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Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rejected a proposal by United States President Donald Trump to renew talks on the Islamic Republic’s nuclear program,
Last week, Trump said he had sent a letter to Khamenei proposing nuclear talks. At the same time, the president, who killed the 2015 nuclear deal with Tehran, warned that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal.”
Trump’s letter was reportedly handed over to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi on March 12 by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates.
While Araghchi and Gargash were meeting, Khamenei told a group of university students that Trump’s offer for talks was “a deception.” The supreme leader noted however that he had not yet seen the letter.
“When we know they won’t honor it, what’s the point of negotiating? Therefore, the invitation to negotiate…is a deception of public opinion,” Khamenei was quoted as saying by Iranian state media.
Khamenei said that any talks with the Trump administration “will tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran.”
After assuming office earlier this year, Trump reinstated his “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran with the aim of draining the country both politically and economically. Washington’s move came amid increasing threats to Tehran by Israel.
Iran denies wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, its nuclear program continues to expand. The International Atomic Energy Agency said last month that the country’s stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, has grown.
“If we wanted to build nuclear weapons, the U.S. would not be able to stop it. We ourselves do not want it,” Khamenei stressed on March 12.
The supreme leader also said: “Iran is not seeking war, but if the Americans or their agents take a wrong step, our response will be decisive and certain, and the one who will suffer the most harm is America.”
Despite the verbal escalation between the U.S. and Iran, the two countries will likely favor a diplomatic approach in the end. Still, Israel, which wants to end the Iranian nuclear program, could drag Washington into a direct confrontation with Tehran.
While Israel came out on top after the wars with Iran’s allies in the Gaza Strip and Lebanon, a confrontation in the Persian Gulf will have more serious consequences, especially on the economical levels.
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shapour bakhtiar would be a better leader of iran than these mentally challenged religious fanatics. listen to me, these people are sick criminals and those who put them in power are evil criminals equal to those who put isis in power in syria. these are ethnically and religiously mixed countries that cannot afford nationalism and religious fanaticism, because we quick have massacres or even genocide.
go to bed after slipping some toxic pills – u won’t be missed except by the jews!
afghanistan, syria, libya, iran have become theocratic dictatorships that destroy the lives of their own citizens due to the crimes of the us and the uk. you can probably believe me on that. theocratic dictatorships are much more destructive and dangerous than military dictatorships, and the syrians will soon find out, and i don’t just mean the alawites and christians. what happened when they destroyed the iraqi baath? now it’s legal to marry an eight-year-old girl.
i have no use for religious fanaticism and also do not trust religious governments…mostly because of the u.s. and israeli zionists that have infiltrated my country’s gov and military. it was reagan that set this all in motion after khomeini returned. it was reagan that set iran up as an enemy, backstabbing them and creating the iraq-iran war that we fomented, encouraged and supplied both sides with weapons. all at the direction of fanatics called zionists which reagan was one.
when was the last time there was a massacre in iran of the 1,000s of jews who live there? refresh my memory please. on the other hand israel and the u.s….palestine, afghanistan, iraq, yemen, ukraine, syria, pakistan, libya, sudan, somalia, yugoslavia… the list is long.
two weeks in january: america’s secret engagement with khomeini on 27 january, 1979, ayatollah ruhollah khomeini – founder of iran’s islamic republic, the man who called the united states “the great satan” – sent a secret message to washington.
from his home in exile outside paris, the defiant leader of the iranian revolution effectively offered the carter administration a deal: iranian military leaders listen to you, he said, but the iranian people follow my orders.
if president jimmy carter could use his influence on the military to clear the way for his takeover, khomeini suggested, he would calm the nation. stability could be restored, america’s interests and citizens in iran would be protected.
at the time, the iranian scene was chaotic. protesters clashed with troops, shops were closed, public services suspended. meanwhile, labour strikes had all but halted the flow of oil, jeopardising a vital western interest.
persuaded by carter, iran’s autocratic ruler, mohammad reza shah pahlavi, known as the shah, had finally departed on a “vacation” abroad, leaving behind an unpopular prime minister and a military in disarray – a force of 400,000 men with heavy dependence on american arms and advice. khomeini feared the nervous military: its royalist top brass hated him. even more worrying, they were having daily meetings with a us air force general
by the name of robert e huyser, whom president carter had sent on a mysterious mission to tehran.the ayatollah was determined to return to iran after 15 years in exile and make the shah’s “vacation” permanent. so he made a personal appeal. in a first-person message, khomeini told the white house not to panic at the prospect of losing a strategic ally of 37 years and assured them that he, too, would be a friend.
were it not for israel, he might have been right. the u.s. in 1981 made a deal with ksa for u.s. f-15s called peace sun & peace sun ii. this was the first show of the true face of israel, the u.s. and ksa. this was where iran became the enemy with the assist by reagan and iran/contra deal that hamstrung iran while we sicced iraq on them. israel was afraid of iran and still are. it’s also suspected that desert claw was sabotaged.
the orange trumpster onesided cancelled last time the nuclear deal that was fully fullfilled and respected by iran.
so how to trust a new deal when the last was canceled without any reason?
the moronic mullahs waiting since decades what?
they should asap get the nuke by themself or from nk, than nor shlomos or us will dare to attac them.
right free oil to north korea against a few serious nukes sufficient to send the jews in occupied/stolen palestine to kingdom come!
this is the main reason iran doesn’t want nukes. why nuke your own backyard to get rid of an infestation? plus, there are more arabs in ‘israel’ than jews. hitting israel with conventional weapons makes it harder for u.s. to claim nuke fears and interfere. the u.s. will interfere, but russia,et al, will counter balance and deter using nukes. this weakens u.s./israeli military positions. right idea, just wrong solution.
putin should shove trump’s ceasefire propsoal up his orange ass. it sounds like a zelensky and british plan to me. who would waste 8 hours negotiating with jewish nazis, what is there to “negotiate” with other than their surrender. continue wiping the floor with nato in ukraine until ukraine is no more. that is how you end this. iranians are doing the right thing. usa has much more homework to do to win back trust.
u.s. can never win back trust. anyone with any senses whatsoever already knows there is no chance in hell the u.s. can ever be trusted as long as israel has sway over u.s. gov. these are the money-mongering war mongers that run u.s. policy. trump showed who he works for and it ain’t americans. it is no coincidence that the u.s. and israel cannot be trusted to ever honor any agreement of any kind. tramp continues to blow smoke up american’s ass to look relevant.
irã, potência nuclear mundial.