Iran Says Ready To Negotiate With U.S., But Not Under 'Maximum Pressure'

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi said his country is ready to negotiate with Washington regarding its nuclear program and related sanctions, but he said talks couldn’t take place under President Donald Trump’s “maximum pressure” strategy.

"The lifting of sanctions requires negotiations, but not within the framework of a 'maximum pressure' policy, because it would not be a negotiation but a form of surrender," Araqchi said on social media.

"Iran does not want to negotiate with a country that is simultaneously imposing new sanctions," he said.

Trump on February 4 signed an order to restore his "maximum economic pressure" policy on Iran aimed at hurting its oil exports and slowing its nuclear program.

He ordered the Treasury Department to impose the pressure through sanctions and enforcement mechanisms on individuals and entities that violate existing sanctions.

He also directed the Treasury and State Departments to implement a campaign aimed at "driving Iran's oil exports to zero."

As he signed the memo, Trump described it as very tough but also said he was open to a deal with Iran and expressed a willingness to talk to the Iranian leadership.

"With me, it's very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon," Trump added.

A landmark deal with world powers in 2015 restricted Iran's nuclear program in exchange for sanctions relief.

But Trump withdrew the United States from the agreement during his first term and reimposed sanctions in 2018, leading Tehran to accelerate its uranium enrichment and limit international inspections of its nuclear sites.

When he pulled out of the nuclear deal, Trump said Tehran was not living up to the spirit of the deal and was continuing attempts to develop nuclear weapons. He also accused Iran of supporting extremist violence in the region, which Tehran denied.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi

Araqchi said that “Iran has already made abundantly clear that under no circumstances will Iran ever seek, develop, or acquire any nuclear weapons."

He added it was “not difficult to reach practical assurances that Iran will not have nuclear weapons, provided that objective guarantees are also provided that hostile measures against Iran -- including economic pressures and sanctions -- will be effectively terminated.”

A day earlier, Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei dismissed the prospect of nuclear talks with the United States, insisting that negotiations would not address Iran's problems days after Trump talked of making a deal where Iranians could "get on" with their lives.

"The reality that we must understand is that negotiating with America has no effect in resolving the country's problems," Khamenei said on February 7 in an annual address to Iranian Air Force officers.

The latest comments come as several thousand Iranians from across Europe rallied in Paris on February 8, urging world leaders to put more pressure on Iran’s ruling clerics.

"Instead of appeasing the mullahs, [the world] should stand side by side with the Iranian people," Maryam Radjavi, president of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told the rally.

The council is the political wing of the People's Mujahedin of Iran, which Tehran regards as a "terrorist" organization.

"The Iranian region will fall like the Syrian regime fell -- at a speed that no one would have predicted," Riad al-Asaad, a former Syrian rebel leader, told the gathering by a video link.

Tehran has been accused by international organizations, Western leaders, and activists of rights violations, most recently linked to massive street protests that erupted across Iran in 2022 following the death in custody of Mahsa Amini, a young woman who was arrested for allegedly violating the hijab law.

With reporting by RFE/RL's Radio Farda, Reuters, and AFP