Tehran, Iran – Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Saturday firmly rejected an offer for negotiations, just a day after U.S. President Donald Trump revealed he had sent a letter urging Iran to engage in dialogue.
“The insistence of some abusive governments to engage in negotiations is not aimed at resolving problems, but rather at imposing their dominance and imposing their demands,” Khamenei stated, seemingly in reference to Trump’s proposal for renewed talks.
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“The Islamic Republic of Iran will undoubtedly not accept your demands,” the country’s highest political and religious authority declared during a meeting in Tehran with senior government officials.
On Friday, Trump disclosed that he had written to Khamenei, pressing for talks on a new nuclear deal. Speaking in an interview with Fox Business, Trump warned that Iran could be “handled” either diplomatically or militarily.
“I would prefer to make a deal because I am not looking to hurt Iran. They are great people. I know so many Iranians from this country,” Trump said. “We can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily.”
The U.S. president added that he hoped Iran would agree to negotiations, cautioning that if military action were required, “it’s going to be a terrible thing for them.”
This rejection follows previous refusals by Khamenei to engage in direct talks with Washington. In February, he described negotiations with the U.S. as “unwise, unintelligent, and dishonorable.”
The current tensions stem from Trump’s 2018 withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear agreement signed under former President Barack Obama. Since then, the U.S. has reinstated and expanded harsh economic sanctions on Iran, particularly targeting its oil sector, as part of the administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy.
With Iran standing firm against U.S. overtures and Washington continuing its pressure campaign, the prospects for diplomatic resolution remain uncertain.
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