Foreign Minister: Iran will respond to Trump’s letter

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi stated that the Islamic Republic will respond to the letter of US President Donald Trump in the coming days through appropriate channels.

Araghchi made the remarks while speaking during a live program on the Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting (IRIB) Channel 2 on Thursday.

Araghchi also noted that this time, the development comes alongside a diplomatic move from the Americans, including a letter and a request for negotiations.

He also stated that the Islamic Republic’s policy is clear. “We will not engage in direct negotiations under pressure, threats, or increased sanctions." 

According to Araghchi, negotiations must take place on equal footing and under fair conditions.

The foreign minister also stated that the letter is “mostly threatening,” but it also claims that there are opportunities.

As per the foreign minister, the Islamic Republic’s response will take all dimensions of the letter into account.

“We have thoroughly examined all aspects of the letter, considering every detail carefully,” he stated.

“We will see both the threat and opportunity aspects,” said Araghchi, citing the Iranian anti-terror commander Lieutenant General Qassem Soleimani, saying, “Within every threat, there also lies an opportunity.”

In early March, Trump stated that he had written a letter to the Leader of the Islamic Revolution, Ayatollah Sayyed Ali Khamenei.

Later in February, Ayatollah Khamenei, in a meeting with Air Force personnel in Tehran, stated that experience has shown that negotiations with the US do not affect solving Iran's problems.

Leader: Negotiations with US have no effect on solving problems

Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei says experience has shown that negotiations with the US have no effect on solving Iran

His remarks came hours after the US imposed its first sanctions in the wake of Trump’s signing of an order to reimpose his “maximum pressure” on Iran.

"Some people pretend that if we sit at the negotiating table, some problem will be solved, but the fact that we must understand correctly is that negotiating with the US does not affect solving the country's problems,” the Leader noted.

He also cited the experience of 2015 when Iran and six other countries, including the US, signed the now-dormant Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) after two years of negotiations, only to be discarded by Trump in 2018.

Later, Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian reiterated Tehran’s openness to negotiations but emphasized that the Islamic Republic will not give in to the pressure of bullying powers and won’t engage in any negotiations under duress.

In May 2018, Trump pulled Washington out of a multilateral international agreement, formally known as the JCPOA, signed between Iran and the five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council plus Germany in 2015.

The UNSC-endorsed agreement required Iran to scale back some of its nuclear activities in return for the lifting of sanctions imposed on the country, especially by the United States.

Trump then imposed severe economic sanctions against Tehran while Iran was adhering to its commitments under the deal and even continued to do so for a year after the US withdrawal.

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