Why Khamenei was ambivalent about Rouhani’s US trip
Commentary: Iran’s Supreme Leader must appease extremists, but without scuttling his president’s diplomatic efforts
To juggle these political interests, Khamenei must carefully manage his own extremist supporters in two ways. First, he must demonstrate that he is their Supreme Leader, resolute and incapable of being bullied by threats from the U.S. and Israel. Second, if diplomacy fails to resolve the issues between Iran and the U.S., Khamenei must be able to claim that he had warned his followers about American untrustworthiness.