Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian insisted on Wednesday that the country would not yield to external threats after US President Donald Trump mooted the bombing of its adversary earlier this week.
"Trump stands at the podium and says, 'I want to negotiate,' but on the other hand, he is closing all the doors," Pezeshkian said during a speech in Bushehr province on Wednesday.
"He takes every decision necessary to cripple us, issues orders, and pressures the world to prevent dealings with Iranians. If you are truly a man of negotiation, then why do you do these things?"
On February 4, Trump signed a directive reviving his so-called maximum pressure policy on Iran from his first term aimed at driving the Islamic Republic's oil exports to zero. After signing the memorandum, he said he would prefer a deal with Tehran to an Israeli attack on their nuclear sites.
"I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them," he said on Fox News.
Pezeshkian, however, said “Iran will not back down or surrender in the face of any threat," in a sign that the Iranian political establishment -- from the president’s relatively moderate government to the ultra-conservative clerical establishment -- has coalesced against Trump’s hoped-for deal.
He also condemned efforts to limit Iran’s defense capabilities, saying, “They demand we abandon missiles and military strength so they can repeat what they did in Gaza, but they should know Iran will never surrender to such pressures.”
Earlier in the day, Iran’s Supreme Leader praised Pezeshkian for rejecting talks with the United States and said Tehran must continue its military progress after Trump’s threat to stop Iran's nuclear program by force.
"The president said what needed to be said," Ali Khamenei said, addressing defense officials on Wednesday.
Following a few weeks of ambivalent signals regarding negotiations and a struggle in Tehran's political scene, Khamenei finally voiced his clear opposition to negotiations on February 7, saying talks with the US are "not smart, wise, or honorable."
'Trump is America's deal-maker-in-chief'
White House Press Secretary Caroline Leavitt on Wednesday said Donald Trump "has made it very clear that he will never allow Iran to have nuclear capabilities."
"That is a red line that he has drawn, and he will not allow that to happen."
Asked why Trump wants to reach a deal with Tehran instead of helping overthrow the Islamic Republic, Leavitt said, "He is the master of the art of the deal. He is America's deal maker in chief. He leads from a position of securing peace through strength."
While Leavitt did not answer the question about putting an end to the clerical establishment in Iran, Trump has publicly announced he does not aim for a regime change in Iran and only wants to prevent the country from acquiring nuclear weapons.
