President Masoud Pezeshkian said Iran would not negotiate with the US while being threatened, telling President Donald Trump to “do whatever the hell you want,” Iranian state media reported on Tuesday.
“It is unacceptable for us that they (the US) give orders and make threats. I won’t even negotiate with you. Do whatever the hell you want,” state media quoted Pezeshkian as saying.
Despite his remarks, Pezeshkian does not control Iran’s foreign policy, where Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei has the final say on all state matters. Earlier this month, Pezeshkian had expressed personal support for negotiations with the US but acknowledged that talks would not take place as long as Khamenei opposed them.
On Friday, Trump said he had written to Khamenei, urging fresh nuclear talks while warning of possible military action if Tehran refused.
The following day, Khamenei rejected what he described as bullying tactics, saying without naming Trump that the US president’s “insistence” on negotiations was not about resolving issues but about imposing US demands on Iran.
“Some bully governments – I really don’t know of any more appropriate term for some foreign figures and leaders than the word bullying – insist on negotiations,” Khamenei said.
“Their negotiations are not aimed at solving problems, they aim at domination,” he added.
Again, without directly naming the US, Khamenei accused Washington of using negotiations as a pretext to introduce “new demands”—ones that go beyond the nuclear issue to include Iran’s military capabilities and regional influence.
Khamenei said Iran won’t entertain these demands.
Tehran has said it will not negotiate under “maximum pressure.” The policy, reinstated by Trump on his return to the White House in January, saw him reimpose sweeping sanctions on the Islamic Republic during his first term after abandoning the 2015 nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA).
The 2015 agreement, signed between Iran and major world powers, had provided sanctions relief in exchange for limits on Iran’s nuclear activities.
