Iran hardliners toe the line on nuclear talks A member of the volunteer Basij militia. The head of the force has softened his line on a nuclear deal. What a difference a year makes. When Iran's nuclear negotiators were finalising an interim agreement on their country's nuclear programme in November last year, hardliners back home accused them of caving in to international pressure and agreeing to dramatic reductions in the country's uranium enrichment activities. Hardline attacks on the negotiating team reached such a pitch that the chief negotiator and foreign minister, Mohammad Javad Zarif, was temporarily put in a wheelchair. But when the head of the Basij militia - the volunteer force that enforces the ideals of the Islamic revolution - was asked about this week's nuclear talks, which get under way on Tuesday ahead of a November 24 deadline, he sounded almost like a moderate. "Thank God, the [negotiating] team has so far maintained our dignity and we expect this to continue," Brigadier General Mohammad-Reza Naghdi said at a press conference on Monday. The positions that the team has announced in recent days are appropriate. Whether Iran and the P5 +1 - the members of the Security Council plus Germany - can reach a comprehensive deal by the deadline is unclear (western analysts have put the chances at between 30 and 50 per cent). But Iran's hardliners are being careful to avoid accusations of undermining the talks. Analysts believe Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader and ultimate decision maker, has kept the country's hardliners firmly under control to prevent them from sabotaging the negotiations. The shift in tone is striking. Gen Naghdi stressed that "the Basij and the nation" support Iran's negotiators to either secure a "good and fair" deal or leave the talks "if they feel our rights are being trampled upon." The Basij is an important pillar of the regime, which relies on its volunteers to suppress domestic opposition and deter foreign threats. The regime is worried that a nuclear deal may demoralise its loyalists and has been trying to reassure them that an agreement will not be at the cost of sacrificing the ideals of the 1979 Islamic Revolution - and will not mean detente with the US. Kayhan, the mouthpiece for Iran's hardliners, has also shifted from blaming Iranian negotiators to accusing the US of complicating the talks. "Unofficial news suggests that what made talks face complications and entanglement is over-demanding of the US when it came to the question of how sanctions should be lifted," it wrote on Monday. Iranian politicians of all stripes have been largely silent in recent weeks about the nuclear talks or have been giving the impression in the press that an agreement could be imminent. Ali Shamkhani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, said over the weekend that a nuclear deal could be achieved "quickly" if the western powers had a "logical and non-political approach." Hardliners continue to lash out against moderate president Hassan Rouhani's cultural, economic and political policies, however. Hardline politicians in control of parliament on Tuesday defeated a vote of confidence on Mr Rouhani's nominee for minister of higher education - the second such defeat since hardline parliamentarians impeached the minister in August. There is also concern among pro-reform politicians that any agreement with major powers could prompt a crackdown on pro-democracy forces at home to forestall regime fears that reformists may feel emboldened. "Some of us have already been warned that we could end up in jail again if we go too far [in calling for freedom] after a deal," said one reform-minded analyst. Nonetheless, many Iranians are hoping for an agreement so that crippling international sanctions can be eased, if not completely lifted. Many already blame the regime for making them pay such a high price for the country's "right" to enrich uranium, and some are questioning whether there was any point to the suffering as the government retreats under international pressure. Iranian authorities have vowed repeatedly that they will not abandon enrichment activities, which they insist are crucial for the country's future energy needs when its huge oil and gas reserves are eventually depleted. "All this hardship for nothing?" asked one taxi driver. The regime reached an agreement with the US to shut down all the nuclear sites a long time ago and they're not being honest when they say there will not be any retreat.