“Hear me now, we condemn all sorts of secret talks!”

“Today we commemorate the conquering of the castle of Satan!” shouted Mohammad Reza Naghdi, the commander of a paramilitary group. “Hear me now, we condemn all sorts of secret talks!”

Senior officials have accused President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of wanting to start such talks, stressing that decisions about potential relations with the United States can only be made by the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. While it is unclear if any secret approaches were being made, the speech during the commemoration ceremony seemed aimed at convincing the public that it is better not to have relations with Washington…

“The Iranian nation will not resume ties with America. There are conditions for America to re-establish tie with Iran. First, it should behave. It should close its military bases in 50 countries. It has more than 86 military bases across the world. Why should a country have military bases in another country?” Mr. Naghdi said.