Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) rejected negotiations with Washington and denied the likelihood of a US attack.
This came a day after President Donald Trump urged Iran’s leaders to hold talks on giving up their nuclear program, adding that he couldn’t rule out a military confrontation.
“No talks will be held with the Americans, and the Americans will not dare take military action against us,” Yadollah Javani, the IRGC’s deputy head for political affairs, was quoted as saying by Tasnim news agency on Friday.
“Our nation ... sees America as unreliable,” Javani stressed.
He went on to say that Iran was not suffering the kind of “internal disarray” suggested by the US after reimposing its sanctions on Tehran.
“With the new sanctions and pressures imposed by the United States… Trump thought Iran would face a kind of internal disarray and would eventually negotiate with the United States, but this didn’t happen."
Javani’s comments were the first by Iranian military leaders since Trump’s team announced sending troops to the Middle East to deter Iranian threats.
Two weeks ago, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said “Washington is not ready to negotiate.”
“Some claim that the American side is ready to negotiate while, in fact, they are not ready to negotiate.”
Tehran would be willing to negotiate only when US lifts pressure and apologizes for what Rouhani called “illegal actions.”
“We have always been a man of negotiation and diplomacy, the same way that we’ve been a man of war and defense,” he said on April 24.
His comments coincided with Iranian Foreign Minister Javad Zarif’s visit to New York, during which he sent many signals of his country’s willingness to negotiate on exchange of prisoners between the two sides.
This indicated Iran’s willingness to negotiate on “releasing US prisoners,” which is among the 12 conditions put by the US administration in 2018 to reach a comprehensive agreement.
Commander of the IRGC Quds Force Qassem Soleimani rejected, for his part, negotiations with the US under enforced economic pressure, saying it would show humiliation and surrender while Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said they would be a “strategic mistake.”
