Biden's presidency, said the level of trust between President Donald Trump and his special envoy Steve Witkoff augured well for the talks.

Still, as the negotiations are set for their third round on Saturday and first set of technical talks, the devil may be in the technical details.

"We haven't yet really seen a pretty clear sense of consistency or attention to detail on the technical side," he said in an interview with the podcast.

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The latest case involves an Iranian citizen accused of serving as a top official in Tehran, the report added.

The man is scheduled to appear before the Immigration and Refugee Board in June.

The report said that his name was initially released to Global News but was later withheld at the request of the board because the deportation hearing will be held behind closed doors.

The man is an official in Iran’s oil ministry, the report said citing Iranian media.

The case is part of a broader crackdown launched by the Canadian government in 2022 targeting alleged high-level Iranian officials living in the country, Global News said.

The deportation hearings for these individuals have been held largely in secret, and according to the report, only one deportation has been completed so far, although some individuals have left Canada voluntarily.

In January, Canadian authorities launched deportation proceedings against an Iranian woman they said was a senior member of the Iranian government.

Earlier in March 2014, Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB) ordered the deportation of Salman Samani, Iran's deputy minister of interior during Hassan Rouhani's term as president.

Salmani was the second high-ranking Iranian official who had been ordered to leave Canada. In February that year, Majid Iranmanesh, a director general at Iran's Vice-Presidency for Science and Technology, was also forced to leave.

In June 2024, after pressure from members of the Iranian diaspora, Ottawa moved to officially designate the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organization, effectively barring thousands of senior Iranian officials including top IRGC members from entering Canada.

"We will hold Syrian interim authorities accountable for the following steps to fully renounce and suppress terrorism, adopt a policy of non-aggression to neighboring states, exclude foreign terrorist fighters from any official roles, prevent Iran and its proxies from exploiting Syrian territory," said Dorothy Shea, the Deputy US representative to the United Nations in New York.

Iran’s representative Amir Saeid Iravani, in turn, said US sanctions were worsening the suffering of Syrians and hampering reconstruction.

Iran supports free elections and the formation of an inclusive government in Syria, Iravani added, calling for the immediate withdrawal of all foreign forces from Syria.

The Iranian envoy also warned that the presence of foreign forces undermines the country’s sovereignty and delays peace efforts.

The reference was the same deployed by the wily 86-year-old theocrat to justify Iran's agreement to a landmark 2015 nuclear deal.

Speaking Thursday at a modest religious gathering in his office on Thursday, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei recalled how the second Shia Imam, Hasan ibn Ali—seen by Shia Muslims as a paragon of just leadership—signed a controversial peace treaty with hated foe Mu'awiya in 661 CE.

The treaty, Khamenei said, was a calculated move to safeguard the long-term interests of Islam.

Although he made no direct mention of the ongoing nuclear negotiations with the United States, the allusion is almost certainly a subtle endorsement of diplomacy.

“Some people would come forth with complaints and objections when Imam Hasan made peace with Mu’awiya … it is temporary. The Imam has been recorded as saying that this incident, this domination of heresy and hypocrisy, is not meant to be permanent,” Khamenei said.

Khamenei’s tone marks a shift from early February, when he dismissed engagement with US President Donald Trump as “unwise, undignified, and dishonorable" after Washington reimposed so-called maximum pressure sanctions.

While expressing wariness of the West, his stance has since shifted to cautious pragmatism. “We are neither overly optimistic nor overly pessimistic about these talks,” he said after the first round of talks earlier this month, before adding a sharp caveat: “I am very pessimistic about the other side.”

Khamenei used the same historical reference in 2013, branding Imam Hasan’s decision as an act of “heroic flexibility”—a phrase that became a byword for Iran’s nuclear diplomacy which helped seal the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).

“Khamenei resorts to tactical retreat whenever he finds himself in a difficult position,” US-based commentator Ali Afshari told Iran International TV.

“He is trying to warn and to provide a rationale (for his decisions) to his radical supporters. He is telling them they should not raise objections because acceptance of a deal is a tactical move rather than a strategic position.”

Hardline objections

The reference to Imam Hasan’s treaty follows a broader softening of rhetoric among clerics, politicians and media outlets after the first round of indirect US-Iran talks in Oman on April 12.

But Khamenei’s approval of diplomacy with the United States has exposed rifts among Iran’s hardliners. While some factions are rallying behind his position, some others—particularly ultra-hardliners who refer to themselves as the real revolutionaries—have expressed frustration.

In further comments on Thursday, the Supreme Leader appeared to confront those naysayers.

"Our neglect, at times our loose lips, our failure to help, our needless protests, lack of patience, (and) at times the flawed analyses that we make about the situation, can sometimes have an impact," he said. "One must be very careful."

With Khamenei’s authority remaining unchallengeable, dissent remains subdued and blame is often cast on others rather than Khamenei.

“The biggest reason (for Imam Hasan’s peace deal) was the lack of a loyal army," Sasan Daneshpajouh, an ultra-hardliner social media influencer with over 33 thousand followers posted on X.

"The Imam made a deal to save the Shi'ites from death and destruction, so that in the future they could form an army and ultimately win,” he added, implying Khamenei would not have been pushed into concessions had he possessed more loyal followers.

Mostafa Pourmohammadi, secretary of the Combatant Clergy Association and a former interior and justice minister, said Iran would get a fair deal after initial posturing and an expected back and forth.

“You want to buy a house. The seller says one million. You walk away. He tells you to wait and brings in a broker. Then suddenly the asking price drops. In your mind, you're thinking 500 or 600 is reasonable. The broker says 750, and the deal is done,” the veteran insider and conservative said in comments carried by state media.

“Neither the seller really intended to sell for 750, nor were you ready to buy at that price. But in the end, it gets resolved. That’s negotiation.”

Pourmohammadi broadly defended Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s approval of negotiations with the United States, in remarks that appeared aimed at easing concerns in conservative quarters.

Khamenei’s evolving stance, he said, reflected “wise leadership” in a rapidly changing world. “You cannot say the Leader’s words at one time apply to all times and all cases,” Pourmohammadi said in remarks carried by local media.

“The world is turning moment by moment. We must have the power to make wise and timely decisions. This is the logic.”

Khamenei had in February called negotiations with Washington “unwise, undignified, and dishonorable.” His recent support for talks mediated by Oman and taking place during Donald Trump’s return to the presidency marks a notable shift, particularly given longstanding hardline distrust of US intentions.

Pourmohammadi said President Trump’s public threats were part of a broader political strategy. Referring to a letter Trump sent to Khamenei in March, he said: “If Trump had written in his letter what he said in public, he would never have received a reply. But his formal letters had a different tone, revealing his real politics.”

The cleric framed the current moment as part of a broader strategic contest. “It’s not as if there’s only one moment, one issue,” he said. “This is a psychological war, and the Leader is managing it with wisdom.”

Pourmohammadi has held several senior roles across administrations but is widely known for his involvement in the mass execution of political prisoners in 1988 while serving on a state-appointed committee at Evin Prison.

Human rights organizations and exiled dissidents have linked him to the killings, which Amnesty International described as crimes against humanity. Pourmohammadi has defended the executions in past interviews, saying they were in line with the Islamic Republic's wartime policy.