The country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, rejected U.S.
President Donald Trump’s offer of talks with no preconditions, which
Washington said could improve bilateral ties. “Everyone must know: all our
diplomats, all our young people with high aspirations, the students of
diplomacy and everyone who is actively engaged in the diplomatic sphere,
that negotiations with a regime as we see in America, a regime that is a
bully and always wants something, does not present a way to stop
hostilities, negotiations don’t mean America will stop from acting the
enemy. On the contrary, negotiations only give them the tools to continue
hostilities,” Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said.
The comments by Ayatollah Khamenei came after the United States re-imposed
international sanctions last week against Iran, after European powers,
Russia and China sided with the Islamic Republic, which refused to amend a
2015 nuclear agreement that sought to limit Tehran’s nuclear program in
exchange for sanctions relief. Among other reasons, the Trump Administration
demanded of Iran to halt its ballistic missile program, which has the
capacity to deliver nuclear war-heads. Nevertheless, in defiance of the
American demand, Iran unveiled yesterday a new generation of its short-range
ballistic missile, which it calls the “Fateh Mobin”. The Islamic Republic’s
Defense Minister Brigadier General Amir Hatami said after unveiling the
“fully home-made precision-guided” missile, that Tehran’s “will to enhance
(its) defense power in all fields will increase if the pressure mounts on
Iran.”