Khamenei: US Talks 'Not Intelligent, Wise or Honorable'

A handout photo made available by the Iranian Supreme Leader's office shows Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reacting during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, 28 January 2025.  EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE / HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the Iranian Supreme Leader's office shows Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reacting during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, 28 January 2025. EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE / HANDOUT
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Khamenei: US Talks 'Not Intelligent, Wise or Honorable'

A handout photo made available by the Iranian Supreme Leader's office shows Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reacting during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, 28 January 2025.  EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE / HANDOUT
A handout photo made available by the Iranian Supreme Leader's office shows Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei reacting during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, 28 January 2025. EPA/IRANIAN SUPREME LEADER OFFICE / HANDOUT

Iran's supreme leader said Friday that negotiations with America “are not intelligent, wise or honorable” after President Donald Trump floated nuclear talks with Tehran.
According to The Associated Press, Ali Khamenei also suggested that “there should be no negotiations with such a government,” but stopped short of issuing a direct order not to engage with Washington.
Khamenei's remarks to air force officers in Tehran appeared to contradict his own earlier remarks that opened the door to talks.
Khamenei always has carefully threaded his remarks about negotiating with the West.
For months before and after the US election that saw Trump reclaim the White House, Iranian officials appeared to be signaling that they are waiting for a message from Trump on whether he wants to negotiate over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program. At stake are potentially billions of dollars withheld from Iran through crushing sanctions and the future of a program on the precipice of enriching weapons-grade uranium.
For his part, even when signing an executive order to reimpose his “maximum pressure on Iran” on Tuesday, Trump suggested he wanted to deal with Tehran.
“I’m going to sign it, but hopefully we’re not going to have to use it very much,” he said from the Oval Office. “We will see whether or not we can arrange or work out a deal with Iran.”
“We don’t want to be tough on Iran. We don’t want to be tough on anybody,” Trump added. “But they just can’t have a nuclear bomb.”
Trump followed with another online message on Wednesday, saying: “Reports that the United States, working in conjunction with Israel, is going to blow Iran into smithereens, ARE GREATLY EXAGGERATED.”
“I would much prefer a Verified Nuclear Peace Agreement, which will let Iran peacefully grow and prosper,” he wrote on Truth Social. “We should start working on it immediately, and have a big Middle East Celebration when it is signed and completed.”
Trump did not elaborate.
Earlier in the week, Trump also said that displaced Palestinians in Gaza could be permanently resettled outside the war-torn territory and proposed the US take “ownership” in redeveloping the area into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”
While not directly linking Trump's comments on Gaza, Khamenei appeared to be referencing them in his remarks as well.
“The Americans sit, redrawing the map of the world — but only on paper, as it has no basis in reality," Khamenei said. “They make statements about us, express opinions and issue threats. If they threaten us, we will threaten them in return. If they act on their threats, we will act on ours. If they violate the security of our nation, we will, without a doubt, respond in kind.”



Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
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Iran Says It Will Respond to Reimposition of UN Sanctions

Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei. (Iranian Foreign Ministry)

Iran will react to any reimposition of United Nations sanctions over its nuclear program, the country's foreign ministry spokesperson said on Monday, without elaborating on what actions Tehran might take.

A French diplomatic source told Reuters last week that European powers would have to restore UN sanctions on Iran under the so-called "snapback mechanism" if there were no nuclear deal that guaranteed European security interests.

The "snapback mechanism" is a process that would reimpose UN sanctions on Tehran under a 2015 nuclear deal that lifted the measures in return for restrictions on Iran's nuclear program.

"The threat to use the snapback mechanism lacks legal and political basis and will be met with an appropriate and proportionate response from Iran," Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei told a press conference, without giving further details.

The 2015 deal with Britain, Germany, France, the US, Russia and China - known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) - states that if the parties cannot resolve accusations of "significant non-performance" by Iran, the "snapback mechanism" process can be triggered by the 15-member UN Security Council.

"The European parties, who are constantly trying to use this possibility as a tool, have themselves committed gross and fundamental violations of their obligations under the JCPOA," Baghaei said.

"They have failed to fulfill the duties they had undertaken under the JCPOA, so they have no legal or moral standing to resort to this mechanism."

Western countries accuse Iran of plotting to build a nuclear weapon, which Tehran denies.

The United States pulled out of the deal in 2018 under the first administration of President Donald Trump, who called the agreement "weak".

Trump, whose second presidency began in January, has urged Tehran to return to nuclear negotiations on a new deal after a ceasefire was reached last month that ended a 12-day air war between Iran and Israel that destabilized the Middle East.

When asked if Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi would meet with Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, Baghaei said no date or location had been set for resuming the US-Iran nuclear talks.