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U.S. Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the United States is not seeking negotiations with Iran, but is demanding it. Earlier this week he sent a letter Iranian leaders seek to negotiate on a nuclear deal.
“Iran has two ways: military, there are two ways, or you reach an agreement to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business. “There are two ways to do this in Iran: or you have reached an agreement to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Tehran officials replied that they have not received a letter from Trump yet.
Khamenei spoke at a meeting with senior Iranian officials without saying whether Trump’s letter was indeed received, but he accused Washington of seeking greater restrictions than previous negotiations.
“Some bully governments insist on negotiating,” he said. “But their negotiations are not intended to resolve the problem, but to rule and impose their expectations.”
“For them, negotiations are a means to introduce new demand. The issue not only involves nuclear affairs, but also raises new expectations that Iran will definitely not accept.”
“They demanded restrictions on the country’s defense capabilities and international influence, saying, ‘Don’t do this, don’t meet that person, don’t produce that item’ or ‘Your missile range should not exceed certain limits,'” he said.
“Maximum pressure”
Since taking office in January, Trump has expressed openness to a new deal with Tehran, but has resumed an aggressive sanctions campaign and promised to raise Tehran’s oil exports to zero.
In 2018, Trump launched the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign against Tehran for the first time after he withdrew from the 2015 landmark agreement between Iran and several western powers. The agreement strictly restricts Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Since the U.S. evacuation, Iran has exceeded the restrictions on the nuclear program set out in its initial agreement. U.S. President Joe Biden and European leaders’ administrations later proved fruitless in their efforts to get the deal back on track.
On Thursday, the United States imposed New sanctions The main source of income for Iran is the Iranian oil industry. These measures target companies, vessels and individuals affiliated with companies that have been approved in the United States. Below Bidenthe United States often issues such fines to impose existing sanctions.
Khamenei opened the door to new negotiations with the United States in a speech last August, saying there was no “harm” to interact with the “enemy”.
This comes after Iran elected reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian in June, who campaigned for a new deal with world powers, similar to the 2015 deal Trump withdrew from in 2018.
Meanwhile, Russia said earlier this week that it was willing to mediate new nuclear talks between the United States and Iran earlier this week as relations between Washington and Moscow in Ukraine could be thawed more broadly.
UN Watchdog Warning Time Runs Out
The latest back and forth comes after warnings from the head of the UN nuclear regulator, Rafael Grossi, who said time was time-consuming and diplomacy imposed new restrictions on Iran’s activities.
United Nations overseer said Tehran continues to accelerate its uranium enrichment to near weapon level.
Iran has long insisted that its plan is for peaceful purposes. But the war remains in a tough ceasefire as tensions remain high in U.S. sanctions and Israel’s war in Gaza, where its officials increasingly threaten to pursue greater military capabilities.
Both Israel and the United States have warned that they will not allow Iran to obtain nuclear weapons, which leads to fear of military confrontation, as Tehran enriches uranium at near-weapon level.
U.S. intelligence agencies have evaluated that Iran has not launched a weapon program, but “better activities are underway to get it positioned to produce nuclear devices (if you choose to do so).
