Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has unequivocally stated that negotiations with the Donald Trump-led US government will not result in the lifting of sanctions imposed on Iran, according to state media.
The statement only goes on to reflect Iran’s reigning skepticism towards US intentions, following President Donald Trump’s recent overtures for talks on a new nuclear deal.
“When the US president says we’re ready to negotiate with Iran and invites us to talks, it’s a trick to deceive the world’s public opinion,” Bloomberg quotes Khamenei’s speech shown on Iranian state TV on Wednesday.
Talks with the current US government won’t lead to sanctions relief for Iran and “will make the knot of the sanctions tighter and increase the pressure,” Khamenei said.
Khamenei has consistently emphasised that Iran will not be coerced into negotiations under what he describes as US “bullying” tactics.
Iran’s sanctions on US?
In August 2017, Iran passed a law aimed at countering what it perceives as US violations of human rights and terrorist activities in the region. This law included provisions for reciprocal measures against US entities and individuals involved in such activities.
For example, Iran has designated US military and intelligence entities as terrorist organizations in response to similar U.S. designations against Iranian entities.
Trump’s Letter on Nuclear Program Reaches Khamenei?
Meanwhile, an Emirati diplomat earlier identified by Tehran as carrying a letter from US President Donald Trump seeking to jump-start talks over Iran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program met Wednesday with Iran’s foreign minister in the Iranian capital, Associated Press reported.
It is unclear how Iran will react to the letter, which Donald Trump revealed during a television interview last week.
According to AP report, Iranian state television showed Emirati official Anwar Gargash meeting with Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi in Tehran. Gargash’s visit had not been previously announced.
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman earlier said he’d be carrying the letter from Donald Trump.
The brief footage shot before the meeting did not show the letter.
US President Donald Trump last week acknowledged writing a letter to the 85-year-old Khamenei.
“I’ve written them a letter saying, ‘I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,’” Trump said in the interview.
Trump has offered no details on what, if anything, was specifically offered to Iran in the letter.
What Happened the Last Time trump Wrote a Letter to Khamenei?
The last time Donald Trump tried to send a letter to Khamenei, through the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in 2019, the supreme leader mocked the effort.
Shinzo Abe ended up slipping the envelope under his leg in footage widely shared by Iranian state media to this day.
US President Donald trump sending a letter to Khamenei via the Emirati diplomat reminded one of the US President’s letter-writing to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in his first term, which led to face-to-face meetings but no deals to limit Pyongyang’s atomic bombs and a missile program capable of reaching the continental US.
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