Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was not seeking ‘nuclear weaponry’ and warned US president-elect Donald Trump against risking ‘war’ with the Islamic republic, according to a US televised interview broadcast on Tuesday...
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Iranian president warns Trump against risking ‘war’
Agence France-Presse . Washington 15 January, 2025, 22:02
Masoud Pezeshkian | AFP file photo
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran was not seeking ‘nuclear weaponry’ and warned US president-elect Donald Trump against risking ‘war’ with the Islamic republic, according to a US televised interview broadcast on Tuesday.
‘I do hope that Trump will conduce to peace in the region and the world not, conversely, contribute to bloodshed or war,’ Pezeshkian said in an interview with NBC News, less than a week before Trump returns to the White House.
Washington has not maintained formal diplomatic relations with Tehran for nearly 45 years, and Trump threatened during his recent presidential campaign that US ally Israel could strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
‘We will react to any action. We do not fear war, but we do not seek it,’ Pezeshkian said about the prospect of US-endorsed Israeli military strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites.
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi reported Tuesday that European powers were serious about resuming nuclear program negotiations.
In 2015, Iran and world powers — including France, Britain and Germany — reached an agreement that eased international sanctions on Tehran in exchange for curbs on its nuclear programme.
But the United States, during Trump’s first term in office, unilaterally withdrew from the accord in 2018 and reimposed biting economic sanctions.
Tehran adhered to the deal until Washington’s withdrawal, but then began rolling back on its commitments.
‘We do not seek to create nuclear weaponry or armament,’ Pezeshkian said. ‘However, they accuse us of seeking the manufacturing of a bomb.’
When asked by NBC News host Lester Holt about the possibility of having talks with Trump once he returns to power, the Iranian leader was sceptical.
‘The problem we have is not in dialogue. It’s in the commitments that arise from talks and dialogue that we’ll have to commit to,’ Pezeshkian said, adding: ‘It was the other party did not live up to its promises and obligations.’
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the new US administration should work to win back Tehran’s trust if it wants a new round of nuclear negotiations.
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US should win back Tehran’s trust for N-talks: Iran
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 28 January, 2025, 22:21
Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has said that the new US administration should work to win back Tehran’s trust if it wants a new round of nuclear negotiations.
‘The situation is different and much more difficult than the previous time, lots of things should be done by the other side to buy our confidence,’ Araghchi said in a video of an interview with Sky News posted to his official Telegram channel Tuesday.
During his first term, Trump pursued a policy of ‘maximum pressure’ towards Iran, withdrawing from a landmark 2015 deal that imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
Following the withdrawal, the United States reimposed biting sanctions on Tehran, prompting the Islamic republic to begin rolling back its commitments, including by increasing its level of uranium enrichment.
‘There should be enough confidence for Iran to once again engage in negotiations, and I think we are still far from that,’ Araghchi said in the interview.
‘We haven’t heard anything but the nice words (from the new US administration) and this is obviously not enough.’
On Thursday, Trump said he wished to avoid military strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, hoping instead for an agreement.
‘Any attack against our nuclear facilities would be faced with an immediate and decisive response,’ Araghchi said, adding such a move would be ‘crazy’, and would ‘turn the region into a very bad disaster’.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all matters of state, also warned on Tuesday that ‘behind the smiles of diplomacy, there are enmities, grudges, and evil intentions’.
‘We should open our eyes and be careful who we are facing, dealing with, and talking to,’ he added, without referring to the United States.
Iran has repeatedly expressed willingness to revive the nuclear deal, and president Masoud Pezeshkian, who took office in July, has called for an end to his country’s isolation.
However, Iranian deputy foreign minister Majid Takht-Ravanchi said Monday that there had been no exchanges between Iran and the US since Trump returned to the White House.
Meanwhile, Khamenei said Tuesday that Gaza had brought Israel ‘to its knees’, in a reference to the recent ceasefire in the Palestinian territory.
The ceasefire and hostage-release deal between Iran’s arch-enemy Israel and the Tehran-backed militant group Hamas went into effect just over a week ago, aiming to put an end to more than 15 months of war.
‘The small, limited Gaza brought the Zionist regime, armed to the teeth, and fully supported by America, to its knees,’ Khamenei said during a meeting with officials in Tehran.
Also on Tuesday, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesman, Esmaeil Baqaei, criticised US president Donald Trump’s idea to move Palestinians out of Gaza to other locations such as Egypt or Jordan.
‘Political coercion and demographic manipulations will not be able to force the Palestinians to migrate,’ Baqaei said in a post on X, adding that Gaza is the Palestinians’ ‘homeland and they’ve paid (an) extremely high price to remain there’.
The war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack, which resulted in the deaths of 1,210 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took 251 hostages, 87 of whom remain in Gaza, including dozens Israel says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed over 47,000 people in Gaza, the majority civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry that the United Nations considers reliable.
