Iran’s president said Sunday that the Islamic Republic rejected direct negotiations with the United States over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme, offering Tehran’s first response to a letter that US President Donald Trump sent to the country’s supreme leader.
President Masoud Pezeshkian said that Iran’s response, delivered via the sultanate of Oman, left open the possibility of indirect negotiations with Washington. However, such talks have made no progress since Trump in his first term unilaterally withdrew the US from Tehran’s nuclear deal with world powers in 2018.
In the years since, regional tensions have boiled over into attacks at sea and on land. Then came the war between Israel and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which saw Israel target militant group leaders across Iran’s self-described “Axis of Resistance”.
Now, as the US conducts intense air strikes targeting the Iranian-backed Houthi rebels of Yemen, the risk of military action targeting Iran’s nuclear programme remains on the table.
“We don’t avoid talks; it’s the breach of promises that has caused issues for us so far,” Pezeshkian said in televised remarks during a Cabinet meeting. “They must prove that they can build trust.”
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