Iran’s Supreme Leader on Saturday accused the US of trying to “bully” Tehran into peace negotiations — one day after President Trump revealed he sent a letter to the country in a last ditch attempt to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei warned senior officials that Iran would not engage with Washington, claiming Trump was only seeking to “impose their own expectations,” according to Iranian state media.
“The insistence of some bully governments on negotiations is not to resolve issues, but to dominate and impose their own expectations,” Khamenei said in a meeting.
“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.”
Khamenei also took to social media to reiterate the point, though he did not specifically name the US.
“For coercive governments, negotiation is a way to put forward new demands. These new demands will certainly not be met by Iran,” the fiercely anti-Western supreme leader wrote on X.
“They put forward new demands regarding the country’s defense and international capabilities or don’t do this, don’t see that, don’t go there, don’t produce that, don’t have a missile with a range greater than this distance. Who can accept them?”
Khamenei’s comments come just one day after Trump said he fired off a letter in the hopes of hashing out an agreement — implying that a peaceful negotiation would work out “a lot better for Iran.”
Trump said the letter was one of the last acts in preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but that military action was still on the table.
“The other alternative is we have to do something, because you can’t let another nuclear weapon,” Trump told Fox Business.
“There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal. I would prefer to make a deal, because I’m not looking to hurt Iran. They’re great people.”
United Nations nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi previously said time is running out for diplomacy to impose new restrictions as Iran continues to acquire uranium to near weapons-grade
Tehran has repeatedly claimed its nuclear work is solely for peaceful purposes.
With Post Wires
