In this Commentary Walter Posch discusses what appeared to many to be a rejection by the Supreme Leader of Iran, Grand Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei, of US Vice President Joe Biden's suggestion of the possibility of direct US-Iran talks in the future. While "Western media took his answer as a clear 'no' to negotiations and as an unnecessarily rude rebuke of Joe Biden’s gesture ... a closer look at his speech reveals other aspects and allows for a more nuanced reading." Khamenei, Posch asserts, "did not say 'yes' but he did not say 'no' either."