An Iranian cleric, Mohsen Qara’ati addressing a group of religious figures, as reported by Iran International, hints at the possibility of rapprochement between Iran & US presenting an interpretation of a Quranic verse on divorce.
Qara’ati was appointed as representative of Khomeini at the “literacy movement organization in 1981”. He is known for alternating jokes in his sermons.
Qara’ati mentions the verse “Al-Talaqu marratan” (Divorce is twice), an Islamic practice of allowing two revocable divorce pronouncements before a final, irrevocable one, giving the couple a chance to reconcile. If the third declaration of divorce happens, it becomes irrevocable.
In the field of international politics, he argues that “The verse teaches us that even when ending a relationship or in conflict, one shouldn’t destroy all bridges at once,” he explained. “There should always be a path for return.”
“We’ve had a quarrel with America for 40-50 years,” he noted, “yet both the Iranian interests section in the US and the American interests section in Iran remain open.”
The implication is that maintaining some level of communication, even through back channels, is crucial for keeping open the possibility of future reconciliation.
On the other hand, earlier, Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei defended the slogan ‘Death to America,” few days after he tacitly gave the green light to possible talks with the US.
This doesn’t seem to affect the general consensus emerging in these days at the highest level of the Islamic republic, in favor of talks with US.
It is indeed quite likely that Khamenei, as he did in the past, prefers to maintain a cautious approach, opting to keep both options open in case he will be forced to say in the future “ I told you so”……
As has been pointed out by Ali Alfoneh, although the message has been clearly conveyed by Iran that it is ready to talks, though on different forms, what is reportedly missing, at least publicly, is a feed back from US Government.
However, there are many who believe that it is likely that contacts between Trump & Iran team already took place in addition to the Elon Musk Iravani meeting in NY which has been widely reported.
Iranian cleric uses divorce analogy from Quran to justify US relations | Iran International