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that there should not be negotiations with the United States, days after US president Donald Trump called for a new nuclear deal.
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Khamenei warns against negotiating with US
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 07 February, 2025, 22:31
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that there should not be negotiations with the United States, days after US president Donald Trump called for a new nuclear deal.
‘You should not negotiate with such a government, it is unwise, it is not intelligent, it is not honourable to negotiate,’ Khamenei said during a meeting with army commanders.
The United States had previously ‘ruined, violated, and tore up’ a 2015 nuclear deal, he said, adding that ‘the same person who is in power now tore up the treaty’.
On Wednesday, Trump suggested striking a ‘verified nuclear peace agreement’ with Iran, adding in his social media post that Tehran ‘cannot have a Nuclear Weapon’.
Trump, who returned to the White House on January 20, reinstated on Tuesday his ‘maximum pressure’ policy towards Iran over allegations the country is seeking to develop nuclear weapons.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is solely for peaceful purposes and denies any intention to develop atomic weapons.
Following the policy’s reinstatement, Washington on Thursday announced financial sanctions on entities and individuals accused of shipping hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of Iranian crude oil to China.
Tehran on Friday condemned the sanctions as ‘illegal’, saying they were ‘categorically unjustified and contrary to international rules’.
‘We must understand this correctly: they should not pretend that if we sit down at the negotiating table with that government (the US administration), problems will be solved,’ Khamenei said.
‘No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,’ he said, citing previous ‘experience’.
Khamenei also warned of reciprocal measures if the United States threatened or acted against Iran.
‘If they threaten us, we will threaten them. If they carry out this threat, we will carry out our threat. If they attack the security of our nation, we will attack their security without hesitation,’ he said.
During Trump’s first term, which ended in 2021, Washington withdrew from the landmark nuclear deal that had imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
Tehran adhered to the 2015 deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — until a year after Washington pulled out, but then began rolling back its commitments. Efforts to revive the deal have since faltered.
Khamenei said Iran was ‘very generous’ during the negotiations that culminated in the deal, but it ‘did not achieve the intended results’.
Iranian political expert Afifeh Abedi said the Khamenei’s remarks highlight ‘a serious concern’ that negotiations ‘will result in the US breaching its commitments’.
‘Iran understands that Trump’s willingness to negotiate is a disingenuous, reactionary move driven by other objectives, rather than a genuine commitment to reaching an agreement,’ she said.
Iran has repeatedly expressed a willingness to revive the nuclear deal, and president Masoud Pezeshkian has called for an end to the country’s isolation.
Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said recently the new US administration should work to regain Tehran’s trust if it wants a new round of nuclear talks.
Western sanctions, especially since the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, have taken a toll on millions of Iranians struggling to make ends meet amid high inflation and a plunging currency.
Khamenei acknowledged this on Friday, saying ‘almost most segments of the population have some problems’ but adding they could be solved internally.
The current ‘respected government can reduce the livelihood problems of the people’, he said.
Tehran has said it hopes Trump will adopt a ‘realistic’ approach towards countries in the Middle East including Iran.
However, on Thursday, it joined Arab countries and world leaders in condemning a Trump plan to move Palestinians out of Gaza ‘permanently’.
In the wake of the uproar, the Trump administration appeared to backtrack, with Washington’s top diplomat saying any transfer of Gazans would be temporary.
Without directly mentioning Gaza, Khamenei said Friday the US administration was trying ‘to change the map of the world’.
‘Of course it is only on paper, it has no basis in reality,’ he said.
Iran’s president yesterday accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of seeking to bring the Islamic republic “to its knees” as the country marked the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah.
www.thedailystar.net
Trump aiming to bring Iran ‘to its knees’
Says Iran’s president
Iran's president yesterday accused his US counterpart Donald Trump of seeking to bring the Islamic republic "to its knees" as the country marked the 1979 revolution that toppled the shah.
The revolution removed a pro-US government in Iran, and the subsequent hostage-taking of American diplomats in Tehran ushered in decades of hostility between the United States and Iran.
This year's celebrations carry additional weight following Trump's return to the White House. During his first term, Trump he pursued a policy of "maximum pressure" against the Islamic republic.
In the morning, people gathered in public spaces across Iran, accompanied by pop songs and patriotic ballads, to celebrate the anniversary of the overthrow of shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi.
In Tehran, they headed to the symbolic Azadi tower, whose name means "freedom" in Persian, and which is in a square formerly named in honour of the shah.
"Trump says, 'we want to talk', and... (then) he signs in a memorandum all the conspiracies to bring our revolution to its knees," Pezeshkian told the crowd, referring to Trump's reinstatement of sanctions against Tehran earlier this month.
"We are not looking for war," he said, while adding that Iran "will never bow to foreigners".
