Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Sunday vowed that his nation will not budge on its prohibition of negotiations with the U.S. on the 40th anniversary of the fall of the U.S. embassy in Tehran, Reuters reported.
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“One way to block America’s political infiltration is to ban any talks with America. It means Iran will not yield to America’s pressure,” Khamenei said, according Reuters, which cited Iranian state TV. “Those who believe that negotiations with the enemy will solve our problems are 100 percent wrong.”
“The U.S. has not changed since decades ago … it continues the same aggressive, vicious behavior and the same international dictatorship,” Khamenei added. “Iran has a firm, iron will. It will not let America return to Iran.”
The remarks come after months of escalating tensions between the two nations that have simmered since President TrumpDonald John TrumpTrump says Republicans should release their own transcripts in impeachment probe Trump keeps NYT, WaPo apps on his phone despite canceling subscriptions: report The big deception behind tariffs and geopolitics MORE pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed sanctions on Tehran.
Since then, the countries have declared one another’s military forces terrorist organizations and the U.S. was poised to launch a retaliatory strike after Iran’s downing of a U.S. drone in Iranian airspace before Trump cancelled the strike at the last minute.
French President Emanuel Macron has sought to reduce tensions by arranging a meeting between Trump and President Hassan Rouhani, but Khamenei was dismissive of these efforts on Sunday, according to Reuters.
“The French president, who says a meeting will end all the problems between Tehran and America, is either naive or complicit with America,” he said.
Student supporters of the Iranian revolution took control of the U.S. Embassy in November 1979 in retaliation for Washington’s support of the deposed Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and the U.S.-backed 1953 military coup d’état that removed Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh. Iran held 52 U.S. diplomats and civilians hostage for the next 444 days.
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