Tehran, March 30 — Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian announced on Sunday that Tehran will not engage in direct negotiations with the United States over its advancing nuclear program. His statement comes in response to a letter from US President Donald Trump to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Speaking in Tehran, Pezeshkian said Iran’s reply, delivered through Oman, left the door open for indirect talks. However, negotiations have remained stalled since Trump withdrew the US from the 2018 nuclear deal during his first term.
Trump, in a television interview, confirmed sending the letter on March 12. “I’ve written them a letter saying, I hope you’re going to negotiate because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,” he said.
Despite Pezeshkian’s earlier campaign pledge to re-engage with the West, he has hardened his stance since Khamenei rejected talks with Trump in February, calling them neither “intelligent, wise, nor honourable.”
Meanwhile, regional tensions continue to rise. The US has launched airstrikes against Iran-backed Houthi rebels in Yemen, while Tehran-backed groups have intensified attacks against Israel. During Quds Day demonstrations on Friday, Iranian organizers instructed crowds to chant only “Death to Israel!”—a departure from the usual inclusion of “Death to America!”
Iranian state media, however, recently published a list of US military bases in the Middle East as potential targets, including Camp Thunder Cove on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean, where stealth B-2 bombers are stationed.
