As tensions over nuclear program rise, Masoud Pezeshkian says, ‘If you want negotiations, then what is the point of threatening?’
TEHRAN, Iran — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Saturday said his country was willing to engage in dialogue with the United States as equals, without clarifying whether Tehran would participate in direct talks.
It came after US President Donald Trump, who has called on Tehran to hold direct negotiations on its nuclear program, threatened to bomb Iran if diplomacy fails.
Iran says it is ready to engage in dialogue but refuses direct talks under threats and pressure.
“The Islamic Republic of Iran wants dialogue on equal footing,” Pezeshkian said during a meeting, according to the presidency’s website.
Trump has written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, trying to jumpstart direct talks between Tehran and Washington. So far, Iran has maintained it is willing to engage in indirect talks, but such discussions under the Biden administration have failed to make headway.
On Thursday, Trump said he would prefer to hold “direct talks” with Iran. “I think it goes faster and you understand the other side a lot better than if you go through intermediaries,” the US president argued.
But on Saturday, Pezeshkian asked: “If you want negotiations, then what is the point of threatening?”
“Today, America is not only humiliating Iran, but also the world,” Pezeshkian added, in an apparent reference to recent policies adopted by Trump, including imposing tariffs on imported goods.
In 2015, the country reached a landmark deal with the permanent members of the UN Security Council, namely the United States, France, China, Russia, and the United Kingdom, as well as Germany, to regulate its nuclear activities. The agreement provided for sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on Iranian nuclear activities.
In 2018, during Trump’s first term in office, the US withdrew from the agreement and reinstated sanctions. In response, Iran rolled back on its commitments under the agreement and accelerated its nuclear program, enriching uranium to levels that have only military applications.
On Monday, Ali Larijani, a close adviser to Khamenei, warned that while Iran was not seeking nuclear weapons, it would “have no choice but to do so” in the event of an attack against the country.
On Saturday, Iran’s rial currency traded at a record low against the US dollar as the country returned to work after a long holiday, costing over 1 million rials for a single greenback as tensions between Tehran and Washington likely will push it even lower.
The exchange rate had plunged to over 1 million rials during the Persian New Year, Nowruz, as currency shops closed and only informal trading took place on the streets, creating additional pressure on the market. But as traders resumed work Saturday, the rate fell even further to 1,043,000 to the dollar, signaling the new low appeared here to stay.
On Ferdowsi Street in Iran’s capital, Tehran, the heart of the country’s money exchanges, some traders even switched off their electronic signs showing the going rate as uncertainty loomed over how much further the rial could drop.
Iran’s economy has been severely affected by international sanctions, particularly after Trump unilaterally withdrew America from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers. At the time of the 2015 deal, the rial traded at 32,000 to the dollar.
Meanwhile, Trump is continuing an intense airstrike campaign targeting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, the last force in Tehran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance” able to attack Israel after other groups were mauled by Israel during its war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip and with Hezbollah in Lebanon.
Content retrieved from: https://www.timesofisrael.com/irans-president-says-country-wants-dialogue-on-equal-footing-with-us/.
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