Tehran, IRNA – President Masoud Pezeshkian says Iran is ready for negotiations with the United States that are based on equal terms and in keeping with Iranian “honor and wisdom.”
In an interview with NBC’s Lester Holt, and according to a Persian transcript published by IRNA, the president said that Iran was ready for negotiations, but on certain terms.
“We have always been ready for negotiations. What we are concerned about and what has been borne out and resulted in the negotiations failing is that, forever, we have been negotiating and we have been upholding our side [of the deal] and the other side has been seeking to exert pressure,” the Iranian president said.
“We must be ensured that the other side will adhere to what is written down on paper and signed,” he added.
President Pezeshkian said Iran would be fine with negotiations if Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei and the rest of the government trusted that the other side would comply with its own obligations.
“They can’t impose sanctions by the day and then expect us to negotiate at the same time,” the president said. “If you genuinely seek peace and tranquility in the [West Asia] region, why do you keep sanctioning and threatening us everyday? Why do you dispatch individuals who would assassinate a group of innocent people in [our] society?”
He said Iran was not after building a nuclear bomb. “When we say we’re not [after a nuclear bomb], how much clearer can one be?”
The Iranian president said that when he took office, Iran held talks with Europe to clear out any concerns. “Even when we were in New York [for the United Nations General Assembly], we held talks with […] the Americans themselves indirectly. But unfortunately, the Zionist regime disrupted this contact and these conversations with a range of activities that started with the assassination of [Ismail] Haniyeh.”
He rejected pressure meant to steer Iran away from its goals and said the country was ready for talks.
“We are ready for negotiations; we would agree to talks that would be on equal terms and in keeping with our own honor and wisdom and will by no means submit to force,” President Pezeshkian said.
(This item is being updated.)
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