Khomeini grandson calls talks with US 'treason,' urges revenge for Khamenei

TEHRAN, Iran — Ali Khamenei, the grandson of the Islamic Republic's founder Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said at a Friday ceremony in Qom that negotiating with the United States to reach peace amounts to "treason" and called on authorities to avenge the killing of his grandfather, Iran's former supreme leader. Speaking at the Fatima Masoumeh Shrine, the cleric said anyone responsible who is not thinking about avenging the "martyr leader's blood" should question their conscience, and that "anyone who seeks to negotiate with the US to reach peace is a traitor," according to the Fars news agency. Khamenei, whose surname reflects his descent from Ayatollah Khomeini, said the United States and Israel had entered a war to overthrow the Islamic Republic but that Iranians had thwarted those plans by remaining on the ground. He argued that no research center could now claim Washington had won that conflict, and said the Islamic Republic would not retreat in the face of aggression. On diplomacy, he said negotiations do not mean peace with Washington and represent another battlefield, adding that sending a "friendship message" to the United States would mean abandoning the revolution's principles. He also praised Iraqis who attended his grandfather's funeral, saying their participation had undone what he described as Washington's effort to drive a wedge between the Iranian and Iraqi people.