Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif demanded Monday respect from the United States if it wants Iran to return to negotiations, saying it will resist pressure from Washington.
“Iran will never yield to pressure from the United States ... If they want to talk to Iran, they should show respect,” Zarif said in a speech broadcast live on state TV.
“Iran has always resisted pressure and has responded with respect when respected.”
The two countries have been drawn into starker confrontation since May, when Washington mounted pressure on Tehran by ordering all countries to halt imports of Iranian oil, and the future of Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers hangs in the balance.
Washington has tightened sanctions and dispatched extra forces to the Middle East, and US fighter jets came within minutes of conducting air strikes on Iran last month after Tehran downed an unmanned American drone.
US President Donald Trump has called for negotiations with Iran with “no preconditions”.
But Tehran has ruled out talks with Trump until the United States returns to the nuclear pact, which he quit last year.
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In reaction to the US withdrawal from the nuclear deal, Iran said in May that it had quadrupled its production of low enriched uranium, and diplomats say it is days away from exceeding the maximum amount of the substance allowed under the deal.
In last-ditch talks in Vienna on Friday to persuade Iran to back off from its plans to breach the limits, Iran’s envoy said European countries still party to the nuclear deal had offered too little in return.
This article has been adapted from its original source.
