Iran supreme leader criticizes proposed nuclear talks with US
Iran's supreme leader said Friday that negotiations with America 맥스카지노are not intelligent, wise or honorable맥스카지노 after President Donald Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei also suggested that 맥스카지노there should be no negotiations with such a government,맥스카지노 but stopped short of issuing a direct order not to engage with Washington.
Khamenei's remarks upend months of signals from Tehran to the United States that it wanted to negotiate over its rapidly advancing nuclear program in exchange for the lifting of crushing economic sanctions worth billions of dollars.
What happens next remains unclear, particularly as reformist President Masoud Pezeshkian promised as recently as Thursday to enter into a dialogue with the West.
Khamenei맥스카지노s remarks to air force officers in Tehran appeared to contradict his own earlier remarks in August that opened the door to talks. However, the 85-year-old Khamenei has always been careful with remarks about negotiating with the West. That includes balancing the demands of reformists within the country who want the talks against hard-line elements within Iran맥스카지노s theocracy, including the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard.
Khamenei noted that Trump unilaterally withdrew from the earlier nuclear deal under which Iran drastically limited its enrichment of uranium and overall stockpile of the material, in exchange for crushing sanctions being removed.
맥스카지노The Americans did not uphold their end of the deal,맥스카지노 Khamenei said. 맥스카지노The very person who is in office today tore up the agreement. He said he would, and he did.맥스카지노
He added: "This is an experience we must learn from. We negotiated, we gave concessions, we compromised맥스카지노 but we did not achieve the results we aimed for. And despite all its flaws, the other side ultimately violated and destroyed the agreement.맥스카지노
Mixed messages from Trump
It's not clear what sparked Khamenei's remarks. However, they come after Trump suggested he wanted to deal with Tehran, even while signing an executive order to reimpose his 맥스카지노maximum pressure" approach to Iran on Tuesday.
맥스카지노I맥스카지노m going to sign it, but hopefully we맥스카지노re not going to have to use it very much,맥스카지노 he said from the Oval Office. 맥스카지노We will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran.맥스카지노
맥스카지노We don맥스카지노t want to be tough on Iran. We don맥스카지노t want to be tough on anybody,맥스카지노 Trump added. 맥스카지노But they just can맥스카지노t have a nuclear bomb.맥스카지노
Trump followed with another online message on Wednesday, saying: 맥스카지노Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED.맥스카지노
맥스카지노I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper,맥스카지노 he wrote on Truth Social. 맥스카지노We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed.맥스카지노 He did not elaborate.
Nuclear enrichment
Khamenei, like other Iranian leaders, uses elliptical comments to indirectly govern policy while not boxing himself into any one decision. As supreme leader, he's also created a vast bureaucracy that competes with itself for influence, including with its civilian leadership under Pezeshkian.
As recently as Thursday, Pezeshkian suggested Iran could open itself up to even more inspections from the United Nations' nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency.
맥스카지노They (can) come and inspect one hundred times more since we are not supposed to go after맥스카지노 a nuclear weapon, Pezeshkian told foreign diplomats.
Iranian diplomats have long pointed to Khamenei맥스카지노s preachings as a binding fatwa, or religious edict, that Iran won't build an atomic bomb.
Iran has long insisted its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes. However, it now enriches uranium to 60% purity 맥스카지노 a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels of 90%. Iranian officials increasingly suggest Tehran could pursue an atomic bomb. U.S. intelligence agencies assess that Iran has yet to begin a weapons program, but has 맥스카지노undertaken activities that better position it to produce a nuclear device, if it chooses to do so.맥스카지노
U.S. sanctions on oil trading firms 맥스카지노unjustified맥스카지노
Earlier in the week, Trump also said that displaced Palestinians in Gaza could be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the U.S. take 맥스카지노ownership맥스카지노 in redeveloping the area into 맥스카지노the Riviera of the Middle East.맥스카지노
Khamenei appeared to reference Trump's Gaza proposal in his remarks.
맥스카지노The Americans sit, redrawing the map of the world 맥스카지노 but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality," Khamenei said. 맥스카지노They make statements about us, express opinions and issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they act on their threats, we will act on ours. If they violate the security of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind.맥스카지노
Meanwhile, Iran's Foreign Ministry separately criticized the U.S. Treasury's move to levy sanctions Thursday against firms trading sanctioned Iranian crude oil to China. The Treasury described the firms as forming an 맥스카지노international network for facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil worth hundreds of millions of dollars.맥스카지노
Iran's Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei called the Treasury's decision 맥스카지노completely unjustified and contrary to international rules and regulations.맥스카지노