Iran will refuse to negotiate with the US as long as Washington maintains its campaign of “maximum pressure” — even if President Donald Trump is re-elected, Iranian President Hassan Rouhani says.
Mr Rouhani’s defiant remarks solidify Iran’s hard line in a face-off with the Trump administration that only weeks ago brought Washington and Tehran to the brink of war.
“It makes no difference who will be the next administration,” Mr Rouhani said, speaking at a news conference in Tehran.
“Iran will never negotiate under pressure.”
He demanded that the US return to the 2015 nuclear deal, which Mr Trump quit in 2018 citing Iran’s military activity in the Middle East.
The Iranian President, who has been isolated domestically amid the nuclear deal’s near collapse and the economic damage of US sanctions, said he still had the support of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
Mr Rouhani said he had twice asked Ayatollah Khamenei if he had a better candidate for the job of Iran’s president but was asked to stay. “I told the Supreme Leader, ‘If you think for some reason that someone else or another government can serve the country better, I’m ready to quit’,” he said.
Mr Rouhani threatened to resign after the Iranian military mistakenly shot down a Ukrainian passenger airline in January, with his government clashing with the country’s military over whether to admit responsibility.
The President on Monday, for the first time, acknowledged he heard about possible missiles being the cause of the plane crash a day after the incident. He said he wasn’t officially notified until nearly three days later.
Mr Rouhani spoke as Iran prepared for parliamentary elections on Friday, for which the establishment is trying to rally a large turnout to bolster itself against a rise of discontent.
Read the article by Resu Eqbali and Sune Engel Rasmussen in The Australian (from The Wall Street Journal).