While his ministry at first denied that the Geneva Agreement had been preceded by secret Iranian-American negotiations, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif (pictured with his Oman counterpart Yusuf bin Alawi bin Abdullah), recognized they had taken place and, on 2 December, thanked Oman for having hosted them.

However, we are still in the dark about the identity of the Iranian negotiators, and whether they were speaking on behalf of the Supreme Leader, the Ahmadinejad government or the Rohani opposition.

According to Associated Press, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei had given his blessing to these negotiations which commenced in May 2013, date on which the Ayatollah gave instructions to suspend, and indeed stop, any program that could be construed by Washington as a provocation.

Translation
Alizée Ville