Iran’s Supreme Leader on Wednesday said President Trump's past withdrawal from a nuclear deal renders diplomacy with him pointless now and vowed harsh retaliation to any attack by the United States or its allies.
"The US President saying 'we are ready to negotiate with Iran' and calling for negotiations is meant to deceive global public opinion," Khamenei said in a speech to student supporters who per usual practice repeatedly chanted "death to America!"
The remarks by Iran's veteran theocrat were a rare barbed commentary on the policies of an individual US President and again strongly rejected Trump's fresh overtures for a new agreement.
"What’s the point of negotiating when we know he won’t stick with it," Khamenei said, referring to a 2015 international nuclear deal from which Trump withdrew after bashing it as too lenient on Iran.
"We sat down and negotiated for several years, and this very person took the completed, finalized and signed agreement off the table and tore it up."
Iran denies seeking a nuclear weapon but the UN's nuclear watchdog last week pointed to a sharp rise in Tehran's stockpile of highly enriched uranium.
"If the Islamic Republic intended to build nuclear weapons, the United States would not be able to stop it," Khamenei added, again saying Iran had decided against seeking a bomb.
As he delivered his speech, an Emirati diplomat arrived in Tehran carrying a direct letter from Trump to Khamenei urging talks. "I have not received the letter that the US president claims has sent," Iran's supreme leader said.
President Trump revealed on Friday that he had sent a letter to Khamenei offering negotiations while warning of military action if talks failed.
“There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or through a deal. I would prefer to make a deal," Trump told Fox Business Network.
Trump later added that the standoff with Iran had reached a critical stage: “We are at final moments with Iran."
Khamenei said Washington would come off the worst if it attacked Iran.
"The United States is threatening militarization. In my view, this threat is irrational because war is not a one-sided blow; Iran is capable of retaliating and will certainly do so," he said.
"If the Americans or their allies make a wrong move, they will be the ones to suffer the greater loss."
Israel sees Iran's nuclear sites as more vulnerable than ever after Oct. 26 Israeli air strikes on its air defenses, defense minister Israel Katz said in November.
Iran's arch-foe sees Tehran's perceived weakness and Trump's hawkish stance providing a window for an attack on the nuclear program it views as an existential threat, according to US intelligence assessments cited by the Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.
Iran stands alone
Khamenei proudly declared in his speech that Iran was the sole holdout in resisting the demands of the world's bullies.
"Today, the world's bullies say everyone must obey us and must put our interests ahead of their own, but Iran is the only country that has categorically rejected this." Khamenei said in a speech to student supporters.
Iranian officials have cited a blowup between Trump and Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the White House as a sign of the United States' fickleness and bullying on the world stage.
Khamenei, a champion of defying the West and Israel, has repeatedly ruled out talks with the United States since Trump took office.
Addressing Iran's dire economic straits, Khamenei appeared to dismiss hopes from political moderates including his own president Masoud Pezeshkian that a diplomatic breakthrough could ease punishing US-led sanctions.
"If the goal of negotiations is to lift sanctions, negotiating with this US government will not remove them. Rather, it will tighten the knot."
"Sanctions are not without impact, but if our economic situation is struggling, it is not solely because of sanctions. Our own negligence also plays a role," he added, saying domestic ingenuity could mitigate sanctions' pain.
The Islamic Republic, he insisted, had not been weakened by the deaths and killings of key political and military figures in recent years.
Over a year of punishing direct and regional combat pitting US-armed Israel against Iran and its militant allies in the Middle East has hollowed out Iran's influence and may have dealt its geopolitical standing a historic setback.
"This year, in some matters, we are stronger than last year," the Supreme Leader said.
