Iran hits again at ‘bully’ Donald Trump after he threatened Tehran over nuclear deal
Iran‘s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Tehran will not be bullied into negotiations, a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to the country’s top authority to negotiate a nuclear deal.
In an interview with Fox Business, Trump said ‘there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal’ to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.
In a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Khamenei said the aim of Washington’s offer for negotiations was to ‘impose their own expectations’, Iranian state media reported.
‘The insistence of some bully governments on negotiations is not to resolve issues, but to dominate and impose their own expectations.’
‘Talks for them is a path to have new expectations, it is not only about Iran’s nuclear issue. Iran will definitely not accept their expectations.’
While expressing an openness to a deal with Tehran, Trump has reinstated a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign that was applied during his first term to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports to zero.
Trump warned that if Iran assassinated him – as officials have threatened to do after he ordered the killing of Quds force leader Qasem Soleimani – there would be retribution.
‘If they did that, they would be obliterated,’ Trump responded. ‘I have left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei speaks during a meeting in Tehran today. The Iranian leader called Donald Trump ‘a bully’ after the US president said he had sent a letter to the country’s top authority to negotiate a nuclear deal
It comes after Trump on Tuesday signed an executive order outlining a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Tehran
Trump also said he was ‘torn’ about signing the order because he’d like to make a deal with Iran, to prevent the Middle Eastern nation from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
In his remarks, Khamenei pointed to Trump as the reason a nuclear deal with the U.S. no longer existed.
‘The person in charge tore it up,’ Khamenei said.
He told Iranians they shouldn’t do it again.
‘Negotiating with America is neither smart, wise, or honorable,’ he said in remarks marking the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 revolution. ‘It will not solve any of our problems. The reason? Experience!’
Khamenei also rejected Trump’s plan for the U.S. to take control of war-torn Gaza, something the president floated Tuesday during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
‘On paper, Americans are changing the world map,’ Khamenei said. ‘Of course it’s only on paper because it’s devoid of reality.’
During his first 2017-2021 term as president, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark deal between Iran and major powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said last month that reopening talks with the U.S. would not be ‘smart’ after President Donald Trump threatened to ‘obliterate’ the nation, while also saying he’d ‘love to make a deal’ with Iran
After Trump pulled out in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has said time is running out for diplomacy to impose new restrictions on Iran’s activities, as Tehran continues to accelerate its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade.
Tehran insists its nuclear work is solely for peaceful purposes.
It comes after Khamenei said last month that reopeming nuclear talks with the U.S. would not be ‘smart’ after Trump threatened to obliterate the nation, while also saying he’d ‘love to make a deal’.
