Tehran, Iran (AP) – Iran’s ideal leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said Friday that his country would negotiate with the United States because the United States would only use the talks for propaganda purposes.
The Trump administration has said it is willing to communicate with Iran “without preconditions,” that the United States will continue its crusade for tension against the Islamic Republic.
In a televised confrontation with Eid al-Adha’s marking, Khamenei said President Donald Trump would gain advantages from the talks, saying Trump sought to “use negotiations with us for propaganda like negotiations with North Korea.” Khamenei refers to the talks between Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong un.
Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the nuclear accord between Iran and Western powers in May 2018. Iran later responded by slowly abandoning nearly every aspect of the agreement, though it still allows U.N. inspectors access to its nuclear sites.
Trump argued that the deal needed to be renegotiated because it dealt with Iran’s ballistic missile program or its involvement in regional conflicts. The other signatories to the nuclear deal (Germany, France, Britain, China and Russia) are suffering to keep him alive.
Khamenei said the U.S. wants Iran to give up its nuclear program, defense facilities and regional authority at the negotiating table.
He said the economic sanctions imposed on Iran through the United States are an opposite crime on Iran. “The sanctions oppose the Iranian system of government, but (in fact) they oppose the other Iranians inside.” He said Iranians suffering sanctions that affect the economy will inevitably confront the system of government.
A sharp increase in subsidized gas costs led to four days of unrest in Iranian cities in November, which Amnesty International said more than 300 people had been killed in clashes with police and security forces.
Tehran has not yet published official statistics on the extent of the riots, in June the government declared that security forces had shot and killed the protesters. One lawmaker said 230 other people had been killed in anti-government protests.