Iran conservatives see defiance in Khamenei speech
While most Iranian media outlets viewed the comments by Iran's supreme leader in a positive light, conservatives in the country are focusing on his comments in which he took a firm stand.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on Iran’s nuclear program, made headlines in the Western and Iranian media when he announced that he would agree to a “good” nuclear deal. Ayatollah Khamenei has always supported the negotiation process in principle, although he has tended to warn that he is not optimistic about working with the United States. But his Feb. 8 speech in front of air force personnel appeared to contain some of his most optimistic statements so far in the nuclear negotiations between Iran and the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany (P5+1).
As usual, when the supreme leader makes headline-grabbing comments, Iranian officials and media rushed to interpret him through the lens of their particular biases.
