TEHRAN- (Reuters) – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected holding negotiations with the United States over a nuclear deal, as a letter was delivered from US President Donald Trump calling for such talks.
Last week, Trump said he had sent the letter to Khamenei proposing nuclear talks, but also warned that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal”.
The letter was handed over to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates.
While Araqchi and Gargash were meeting, Khamenei told a group of university students that Trump’s offer for talks was “a deception”, state media reported.
“When we know they won’t honour it, what’s the point of negotiating? Therefore, the invitation to negotiate … is a deception of public opinion,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by state media. Khamenei said he had not yet seen the letter.
Khamenei said negotiating with the Trump administration, which he said had excessive demands, “will tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran”.
In 2018, Trump withdrew the US from Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy. Tehran reacted a year later by violating the deal’s nuclear curbs.
Khamenei, who has the final word in Iranian state matters, said last week that Tehran would not be bullied into talks under threats.
While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the “maximum pressure” campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero.
