Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, responded to recent US threats by deeming them “unwise.” This came after a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump, which had invited Iran to negotiate but warned that it would go to war if the country refused.
In a students’ rally on March 12, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized the American stand, saying, “The U.S. is making a threat of militarism. My view is that it is unwise to make the threat. Iran can respond and will certainly give a blow.”
Responding to the concerns regarding Iran’s nuclear ambitions, Khamenei reiterated that Iran does not possess or seek to have nuclear weapons. “As regards nuclear weapons, it has been said that we will not let Iran get nuclear weapons. In the event that we decided to make nuclear weapons, America wouldn’t be able to stop it. It is because we don’t have and are not seeking nuclear weapons,” he added.
The Iranian president was skeptical of negotiations with the United States, saying they would not result in the relief of sanctions. “If the aim of the negotiation is the lifting of sanctions, negotiating with this U.S. government will not lift sanctions, i.e., it won’t lift sanctions but will tighten the sanctions knot,” he remarked.
Khamenei made the comments after Tehran confirmed that it had received Trump’s letter, which had been delivered to it by Anwar Gargash, the diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates. In his letter, Trump urged Iran to negotiate its nuclear program, adding, “I’ve written them a letter, saying I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing for them. You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.”
However, Iran’s mission to the United Nations has informed AFP that they did not receive such a letter, adding another layer of complexity to the already tense relations between the two nations.
