Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Asharq Al-Awsat
Asharq Al-Awsat
World
Asharq Al-Awsat

Iran Rejects Talks with US ‘under Any Circumstances’

Iran rejects talks with the United States. (Getty Images)

Iran announced Thursday that it will not hold talks with the United States “under any circumstances.”

"We have said clearly... as long as the rights of our nation are not satisfied, as long as words don't change into action, our path will stay the same as now," said Keyvan Khosravi, spokesman of the Supreme National Security Council.

"There will be no talks under any circumstances," he was quoted as saying by the official state news agency IRNA.

Khosravi said there had been an uptick in official delegations travelling to Tehran from various capitals, although "most of them are coming on behalf of America".

"Without exception we have responded with the message of the Iranian nation's strength, reason and resistance" in line with the policies of the country, he added.

Oman's Foreign Minister Yusef Bin Alavi arrived in Tehran on Monday followed by the German foreign ministry's political director Jens Plotner on Thursday.

Oman played a crucial role in bringing Iranian and US negotiators together for preliminary talks that ultimately led to the 2015 Iran nuclear deal with major powers including the United States.

But US President Donald Trump withdrew from the deal in May 2018 and reimposed sanctions that had been lifted in exchange for Iran scaling back its nuclear program.

With tensions between the two sides already high, there has been a dramatic escalation in recent weeks after the US labelled Iran's Revolutionary Guards as a "foreign terrorist organization".

The United States also deployed a naval carrier group and B-52 bombers to the Middle East over unspecified Iranian "threats".

Iran in turn rolled back parts of its commitments within the nuclear deal and gave an ultimatum to the remaining sides that more would follow if they did not provide relief from sanctions.

Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.