US president threatens Iran with bombings if Tehran does not come to a nuclear agreement with Washington.
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has ruled out direct negotiations with the administration of US President Donald Trump over the country’s nuclear programme but signalled a willingness for indirect talks, while Trump threatened bombings and secondary tariffs if Tehran does not come to an agreement with Washington.
“We responded to the US president’s letter via Oman and rejected the option of direct talks, but we are open to indirect negotiations,” Pezeshkian said during a cabinet meeting in Tehran on Sunday.
He stressed that while Iran is not against negotiations in principle, Washington must first rectify its past “misconduct” and rebuild trust.
His remarks, reported by the ISNA news agency, come amid escalating tensions between the two nations.
“If they don’t make a deal, there will be bombing,” Trump said in a telephone interview with NBC on Sunday.
“But there’s a chance that if they don’t make a deal, that I will do secondary tariffs on them like I did four years ago.”
Barbara Slavin, a fellow at the Stimson Center in Washington and a lecturer in international affairs at George Washington University, told Al Jazeera that “the Iranians are, right to be distrustful, given Trump’s track record and withdrawing from a previous deal”.
Trump has even signalled willingness to lift sanctions if nuclear and regional issues are resolved, but his ability to secure a deal is uncertain, said Slavin.
“The Iranians are worried, but mostly about the economic impact of Trump’s sanctions, the resumption and increase in economic sanctions, which we’ve already seen. The Iranian currency has depreciated dramatically. There’s high inflation and unemployment, and I think this frankly worries the Iranians more than a physical attack, which if anything, might unify the country,” she added.
“The US has moved additional bombers to Diego Garcia. It’s got another aircraft carrier apparently coming into the region. So it is well positioned to carry out some sort of military action, possibly in conjunction with the Israelis if there isn’t movement toward a diplomatic settlement,” Slavin said.
Earlier in March, Trump had written to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, warning that Tehran must either agree to fresh negotiations or face a military confrontation.
Khamenei dismissed the ultimatum, insisting that Iran would only engage in talks through intermediaries.
In his first term as US president in 2017-2021, Trump withdrew the US from a 2015 deal between Iran and world powers that placed strict limits on Tehran’s disputed nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief.
After Trump pulled out of the deal in 2018 and reimposed sweeping US sanctions, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) said that Iran had amassed enough fissile material for multiple bombs but had made no effort to build one.
Iran has said its nuclear programme is wholly for civilian energy purposes.
Iran’s economy has been battered by sanctions, with observers suggesting that only a breakthrough in negotiations with Washington could lead to any relief.
Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iran’s Ayatollah Khamenei, said that Tehran had “not closed all doors” to negotiations.
“It is ready for indirect negotiations with the United States in order to evaluate the other party, state its own conditions and make the appropriate decision,” said the adviser, according to state media.
