No Talks With US Now or Later

EghtesadOnline: No negotiations are underway between Iran and the United States, and there will be no such dialogue in the future, a senior Iranian diplomat said in response to a report about secret talks between the two countries.

News ID: ۷۵۱۱۴۳

29 September 2020

"Iran's approach toward the US is conclusive and clear, as we have repeatedly declared without hesitation," Foreign Ministry Spokesman Saeed Khatibzadeh said at a regular press briefing on Monday, ISNA reported.

The Kuwaiti journal Al Jaridah has recently published a report claiming that US President Donald Trump has opened secret negotiations in Oman with high-ranking Iranian officials.

Trump has pulled the US out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with the world powers and reimposed tough sanctions on Tehran in the hope of forcing Iranian leaders to renegotiate a broader agreement.

He has claimed he will make a "big deal" with Iran within one week to a month after the November elections.

During a campaign speech in Florida on Friday, Trump said Tehran wanted to negotiate with Washington but was waiting until after the US election.

“You have a choice. We can talk now, or we can talk after the election, but after the election, it is going to … be a much tougher deal,” he said.

Iran has ruled out the option of negotiations, unless all sanctions are removed and their economic damage is compensated for.

"We believe such comments are for domestic consumption and may serve Trump's interests, but will not help Iran-US relations," Khatibzadeh said.

In an address to the United Nations General Assembly earlier this month, President Hassan Rouhani had stressed that the US can impose neither negotiation, nor war on Iran.

“We are not a bargaining chip in the US elections and domestic policy,” he had said.

Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif had also recently said any possible talks with the US would have preconditions.

"The return of the United States to the nuclear deal is the first step they should take. For this return, [the US] must compensate for damage it caused to the Iranian nation, as well as for measures taken by the US to undermine the nuclear deal and promise not to do it again," Zarif said.

Khatibzadeh stressed that the US needs to respect international law and make up for its inhumane policies against Iran before considering any negotiations with Tehran.

"Maybe after these measures, it will find itself a place at a corner of the JCPOA room," he said, using the abbreviation of the nuclear deal's formal name, the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

Iran has said any negotiations with the US would only be possible within the framework of the nuclear deal's Joint Commission.