Iran rejects direct talks with US in response to Trump’s letter

Washington’s actions in the past have undermined trust between the two nations, President Masoud Pezeshkian has said

Tehran has ruled out direct talks with Washington in response to President Donald Trump’s recent letter suggesting negotiations about Iran’s nuclear program. US actions have undermined trust between the two nations and it needs to be restored first, President Masoud Pezeshkian has said.

“The issue of direct negotiations between the two sides has been rejected. But it has been mentioned that the path of indirect negotiations is open,” the Iranian president told a cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The US president revealed in early March that he had sent a letter to Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, suggesting that talks be reopened. The US unilaterally withdrew from the previous international agreement on the Iranian nuclear program during Trump’s first term in office in 2018.

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Washington subsequently re-imposed sanctions against Tehran, prompting the Islamic Republic to gradually scale down its commitments under the 2015 deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“Iran has never avoided negotiations, [but the US] incompliance has created problems in this path, which should be compensated for, and trust should be rebuilt. It is behavior of the Americans that determines the course of negotiations,” Pezeshkian stated. According to the president, the response was handed over to the US through Oman and had already been received by Washington.

On Sunday, Trump threatened Iran with “bombing” if a deal is not reached. “It will be bombing the likes of which they have never seen before,” he told NBC, adding that Washington could also impose “secondary tariffs” on Iran if diplomatic efforts fail.

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Multiple American news media outlets, including CNN and Axios, have previously reported that Trump set a two-month deadline for Iran to strike a new deal.

Secretary of State Marco Rubio also warned last week that the US administration was ready to take military action against Iran if diplomatic efforts to renew dialogue do not succeed. The statement prompted the commander of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) Navy, Alireza Tangsiri, to say that Tehran is not afraid of any threats and is capable of retaliating against any enemy.