The White House, responding to Iran's rejection of President Donald Trump's call to negotiate a nuclear agreement, on Saturday reiterated Trump's assertion that Tehran can be dealt with either militarily or by making a deal.
"We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror," White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes said in a statement, after Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, said Tehran will not be bullied into negotiations.
"The insistence of some bullying governments on negotiations is not to resolve issues. ... Talks for them is a pathway to have new demands, it is not only about Iran's nuclear issue. ... Iran will definitely not accept their expectations," Khamenei was quoted as saying, without directly mentioning Trump.
During his 2017-2021 term, Trump withdrew the United States from a landmark deal between Iran and major powers that had placed strict limits on Tehran's nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
After Trump pulled out in 2018 and re-imposed sanctions, Iran breached and far surpassed those limits.
UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi has said that time is running out for diplomacy to impose new restrictions on Iran's activities, as Tehran continues to accelerate its enrichment of uranium to near weapons-grade.
