Negotiating with US will not solve Iran’s problems: Khamenei

Tehran: Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said Friday that negotiating with the United States will not solve Iran’s problems, describing such negotiations as “neither wise nor honourable,” according to the official news agency IRNA.

Iran’s past experience in negotiations with the United States had shown that it led to no meaningful results, Khamenei said during a meeting with senior Iranian military commanders.

“Even when we made concessions, we did not achieve the desired outcomes. They tore up the agreement and failed to honor their commitments,” he said.

Regarding US threats to Iran’s security, Khamenei stressed that Iran would respond firmly to any of such threats. “If they violate our national security, we will retaliate without hesitation,” he stated, Xinhua news agency reported.

On Wednesday, Iranian Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi said it is not difficult to ensure that Iran will not pursue nuclear weapons, provided that “objective guarantees” are given to end hostile actions against Tehran, including economic sanctions.

He made the comments on social media platform X, responding to remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump who reaffirmed his stance of preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons and announced the restoration of the “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran.

Ahead of his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump signed a national security memorandum restoring maximum pressure on Iran, “denying Iran all paths to a nuclear weapon, and countering Iran’s malign influence abroad.”

Araghchi criticised the “maximum pressure” as a failed approach, reiterating that its continuation would only result in “maximum resistance” from Iran.

The Iranian Foreign Minister emphasised that “wise leaders should opt for maximum diplomacy instead,” adding that Iran, as a full member of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and other global nonproliferation agreements, has already made it clear that under no circumstances will it seek, develop or acquire nuclear weapons.

Iran signed a nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), with six world powers in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear program in exchange for lifting sanctions.

However, during Trump’s first term of office, the United States withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments.

Efforts to revive the JCPOA have not achieved substantial progress.

IANS