Iran’s hard-line leaders may be ready to deal with the US, but that does not mean Tehran will compromise on all of Washington’s demands.

A former political adviser to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Mohammad Fatollahi, told Al-Monitor: “We’ve learned from experience the best approach with the Americans is to hold our ground.”

Despite his highly controversial reputation in the West, Ahmadinejad is known in Iran as the most pro-active Iranian leader to reach out to the US since the Iranian revolution in 1979. In fact, he openly argues there is nothing in the way of talks and that they are bound to happen. His ability to advocate for relations with the US is more remarkable given that the subject is a “taboo” in Iran, a country which shaped its foreign policy by disregarding rather than accommodating the US.

Ahmadinejad is immune from his anti-US critics because he embodies the revolution’s ambivalence toward Washington. On one hand, he has hoped that President Barack Obama’s promise of “change” would translate into a constructive policy of engagement with Iran. On other hand, his outreach to America has been foiled by questioning the Holocaust and insisting at all costs on Iran’s controversial nuclear program. His statements are viewed with apprehension in the United States, but to the Iranian president they aim to assert Iran’s voice as an equal partner in future talks.