Iranian leader says no talks with US under pressure

Source:Xinhua Published: 2013-2-8 8:45:25

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Thursday rejected any talks with the United States under pressure, Press TV reported.

The Obama administration on Wednesday expanded the US sanctions on Iran by tightening up economic measures against the Islamic republic and adding more names to its blacklist.

Talking to a group of military officials here on Thursday, Khamenei referred to the recent US proposal of direct talks with the Islamic republic, saying that the United States' failure in the Middle East has prompted Washington to make the offer of negotiating with the Islamic republic, according to Press TV.

Last week, US Vice President Joe Biden said the United States keeps the door open for direct talks with the Iranian government with regard to its controversial nuclear program.

Such negotiation offers are not something new, said Khamenei, adding that US officials repeated the same words in the past, but the Iranian nation judged on the basis of what they did in practice, according to the semi-official Fars news agency.

Four years ago, US officials offered the talks between Iran and the United States, and Iranians waited for their approach in practice. However, "during the past four years, nothing was noticed from them (Americans) but continuation of their plots ( against the Islamic republic) and their supports for the terrorists who assassinated Iran's (nuclear) scientists," he was quoted by Fars as saying.

"You impose, as you call it, paralyzing sanctions to paralyze the Iranian nation. Is this a gesture of good-will or ill-will," he maintained.

The Iranian leader emphasized that "talks for the talk's sake" or for "tactical" purposes is a "deceiving" move, according to Fars.

"I am not a diplomat (but) a revolutionary. Therefore, I am talking openly, honestly and determinedly: the offer for the talks is meaningful when the (talking) side displays its good-will," said Khamenei.

US officials should know that "pressure and talks cannot go together and the Iranian nation will not be intimidated by such approaches," he stressed.

The West and the Islamic republic are at odds over the country's controversial nuclear program. Iran's nuclear activities have aroused concerns of the West that the country is making headways in its pursuit for nuclear weapons. However, Iran has repeatedly said its nuclear program has only peaceful goals.

Western countries have imposed increasingly stringent sanctions on Iran since last year to thwart what they say Iran's ambition to become a nuclear power. By doing so, they believe Iran would finally surrender and give up its nuclear program that arguably has a military dimension.

Defiant to the Western sanctions aimed at curbing Iran's pace towards expanding its nuclear activities, the Islamic republic informed the International Atomic Energy Agency last week of its plan to use the new centrifuges, a model called IR2m, at its uranium enriching facilities.

The world powers and the Islamic republic recently agreed with a new round of talks over Iran's nuclear program later this month after months of moratorium.

Posted in: Mid-East

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