Supreme Leader criticizes the US for abandoning the nuclear deal and imposing sanctions, questioning the value of talks.
Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has stated that the United States’ offer to hold talks on its nuclear program is an attempt to mislead global public opinion. This comes after a letter from US President Donald Trump arrived, urging negotiations.
Last week, Trump announced that he had sent a letter to the Iranian leadership seeking discussions on a new deal with Tehran to limit its rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The letter was delivered to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on Wednesday by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic advisor to the President of the United Arab Emirates.
While the two officials were meeting, the Supreme Leader told a group of university students that Trump’s offer “is a deception aimed at shaping global opinion.”
“We negotiated for years, reached a complete and signed agreement, and then this individual tore it up,” Khamenei said. “How can one negotiate under such circumstances? … When we know they won’t, what is the point of negotiating?”
He was referring to the 2015 nuclear accord, in which Tehran agreed with world powers to limit its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief. In 2018, during his first term, Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the deal and imposed new economic sanctions on Iran. Tehran responded a year later by violating the deal’s nuclear restrictions.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has signaled his desire to negotiate while also reinstating his policy of “maximum pressure” on Iran.
Khamenei argued that negotiating with the Trump administration, which he said has excessive demands, “will tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran.”
Iran has long denied seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
“If we wanted to build nuclear weapons, the US would not be able to stop it. We ourselves do not want it,” Khamenei said.
However, the International Atomic Energy Agency reported late last month that Iran’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60 percent purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level, has increased significantly.
UNSC Meeting
Araghchi also criticized a closed-door United Nations Security Council (UNSC) meeting on Wednesday about Iran’s nuclear activities, calling it a new process that casts doubt on the goodwill of the states requesting it.
Six of the council’s 15 members – France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, Britain, and the US – requested the meeting over Iran’s expansion of its stock of near-weapons-grade uranium.
Araghchi stated that Iran would soon hold a fifth round of talks with France, Britain, and Germany – parties to Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact.
“Our talks with Europeans have been ongoing and will continue … however, any decision by the UN Security Council or board of governors of the UN nuclear watchdog to pressure us will put under question the legitimacy of these talks,” Araghchi said, according to state media.
Separately, China’s Foreign Ministry announced that China and Russia will hold talks with Iranian officials in Beijing on Friday to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue.
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