The principal leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, forbids all talks with the United States. There will be no war with the US, but there will be no compromises.
He refuses an offer from American President Donald Trump. He later opened the door for new negotiations with Iran after the US stepped out of the nuclear agreement with Iran in May. The US has also reintroduced sanctions against Iran.
“I forbade talks with America,” Khamenei was quoted by Iranian state television. “America never stays true to the promises it does, and they are only empty words.”
“American officials have been cynically talking about us for a while,” Khamenei adds on his English-language Twitter page. “In addition to the sanctions, they talk about war and negotiations and allow me to address a few words to the people on this subject: there will be no war, no negotiations with the United States.”
Last weekend, Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif had already stated that he is not planning a meeting with his American colleague Mike Pompeo in the margins of the UN General Assembly in September.
Previously, President Hassan Rohani also rejected Trump’s proposal, since the US is no longer reliable after having failed to meet their commitments under the nuclear agreement. Now there is now also a ‘no’ of the supreme leader.
In 2015, after years of negotiations, Iran signed an agreement with the US, France, the United Kingdom, Russia, Germany, China and the European Union. According to this agreement, Iran had to guarantee to use its nuclear program only for peaceful purposes, in exchange for a lifting of international sanctions against Tehran.