Chanting anti-American and anti-Israeli slogans, crowds formed Monday in the streets of Shiraz and Bandar Abbas in the south, Rasht in the north, Kermanshah and Sanandaj in the west, and the holy city of Mashhad in the east, according to images broadcast on television.
Attendees, many of them families, carried portraits of supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the green, red and white flag of Iran, as well as the banners of Tehran-backed groups such as Hezbollah.
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that US sanctions were depriving his people of basic necessities, vowing his government would find a way to overcome the country’s challenges.
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Iran says US ‘blocking’ Iranians’ access to essentials
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 13 February, 2025, 23:15
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian | File photo
Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that US sanctions were depriving his people of basic necessities, vowing his government would find a way to overcome the country’s challenges.
‘Why are you blocking the people’s access to food, water, and medicine?’ Pezeshkian said of the sanctions during a visit to the southern Bushehr province.
‘They cannot block our path, we will find a way,’ he added in remarks broadcast on state TV.
US president Donald Trump, who returned to the White House on January 20, has reinstated his ‘maximum pressure’ policy towards Iran over concerns the country is seeking to develop nuclear weapons. Tehran has consistently denied it is seeking an atomic bomb.
His administration announced new sanctions earlier this month targeting a network accused of shipping Iranian oil to China after Trump ordered the government to adopt a campaign ‘to drive Iran’s export of oil to zero’ and to ‘modify or rescind sanctions waivers’.
Trump has also recently called for striking a deal with Iran, suggesting in a Monday interview that stopping it from developing nuclear weapons could be achieved either ‘with bombs’ or with an agreement.
‘I’d love to make a deal with them without bombing them,’ he told Fox News.
But Pezeshkian brushed off those remarks, saying ‘they do not want to talk to us, they want us to be humiliated and we won’t be’.
‘We are able to solve many of our own problems by relying on our own strengths,’ he added.
Iranian officials have repeatedly echoed that sentiment since the re-imposition of the ‘maximum pressure’ approach, which saw Washington withdraw from a landmark nuclear deal in 2018 during Trump’s first term in office.
Tehran continued to adhere to the deal — known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — until a year after Washington pulled out, but then began rolling back its commitments.
On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in all state matters, said there should be no new negotiations with the United States. Trump had earlier called for a ‘verified nuclear peace agreement’ with Iran.
‘No problem will be solved by negotiating with America,’ Khamenei said.
On Wednesday, Khamenei called for developing Iran’s military capabilities to ‘defend the country against evildoers.’
Iran on Wednesday condemned a new round of US sanctions as a ‘clear sign of hostility’ after Washington blacklisted more than 30 people and vessels linked to its oil trade...
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Iran denounces new US sanctions as ‘sign of hostility’
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 26 February, 2025, 21:33
Iran on Wednesday condemned a new round of US sanctions as a ‘clear sign of hostility’ after Washington blacklisted more than 30 people and vessels linked to its oil trade.
Washington announced the measures on Monday, targeting the head of the national oil company and others accused of brokering oil sales.
It was the second wave of sanctions in less than a month since US president Donald Trump reinstated his ‘maximum pressure’ policy on Tehran.
The sanctions were a ‘clear sign of the hostility of American policymakers towards the welfare, development, and happiness of the great people of Iran’, said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei.
In a statement, he called the measures a ‘wrongful, unjustified, illegitimate act that violates the human rights of the Iranian people’, and held Washington responsible.
Since returning to the White House in January, Trump has called for dialogue with Iran, saying he wants it to be a ‘great and successful country’.
On Monday, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi dismissed the possibility of direct negotiations with Washington on his country’s nuclear programme under ‘pressure, threat or sanctions’.
During Trump’s first term, which ended in 2021, Washington withdrew from the landmark 2015 deal that imposed curbs on Iran’s nuclear programme in return for sanctions relief.
After the Trump administration reimposed sanctions in 2018, Tehran gradually rolled back its nuclear commitments.
Iran held fresh nuclear talks on Monday with Britain, France and Germany following renewed engagement in November.
Iranian deputy foreign minister Kazem Gharibabadi said Tuesday that another round of talks with the Europeans was expected within three weeks.
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian described national unity, closer cooperation with neighbors, and exploitation of international agreements as the elements that would help Iran rise to the economic challenges and neutralize the sanctions.
With sanctions squeezing its economy, Iran is exploring the possibility of talks with the United States while resisting pressure to make major concessions...
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With Trump letter en route, Iran weighs talks with US
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 12 March, 2025, 22:10
AFP photo
With sanctions squeezing its economy, Iran is exploring the possibility of talks with the United States while resisting pressure to make major concessions.
Since returning to the White House in January, US president Donald Trump has called for a new nuclear deal with Tehran while reinstating his ‘maximum pressure’ policy of sanctions.
