President Masoud Pezeshkian said Thursday that Iran will not have nuclear weapons because Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has stressed the country does not plan to pursue such weapons.
“The religious leader of a society can’t lie,” Pezeshkian said on state television in Sari, northern Iran, as the third round of nuclear negotiations with the US took place in Geneva.
“When he announces that we won’t have nuclear weapons, it means we won’t. Even if I want to do that, I can’t, because of my beliefs."
In his State of the Union address on Tuesday, US President Donald Trump accused Iran of "pursuing sinister nuclear ambitions," though Tehran has always insisted its program is for civilian purposes.
Trump also claimed Tehran had "already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas, and they're working to build missiles that will soon reach the United States of America.”
Thursday's Geneva talks mediated by Oman follow a massive US military build-up in the region not seen in decades, with Trump threatening to strike Iran if a deal is not reached.
