Iran's supreme leader says Trump administration threats over nuclear program "will get them nowhere"
Tehran — Iran's supreme leader said Friday that U.S. threats against his country "will get them nowhere," after President Trump warned of possible military action against the Islamic republic if it refuses to negotiate a new nuclear deal.
"The Americans should know threats will get them nowhere when confronting Iran," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in his live annual televised speech marking Nowruz, the Persian New Year.
He said Americans "and others should know that if they do anything malign to the Iranian nation, they will get a hard slap."
On March 7, Mr. Trump said he had written to Khamenei, urging negotiations with Tehran over its nuclear program and warning of potential military action if it refused.
On Thursday, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the letter was "more of a threat" but also said it appeared to offer opportunities. Araghchi added that Tehran was still weighing its response, which he said would be issued in the coming days.
On Wednesday, U.S. news website Axios, citing a U.S. official and other sources, said Mr. Trump's letter set a "two-month deadline for reaching a new nuclear deal." The report did not specify a start or end date for the two months, and the White House has not confirmed that Mr. Trump's letter presented Tehran with a deadline.
Mr. Trump announced the letter in an interview with Fox News, telling the network he "would rather negotiate a deal" with Iran, but warning: "The time is coming up. Something's going to happen one way or the other. I hope that Iran — and I've written him 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."
In the interview, Mr. Trump said he believed Iran wanted to negotiate, adding that "the other alternative is, we have to do something. Because you can't let them have a nuclear weapon."
Khamenei has previously dismissed Mr. Trump's overtures for talks, accusing the U.S. president of attempting to deceive global public opinion by portraying the United States as willing to negotiate and Iran as unwilling to engage.
Mr. Trump, who began his second term in January, has reinstated his policy of "maximum pressure" against Tehran. During his first term, he unilaterally withdrew the United States in 2018 from the landmark nuclear deal between Tehran and world powers and reimposed sweeping economic sanctions on the Islamic republic.
Iran initially adhered to the deal for a year after the U.S. withdrawal, but it then started scaling back its commitments, bolstering its uranium enrichment program. Under the original nuclear deal, Iran was permitted to enrich uranium up to 3.67% purity and maintain a stockpile of no more than 661 pounds at that level. At that purity level, uranium can be used for medical, research and other civilian purposes, but not to build a nuclear weapon.
The most recent report by the United Nation's nuclear watchdog agency, the IAEA, found Iran was enriching more uranium to 60% purity — much closer to the level required for weapons, which is about 90%, and a level at which it was only confirmed to have started enriching after Mr. Trump pulled the U.S. out of the nuclear agreement. Its stockpile of that highly enriched uranium had risen as of February to about 606 pounds, according to the IAEA report.
Both Israel and the United States have warned they will never allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon, leading to fears of a military confrontation.
Late in August, Khamenei opened the door to possible talks with the U.S., saying there is "no harm" in engaging with the "enemy." However, more recently the supreme leader tempered that, saying negotiations with America were "not intelligent, wise or honorable" given the pressure applied by Mr. Trump.
Efforts to revive the nuclear deal have so far failed.
Iran "definitely will not negotiate directly while facing pressure, threats, and increased sanctions," Araghchi said on Thursday.
U.S. and Israeli officials are expected to meet next week to discuss Iran's nuclear program, and Russia, an ally of Iran that has been trying to improve ties with Washington since Mr. Trump's return to office, has offered to help broker a deal between Washington and Tehran.
Speaking Friday in Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Iran, "like all other countries, has the right to develop the peaceful atomic sector, peaceful nuclear energy, and is taking important steps in this direction."
"We are convinced that the problem of Iran's nuclear program should be resolved exclusively by peaceful political and diplomatic means, and we believe that everything necessary is available for this," Peskov said, according to the Reuters news agency. "All that is needed is political will."
