Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday he would not negotiate a nuclear deal with the US.
In a series of posts on X, Khamenei calls the US government “forced” and argues that negotiations are merely a way to impose new demands.
“Such negotiations are not intended to resolve the issue,” Khamenei wrote. “Their purpose is to exert their advantage and impose what they want.”
He added “demands” related to the country's defense and international capabilities.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will speak at a conference held in Tehran, Iran on July 7, 2024. (Anadoru via Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Getty Images)
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“I'm saying that I don't see the person, I don't go there, I don't produce this, I'm saying that I'll limit the range of the missile to a certain extension,” Khamenei wrote. “How can you accept that?”
Khamenei posted a day after President Donald Trump said he had sent a letter to Khamenei in search of a nuclear deal with Tehran.
Trump told reporters on Friday that the US was “until the last moment.” Negotiations with Iranand he hoped that military intervention would not be necessary.
Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei will give a speech at a programme held on October 2, 2024 following the murder of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrala. (Anadoru via Iranian Leader Press Office/Handout/Getty Images)
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In a statement on Saturday, National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said the administration hopes Iran will “put people and best interests ahead of fear.”
“President Trump clearly said there are two ways to deal with Iran: either military or by making a deal,” Hughes wrote.
Ben Ben Tareble, director of the Iran Program Foundation for the Democracy Foundation, wrote that Trump should be “cautious” in his discussion with Tehran.
“Tehran wanted to set up a trap for him and seduce him into the endless diplomacy used to suppress the reliability of American or Israeli military options while purchasing time to creep up towards nuclear weapons,” Ben Talebri wrote in a statement.
Trump said in February that he believes Iran is “close” to developing nuclear weapons, but he pointed out that the US would be hampering action.
Iranian students attended the annual rally in front of the former US embassy in Tehran, Iran on November 3, 2024, where Iranian students celebrate the 45th anniversary of the embassy acquisition. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
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He also signed an enforcement lawsuit ordering the Treasury to implement “maximum economic pressure” against Iran through a series of sanctions destroying the country's oil exports.
The “maximum pressure” initiative on Tehran, enacted during the first Trump administration, issues greater sanctions and strict enforcement of violations.
The president's comments and subsequent posts from Khamenei came just days before the 18th anniversary of the abduction of FBI special agent Robert “Bob” Levinson, who has retired from Iran's Kish Island.
FBI Washington Field posted on Facebook Friday, saying that he “remembers Bob and his family every day” before anniversary, National Hostages and Illegal Detainee Day.
President Trump of the US Fest in Arizona. (Rick Stelli)
The FBI still offers rewards of up to $5 million for information that leads to Levinson's position, recovery and returns, according to the post.
State Department The Rewards for Justice Program offers rewards of up to $20 million for information that leads to his location, recovery, returns and arrest or conviction of the person responsible for his arrest.
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“As part of an ongoing effort to settle Bob's lawsuit and maintain the Iranian regime responsible for his role in Bob's loss, we have recently released an information poster featuring Mohammad Basili and Ahmad Kazai, two Iranian intelligence officers who worked for the security ministry of Iran's intelligence ministry during Bob's attack.”
Diana Stancy of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
