Tehran: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday criticised US “maximum pressure” campaign against Iran as undermining the foundation for negotiations, according to the official news agency IRNA.
Pezeshkian made the remarks in the capital Tehran during a speech marking the 46th anniversary of the victory of Iran’s Islamic Revolution, saying, “46 years ago today, the Iranian people expelled tyrants and oppressors from Iran. Our success lies in unity, cohesion, and the active participation of the people in the country’s affairs.”
The President dismissed US President Donald Trump’s claim that he seeks talks with Iran. “They say they want to negotiate, but if you truly intended to negotiate, why did you commit these follies?”
He also rejected US claims that Iran is destabilising the region, arguing, “Israel, with American backing, is the real source of insecurity, bombing innocent people in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, Iran, and wherever it wants.”
Meanwhile, reacting to US calls for negotiations over Tehran’s nuclear programme, Iran’s Foreign Minister Seyed Abbas Araghchi on Monday stressed that the country will never enter into negotiations under pressure and threats, Xinhua news agency cited IRNA as reporting.
“Today, we are faced with a President in the United States who has returned to the maximum pressure policy against Iran’s people,” Araghchi said.
“The interesting point is that while signing a document to issue an order for placing the Iranian people under the highest pressures, concurrently, the US President spoke of his readiness for negotiations as a means of deception,” he said.
He added the United States had a long track record of oath-breaking, an instance of which was witnessed during the implementation of a 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The country would not let anybody impose their will on the nation through threats and sanctions, the minister added.
Trump took an executive action last week to restore the so-called “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran aimed to prevent the Islamic Republic from what he claimed “obtaining nuclear weapon.”
On Thursday, the US Department of Treasury announced sanctions on more than a dozen people and firms accused of facilitating the shipment of millions of barrels of Iranian crude oil.
Iran signed the JCPOA with six world powers in July 2015, accepting restrictions on its nuclear programme in exchange for lifting sanctions. However, during Trump’s first term in office, the United States withdrew from the agreement in May 2018 and reinstated sanctions, prompting Iran to scale back some of its nuclear commitments.
Efforts to revive the JCPOA have not achieved substantial progress.
(IANS)
