Reacting to a US offer to talk with Iran without pre-conditions, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Sunday it was Washington that had left the negotiating table, and it "should return to normal state".
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday the United States is prepared to engage with Iran without pre-conditions about its nuclear program, but needs to see the country behaving like "a normal nation".
"We're prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions," Pompeo told reporters at a news conference with his Swiss counterpart. "We're ready to sit down with them, but the American effort to fundamentally reverse the malign activity of this Islamic Republic, this revolutionary force, is going to continue."
But Rouhani was quoted by the government's official website as saying: "The other side that left the negotiating table and breached a treaty should return to normal state. Until then, we do not have a choice but resistance."
Washington has imposed crippling sanctions on Iran, first in November and then again last month, targeting the most lucrative sectors of its economy. The action has drawn Iran's ire and strong words of threatened retaliation.
