"Wants to deceive us"

Iran: Trump’s offer of talks is not genuine

US President Donald Trump has threatened the Iranian leadership over the nuclear program.(Bild: AP/AP ( via APA) Austria Presse Agentur)

US President Donald Trump has invited Iran's Supreme Leader to discuss the country's nuclear program. However, the latter has rejected the proposal. The offer of talks was just a deception, said Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"If we know that they will not honor it, what is the point of negotiations? Therefore, the invitation to negotiations ... is a deception of public opinion," he said. US President Donald Trump had previously said he had sent Khamenei a letter. In it, he had not only proposed talks, but also warned "that there are two ways to deal with Iran: militarily or strike a deal" that would prevent the government there from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Khamenei, who has the final say in matters of state, described the demands as "excessive". Threats would not be used to force talks. In 2018, Trump declared the USA's withdrawal from Tehran's nuclear agreement with the world powers. He imposed sanctions that severely damaged the Iranian economy.

"The USA could not stop us from having nuclear weapons"
As a result, the leadership in Iran no longer felt committed to the agreement and responded a year later with a violation. However, it has repeatedly emphasized in public that it only wants to use nuclear power for civilian purposes and does not want to develop a nuclear weapon. "If we wanted to build nuclear weapons, the USA would not be able to stop us. We ourselves do not want that," Khamenei has now said.

According to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), however, Iran's stocks of uranium, which is enriched to up to 60 percent purity, have risen sharply. This is close to the weapons-grade quality of around 90 percent.