Iran’s supreme leader slams US ‘bullying’ after Trump threats
The US president is applying ‘maximum pressure’ as he seeks to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday that Iran would not be bullied into negotiations, a day after US 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.
At 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 bullying governments on negotiations is not to resolve issues … Talks for them is a pathway to have new demands, it is not only about Iran’s nuclear issue … Iran will definitely not accept their expectations,” Khamenei was quoted as saying, without directly mentioning Trump.
In response to Khamenei’s comments, White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes reiterated almost word for word the choice of negotiations or military action that Trump said he had presented to Iran.
“We hope the Iran regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror,” Hughes said in a statement.
The Trump administration also rescinded a waiver on Saturday that had allowed Iraq to pay Iran for electricity.