Khamenei: All negotiations with the U.S. are banned

Maybe he figures it's like going to a casino. When you've been winning like crazy, you have to realize your luck can't go on forever. Take your chips, cash them in and get out now. Or maybe he realizes it's just a matter of time before he won't have chumps like Obama and Kerry sitting across the table from him anymore, and the last thing he wants is to try to deal - speaking of casinos - with President Trump. Whatever the motivation, Reuters reports that Ayatollah Khamenei issued an awfully weird directive on Tuesday:

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Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khamenei, said on Wednesday that any negotiations with the United States were banned because they brought endless disadvantages that could harm the Islamic Republic. "Through negotiations Americans seek to influence Iran ... but there are naive people in Iran who don't understand this," Khamenei was quoted by his website as saying to Revolutionary Guards Navy commanders.

Sometimes I think the mad mullahs have more of a sense of human than you'd tend to give them credit for. The statement above actually sounds like a description of Obama and Kerry - naive people who don't understand how they're being taken to the cleaners by people with a much different agenda than what they're copping to when they look you in the eye. I actually think, as the boss does, it's more a matter of not caring what Iran does - at least in Obama's case. Kerry may actually believe he is some sort of master negotiator who is actually going to get Iran to give up its pursuit of nuclear weapons as the result of his brilliant diplomacy. But when you consider Iran's likely perspective on the matter, it's hard to read that quote and not see a bit of satire aimed at the negotiating partner Iran has now decided it will no longer deal with. Then again, maybe Khamenei is taking his cue from Kerry, who was oh-so-concerned that if the U.S. Congress didn't approve the deal, it would represent the "ultimate screwing" of the Ayatollah, and Iran would never again do business with the U.S. Of course, that didn't happen because John Boehner and Mitch McConnell agreed to the Iran Nuclear Deal Review Act, which made it all but impossible for Congress to reject the deal. But Khamenei, who pleased liberals everywhere by incorrectly lecturing U.S. Republicans on their constitutional role in the process, apparently wants to make it clear that he doesn't want any rascally Republicans messing up the deals he makes with peacenik Democrats who are only too happy to let rogue terrorist regimes get the bomb. As far as I know, we have nothing left to negotiate with Iran anyway. But it wouldn't surprise me if Kerry goes running back to them now begging forgiveness and the opportunity to give Iran more stuff it shouldn't have. When it comes to playing these two fools, I don't think the mad mullahs are really all that mad.