Posted on 03/08/25
| News Source: Arutz-7
Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Saturday said that his country will not be "bullied" into negotiations on its nuclear program.
During a meeting with senior Iranian officials, Khamenei said that the US aims to "impose their own expectations" on Iran, the country's state media reported.
The US is "bringing up new demands that certainly will not be accepted by Iran, like our defense capabilities, missile range and international influence," he added.
Khamenei did not name the US, but said that "some bullying governments" insist on negotiations as "a pathway to have new demands" instead of to resolve problems. "Iran will definitely not accept their expectations," he added.
He also claimed that there is "no other way to stand against coercion and bullying."
On Friday, US President Donald Trump told Fox News that he sent a letter to Khamenei, demanding that Iran negotiate.
The letter said that Trump prefers to hold negotiations with Iran, but if there is no chance that that negotiations will succeed, then the other alternative is "to do something, because Iran cannot have nuclear weapons."
Trump also said that the US will take the necessary steps to prevent Iran from achieving nuclear capabilities.
"If Iran doesn't negotiate, it will be very ugly for them," he told Fox. "Iran can’t have nukes. Other options are available."
Later on Friday, Trump said that something related to Iran is "going to happen very soon."
"We have a situation with Iran that something's going to happen very soon, very, very soon. You'll be talking about that pretty soon, I guess," Trump told reporters at the Oval Office.
"And hopefully we can have a peace deal," he added. "You know, I'm not speaking out of strength or weakness. I'm just saying I'd rather see a peace deal than the other [option], but the other will solve the problem."