US Treasury imposes new Iran-related sanctions

An Iranian protester climbed London’s King’s Cross station on Friday and unfurled a banner calling on Prime Minister Keir Starmer to take action against Iran’s government.

The protester climbed the main building beneath the clock tower and displayed a banner reading: “Prime Minister of the UK, the Islamic Republic killed over 44,000 people in just two days. This regime has no legitimacy, expel its diplomats. Uphold democracy.”

Abdollah Hajji Sadeghi, a representative of Iran’s supreme leader in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, said on Friday that the United States was merely bluffing and lacked the will to attack Iran, despite a heightened US military presence in the region.

“The United States only bluffs because it knows any miscalculation would have heavy costs,” Hajji Sadeghi said, according to state media.

He said “today, fingers are on the trigger,” adding that Iran would leave “no point safe for the enemy.”

“We do not have any plan or programme to meet or discuss with any US officials,” Araghchi told a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.

“Negotiation cannot be dictated,” he said. “If one party is threatening and setting preconditions, that is no longer a negotiation.”

“While they are threatening us, they say they want to negotiate,” Araghchi added.

Araghchi said Iran would only consider what he described as “just, fair and equitable” talks, but said the basic framework for such negotiations had not been established.

“We need to see the preconditions and the agenda first,” he said.

He warned that Iran was prepared for escalation if attacked. “We are ready for negotiations, but we are also ready for warfare,” Araghchi said. “We are even more ready than in June last year.”

He said any direct US intervention would change the situation fundamentally and could push the conflict beyond a bilateral confrontation, with wider regional consequences.

Araghchi described his talks with Fidan in Istanbul as “good and useful,” saying they covered bilateral, regional and international issues.

Fidan said Turkey was in contact with both Tehran and Washington as tensions rise, adding that he had held talks with US special envoy for the Middle East Steve Witkoff.

“Yesterday I had long talks with Steve Witkoff,” Fidan said, adding that Ankara would continue contacts with the United States and other regional actors.

Turkey opposes any new conflict in the region and views continued fighting as a driver of instability, terrorism and migration, Fidan said.

Ali Larijani, secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a figure sanctioned by the United States earlier this month, warned European countries on Friday of consequences following an EU move against the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

“The European Union certainly knows that under a decision by Iran’s parliament, the armies of countries that took part in the EU’s recent measure against the Revolutionary Guards are considered terrorists,” Larijani wrote in a post on X.

“Therefore, the consequences of this action will fall on the European countries that carried it out,” he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said on Friday that Iran had no plans for talks with US officials under current conditions, repeating that Tehran would not negotiate under threats or preconditions, while warning that Iran was ready for conflict if attacked.

“We do not have any plan or program for talks with American officials,” Araghchi said at a joint news conference with Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan. He added that Iran was ready only for “just, fair and equitable negotiations,” but said the conditions for such talks had not been met.

“Negotiation cannot be dictated or have preconditions,” Araghchi said. “If one party is dictating its requests, that stops being a negotiation.”

He said Iran was consulting closely with regional partners to seek a common framework for talks, adding: “We will continue to talk with all our friends in the region.”

Araghchi also issued a warning over US threats. “Just like we are ready for negotiations, we are also ready for warfare,” he said. “And we are even more ready compared with their attacks in June.”

“If anybody would like to attack our country, we will have a strong response,” he said, adding that direct US intervention would “totally change the status quo” and could push the conflict beyond a bilateral war.

He said Iran would never accept talks under pressure. “The Islamic Republic of Iran is never going to sit at a negotiation table with threats,” he said.

Araghchi also ruled out any discussion of Iran’s military capabilities. “Iran’s missiles and defense systems have never been and will never be the subject of any negotiation,” he said, adding that Iran would continue to strengthen its defenses.