"Mr. Trump! The Iranian nation is confident that your claim that the honorable
president of the Islamic Republic of Iran has requested a meeting with you is a
big lie like your other lies," General Jafari said in Tehran on Wednesday.
He underlined that while the US hegemonic system's cruelties continue under the
leadership of the imperialist system of the Trump administration, Iran will not
change its approach as the country's culture is interwoven with might
accompanied by struggle against oppression.
General Jafari underscored that all oppressed nations and freedom-seeking people
in the world are uniting against the US, and said when the world leaders mocked
at Trump during his speech at the UN General Assembly meeting, the US isolation
was displayed more than ever.
President Rouhani told an American news outlet on Tuesday that, contrary to
Trump's claims, the US has sent eight requests for meeting him since last year.
The Iranian chief executive made the remarks in an interview with CNN's
Christiane Amanpour, reassuring that Iran sees it useless to hold talks with
Trump's administration.
In a bid to show a pose of nonchalance, the US president posted a tweet on
Tuesday morning, saying that "Despite requests, I have no plans to meet Iranian
President Hassan Rouhani. Maybe someday in the future. I am sure he is an
absolutely lovely man!"
While Trump has been wearing a tough face against Iran nuclear agreement and
even he pulled the US out of the agreement in a unilateral move in early May, he
has been sporadically trying to schedule a bilateral meeting with his Iranian
counterpart.
To his dismay, Iran has been rejecting flat his numerous requests, saying that
any new rounds of Iran-US talks are hinged upon the US government's behavior in
regard with the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), also known as Iran
nuclear accord.
Since the conclusion of the Iran deal on July 14, 2015, Iran has implemented the
articles of the agreement and observed the undertakings it had made in the
accord, according to more than a dozen reports issued by the UN atomic energy
watchdog (IAEA) but, in violation of the agreement, the US has refused to allow
Iran to benefit from the economic reliefs promised in the deal.
In a relevant development earlier on Tuesday, an Iranian envoy at the UN also
rejected media speculations that Rouhani has requested a meeting with Trump in
New York on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
"Iran has not requested a meeting,” Alireza Miryousefi, a spokesman for Iran’s
UN mission, told Reuters on Tuesday.
Trump's claim may seem to look more unbelievable to politically savvy people as
President Rouhani voiced surprise, earlier this month, at the US repeated calls
for negotiations with Tehran amid severe hostilities.
"On one hand, they pressure the Iranian nation, and on the other hand, they send
us messages through different channels every day calling for negotiations,"
President Rouhani said, addressing a festival in Tehran.
Addressing the White House officials, he said, "Should we believe your softness
in messages or your brutal acts? If you are sincere and like the Iranian nation,
why do you want to exert pressure on people's lives?"
President Rouhani underscored that Washington and its allies are making a
mistake if they think that they can force the Iranian nation to bow to pressures
and surrender to the US after several months.
In relevant comments in August, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution
Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei underlined that Iran would not sit to the
negotiating table with Washington, and declared a strong ban on talks with the
US.
"Recently, the US officials have been talking blatantly about us. Beside
sanctions, they talk about war and negotiations. They talk about a spirit of war
to frighten the cowards," Ayatollah Khamenei said, addressing a large number of
Iranian people from all walks of life in Tehran.
"In the matter of negotiations, they play a poor game. One of them says,
negotiations with preconditions, another one says, negotiations without
preconditions. Let me address the people on the matter in a few words: There
will be no war, nor will we negotiate with the US. This is the gist of the word
that all the Iranian people should know. The US has now suggested negotiations;
this is not new. This has existed since the beginning of the revolution," he
underlined.
Ayatollah Khamenei explained to the audience why Iran has decided not to
negotiate with the United States, and asserted, "Why won’t we negotiate? The US
negotiations formula is this; because the Americans rely on money and power,
they consider negotiations as a commercial exchange; when the US wants to
negotiate with a party, they determine their main goals, and then they won’t
retreat even a step away from these goals; they demand the other party to pay a
privilege immediately; and if the other party refuses to comply with them, they
start to make a fuss, so the other party would surrender; the US itself does not
pay anything in exchange for what it takes from the other party; the US only
makes strong promises in order to enchant the other party with mere promises; in
the final stage, after receiving all the immediate advantages, the US breach
their own promises."
"This is the method of the American negotiations. Now should we negotiate with
such a fraudulent government? The JCPOA was a clear example of this," Ayatollah
Khamenei said, and added, "Even if we ever - impossible as it is - negotiated
with the US, it would never ever be with the current US administration."
Ayatollah Khamenei banned any negotiations with the US, saying, "The Islamic
Republic can negotiate with the US only when it reaches the power and
sovereignty that would nullify US’s pressures and domineering efforts; when
those efforts have no effect on Iran. Today this is not the case. Thus, I will
ban negotiations with the US just as Imam (Khomeini) did."
The Leader of the Islamic Revolution slammed US rhetoric towards Iran, and
stated, "The US has become more blatant and ruder in their rhetoric over the
past few months. Previously they were not so observant of diplomatic etiquette
in their speech either; however, they have become ruder towards all nations."
Ayatollah Khamenei drew an example of US’s blatancy in actions and rhetoric, and
said, "The example of it is that during the last week, the Saudis committed two
crimes: attacking a hospital and attacking a school bus with 40 or 50 innocent
children on board. Do you have 8 or 9 year-olds at home? This is a dramatic
tragedy. It truly breaks one’s heart. The news shook the global conscience. But
how did the US react? Instead of condemning the crime, the US said, "We have
strategic relations with Saudi Arabia.” Is this not shamelessness? What the US
president did to two or three thousand children by separating them from their
parents, putting them in cages because they were immigrants is an unprecedented
crime in history."
Source: FNA