Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi did not rule out the possibility of negotiations with Washington, but said that they could only be held on equal terms for both sides, Reuters reported, citing an Iranian state newspaper, BTA reports.
Last week, US President Donald Trump said that he had sent a letter to Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei with a proposal for negotiations on Iran's nuclear program, but also warned that "there are two ways we can deal with Iran: by military means or by making a deal" to prevent Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.
"If we start negotiations while the other side is applying maximum pressure, we will "we negotiate from a position of weakness and we will achieve nothing," Araqchi said in an interview with an Iranian newspaper. "The other side must be convinced that the policy of applying pressure is ineffective - only then will we be able to sit at the negotiating table on equal terms," added Iran's top diplomat.
Yesterday, Khamenei said that negotiations with the Trump administration, which he said had excessive demands, would simply "tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran."
During his previous term (2017-2021), Trump withdrew the United States from the 2015 agreement between Iran and world powers, which aimed to impose strict restrictions on the Islamic Republic's nuclear program in exchange for easing sanctions. After in 2018 Trump pulled the United States out of the deal and reimposed sanctions on Tehran, which Iran has violated and far exceeded, Reuters noted.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, who has the final say on state affairs in the Islamic Republic, said last week that Tehran would not be forced to negotiate. While expressing a willingness to make a deal with Tehran, Trump has revived his "maximum pressure" campaign, which he implemented during his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and reduce its oil exports to zero.