Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei responded to a letter from US President Donald Trump offering nuclear negotiations. Hameney declared that they would not accept Washington’s demands, stating that “The insistence of some bullies on negotiation is not to solve the issue, but to dominate.”

Speaking at an iftar program in Tehran attended by former and current high-ranking civilian and military officials, Hamaney commented on President Donald Trump’s call for talks with Iran, saying, “The insistence of some bullying governments on negotiation is not to solve the issue, but to dominate. They say, ‘Let’s impose our demands on the other side under the name of negotiation. If they accept, that’s good, but if not, we say we will walk away from the negotiation table.'” He claimed that Washington wanted to impose new demands through negotiations, not only on nuclear matters but also on the country’s defense and international capabilities. Hamaney assessed it as coercion, not negotiation.

Addressing the European parties to the nuclear deal, Germany, France, and the UK, for their negative statements about Iran’s nuclear issue, Hamaney pointed out that they claim Iran has not fulfilled its obligations under the agreement. He challenged them by asking if they fulfilled their commitments from the beginning. He reminded them of the promise they made to compensate after the US withdrawal, which they failed to honor. Hamaney emphasized that there is a limit to shamelessness and that the government, after a year of patience, passed a bill in Parliament as there was no other recourse. He stated that there is no other way to counter the same bullying now.

TRUMP’S NUCLEAR NEGOTIATION LETTER Trump revealed in an interview with Fox Business Network that he had sent a letter to Iran’s leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, expressing hope for negotiations, warning that military intervention would be terrible. The permanent representative of Iran at the United Nations in New York responded to the claim by the US that Khamenei received a letter, stating, “So far, we have not received such a letter.” Later, an American official, speaking to the country’s media, confirmed that Trump had written the letter but had not yet sent it. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei labeled the US administration as “untrustworthy” and banned negotiations due to threats posed to Iran. Senior Iranian officials, including President Hassan Rouhani and Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif, have repeatedly stated that Iran will not negotiate under pressure or threats from the US. Most recently, Zarif, during an interview in Jeddah at an Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) meeting, stated, “As long as the US continues its maximum pressure policies and threats, we will not engage in direct negotiations with the US.”