Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said today that nuclear talks with the United States "will not lift sanctions" on Iran after Tehran confirmed it had received a letter from US President Donald Trump.
"If the goal of the negotiations is to lift sanctions, negotiations with this American government will not lift sanctions," Khamenei said.
Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said today that a letter from the US president, delivered to Tehran by a senior diplomat from the United Arab Emirates, had been received.
Trump said on Friday that he had sent a letter to Iran's supreme leader, urging him to engage in nuclear negotiations and warning of possible military action if Iran refused.
The ayatollah said the threats were "reckless" and added that Iran was capable of retaliating.
During his first term in office, Trump withdrew the United States from the international agreement on Iran's nuclear program, reached three years earlier and which offered Tehran sanctions relief in exchange for curbs on its nuclear ambitions, in 2018. Trump then reimposed tough sanctions on Iran.
Tehran responded by increasing its stockpile of enriched uranium to 60 percent, while 90 percent is needed to make atomic weapons. Iran defends its right to nuclear energy for civilian purposes, especially for energy purposes, but denies that it wants to build an atomic bomb, while Western countries suspect it does.
The Ayatollah reiterated today that Iran does not want to produce atomic weapons, stating that if Iran wanted to, it would do so.
"Regarding nuclear weapons, we were told that Iran would not be allowed to do so. If we wanted to make nuclear weapons, America would not be able to stop us. The fact is that we do not have nuclear weapons and we do not seek them because we do not want them ourselves," Khamenei said.
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