Dubai (Web Desk): Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said on Sunday that Tehran will maintain its ban on talks with the United States, describing the two countries as implacable foes a day before the 40th anniversary of the seizure of the US embassy in Tehran.
“One way to block America’s political infiltration is to ban any talks with America. It means Iran will not yield to America’s pressure. Those who believe that negotiations with the enemy will solve our problems are 100 per cent wrong,” Khamenei, who is Iran’s top authority, was quoted by state TV as saying.
Relations between the two foes have reached a crisis over the past year after US President Donald Trump abandoned a 2015 nuclear pact between Iran and world powers under which Tehran accepted curbs to its nuclear programme in return for lifting sanctions.
Washington has reimposed sanctions aimed at halting all Iranian oil exports, saying it seeks to force Iran to negotiate to reach a wider deal. Khamenei has banned Iranian officials from holding such talks unless the United States returns to the nuclear deal and lifts all sanctions.
