Iran is not against negotiations, but not at the current situation – Rouhani

Tabnak – At the same time as tightening the grip of sanctions on the Islamic Republic, US President Donald Trump claims he’s looking forward to new negotiations with Tehran. Iranian president reacts to his American counterpart’s position, saying that Iran won’t enter any talks with the US at the current situation.

President Hassan Rouhani says despite championing dialogue, he absolutely rules out the possibility of such engagement with the United States under the current circumstances.

“I, myself, am in favor of negotiation and diplomacy, but do not approve of it under the current circumstances at all,” the president said on Monday, meeting with a number of religious scholars and personalities in the capital Tehran.

Rouhani reminded how the country had rejected a proposal for talks made by five world leaders during his visit to the United Nations’ headquarters in New York last year. Also last year, Tehran likewise ignored eight separate offers for negotiation with Washington, which had been forwarded by the US State Department, he added.

“The circumstances of the day are not [such that would be appropriate] for negotiation at all. Today, our situation is [one characterized by] resistance and steadfastness,” the chief executive stated.

There Iranian people and authorities see perfectly eye to eye on the premise of resistance against the United States and its sanctions, Rouhani said.

He, however, asserted, “I do not perceive the road ahead to be a dead-end one at all,” adding that in order for the country to surmount the obstacles in its way “all have to realize that we are in conditions of economic war, and should help one another out.”

Rouhani’s remarks come a week after Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined that there will be no military confrontation between Iran and the US as Washington is aware that it won’t be in its interest, adding that negotiation with the US is not on the Islamic Republic’s agenda either.

“The Iranian nation’s definite option will be resistance in the face of the US, and in this confrontation, the US would be forced into a retreat,” Ayatollah Khamenei said. “Neither we nor they, who know war will not be in their interest, are after war.”

The US remarkably stoked tensions with Iran last year by leaving a multilateral nuclear agreement with Tehran, and then restoring the sanctions that had been lifted under the deal. The US has also dispatched an aircraft carrier strike group, a bomber taskforce, and an assault ship to the Persian Gulf, citing an alleged likelihood that Iran could target the American interests in the region.