The Islamic Republic will not negotiate with the United States unless the Trump administration puts an end to his so-called maximum pressure policy against Iran, the country's foreign minister said Saturday.
"The removal of sanctions requires negotiation, but not under a policy of maximum pressure," Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Saturday during a seminar in Tehran.
"We will never negotiate from a position of weakness," he added.
On Friday, a State Department spokesperson told Iran International that the Trump administration's maximum pressure policy on Iran will remain in place unless the Islamic Republic reaches a deal with Washington.
"President Trump has been clear that the United States is committed to preventing Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon and expressed his willingness to discuss a deal with Iran," the spokesperson told Iran International.
"If the Iranian regime does not want a deal, the President is clear, Iran will remain under the restored maximum pressure campaign," the spokesperson added.
However, Araghchi says "there is truly no basis for fair negotiations" with the Trump administration.
"We negotiated before—for over two years, we negotiated in good faith, we reached an agreement in good faith, and we fulfilled our commitments in good faith. But what happened? They were the ones who failed to uphold their commitments and ultimately withdrew," Araghchi told reporters.
"So, what new development has occurred that makes them expect us to trust them again or enter negotiations once more? The only new development is that they are imposing even more pressure."
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei on Friday morning firmly rejected the idea of negotiations with the United States, appearing to pour cold water on optimism by Trump and his own government for a nuclear deal.
“Negotiating with such a government should not be done; it is neither wise, intelligent nor honorable,” Iran's 85-year-old veteran theocrat who has the ultimate say over Iranian policy told a group of air force personnel in Tehran.
Khamenei accused Washington of perfidy over the last international nuclear deal in 2015, from which Trump withdrew the United States in 2018.
What new development has occurred that makes the Americans expect us to trust them again? From an expert perspective, there is no basis for a fair negotiation at all.
Trump on Tuesday reinstated the so-called maximum pressure policy on Iran from his first term but said he preferred a deal. Relative moderate President Masoud Pezeshkian has publicly expressed openness to US talks.