Iran has officially ruled out direct talks as long as sanctions remain, with president Masoud Pezeshkian vowing on Tuesday that his country ‘will not bow in humiliation to anyone.’
On Friday, Trump said he had sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urging negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refuses.
Iran’s top diplomat Abbas Araghchi said on Wednesday the letter was expected to be delivered ‘soon’ by an Arab country.
‘It seems that Iran is ready for limited negotiations — in the sense that they will not extend beyond the nuclear issue,’ said foreign policy analyst Rahman Ghahremanpour.
Trump appeared to be seeking a ‘comprehensive agreement’ covering Iran’s nuclear programme, missile capabilities — long criticised by Western governments — and its ‘axis of resistance’, a network of militant groups opposed to Israel.
On Sunday, Iran’s mission to the United Nations said Tehran might consider talks only on ‘the potential militarisation’ of its nuclear programme.
‘Should the aim be the dismantlement of Iran’s peaceful nuclear program... such negotiations will never take place,’ it said in a statement.
After Trump revealed the letter, Khamenei slammed what he called ‘bullying’ by some governments, saying negotiations with them serve only to exert dominance.
‘Negotiation is a path for them, a path to set new expectations,’ he said in a speech on Saturday.
‘It is not just the nuclear issue that they are talking about now; they are setting new expectations that Iran will definitely not meet.’
Khamenei, who has final say on state matters, has warned that talks with the United States will not solve Iran’s problems, citing past experience.
During his first term, which ended in 2021, Trump reimposed heavy sanctions on Iran and pulled the United States out of the 2015 nuclear deal, calling it ‘the worst deal ever’.
Tehran began rolling back its commitments to the agreement — formally the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action — a year after Washington’s withdrawal. Efforts to revive the deal have since faltered.
Millions of Iranians have struggled for years under crippling sanctions, which fuelled double-digit inflation and sent the rial plunging to 930,000 against the US dollar on the black market.
Ghahremanpour said leaders in both countries are using ‘political rhetoric’ to show ‘their own voter base’ that they are negotiating from a position of strength.
Ali Bigdeli, an international relations expert, said Iran appears to be ‘preparing, either through Russian mediation or other countries such as Saudi Arabia, to accept nuclear negotiations.’
Iranian diplomats have recently held nuclear talks with Britain, France and Germany, along with separate discussions with Russia.
On Wednesday, China announced it would host three-way nuclear talks with Russia and Iran later this week.
Iran’s goal, according to Ghahremanpour, was to ensure that the United States ‘at least refrains from imposing new sanctions to prove its goodwill’.
The UN atomic agency has warned that Iran has significantly increased its stockpile of highly enriched uranium to 60 per cent purity — close to the 90 per cent needed for an atomic bomb.
Iran insists its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful purposes.
Bigdeli dismissed the likelihood of military action against Iran, warning it ‘could set the Middle East on fire’.
But he believes Iran has ‘no choice but to negotiate’ with the United States.
‘Without talks with the West and sanctions relief, we cannot overcome these economic difficulties.’
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that a recent letter sent by US president Donald Trump calling for new nuclear talks was ‘actually more of a threat’, and that Tehran would respond soon.
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Trump’s nuclear talks letter more of a threat: Iran FM
Agence France-Presse . Tehran 20 March, 2025, 23:17
Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said on Thursday that a recent letter sent by US president Donald Trump calling for new nuclear talks was ‘actually more of a threat’, and that Tehran would respond soon.
Araghchi told Iranian state television that while the letter purported to offer up opportunities, it was ‘actually more of a threat’, adding that Iran was now studying its contents and would respond ‘in the coming days’.
On March 7, Trump said he had written to Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei calling for negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.
Khamenei said the US invitation to talks was aimed at deceiving world public opinion by portraying the United States as ready to negotiate and Iran as unwilling.
Iran’s foreign ministry has said it will conduct a ‘thorough assessment’ before responding to the letter which was delivered by a senior United Arab Emirates diplomat on March 12.
Araghchi said the response ‘will be sent through the appropriate channels,’ without elaborating.
On Wednesday, US news website Axios, citing a US official and other sources, reported that the letter included a ‘two-month deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal.’
Trump, who returned to the White House for a second term in January, has reinstated his ‘maximum pressure’ policy of sanctions against Iran, mirroring his approach during his first term.
At the time, Trump unilaterally withdrew from a landmark 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions.
Tehran adhered to the 2015 deal for a year after Washington’s withdrawal, but then began rolling back its own commitments.
There were brief efforts to revive the agreement under the Joe Biden administration but these went nowhere.
Tehran has repeatedly ruled out direct talks with Washington while US sanctions remain in place.
On Thursday, Araghchi reiterated that Iran ‘definitely will not negotiate directly while facing pressure, threats, and increased sanctions’.
Iranian Defense
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