Furious With US Threats, Iranian President: I Will Not Negotiate, Do What You Want

JAKARTA - President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would not negotiate with the United States despite being threatened, telling President Donald Trump to "do whatever you want", Iranian state media reported Tuesday.

"It is unacceptable to us that they (US) gave orders and made threats. I will not even negotiate with you. Do whatever you want," state media reported, citing President Pezeshkian's statement.

Last week, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Saturday Tehran would not be intimidated for negotiations, a day after President Trump said he had sent a letter urging Iran to engage in talks about a new nuclear deal.

On Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei said at a press conference that Iran had not received any letter from President Trump, as quoted by IRNA.

While expressing openness to the deal with Tehran, President Trump has returned the "maximum pressure" campaign he implemented during his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and encourage its oil exports to drop to close to zero.

In an interview with Fox Business last week President Trump said, "There are two ways to deal with Iran: militarily, or make a deal" to prevent Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Iran has long denied wanting to develop nuclear weapons. However, the country " dramatically" accelerated uranium enrichment to 60 percent purity, approaching a weapons level of around 90 percent, the IAEA has warned.

Iran has accelerated its nuclear work since 2019, a year after US President Trump canceled Tehran's 2015 nuclear pact with six world superpowers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled the country's economy.