Foreign Ministry:

No Talks Possible with US Economic Terrorism in Place

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Seyed Abbas Mousavi reminded Washington that to hold talks with Tehran, US must first put an end to its economic terrorism against the Islamic Republic.

News ID: 446540

Date: 13 August 2019 - 10:01

RNA -  Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Mousavi referred to his American counterpart’s recent remarks that US President Donald Trump is still waiting for a call from Iranian officials, noting, “They have been expecting the Islamic Republic to do this for a long time, but this is a futile expectation.”

“As long as America has not stopped its economic terrorism and exerting pressure [on the Iranian nation], the Islamic Republic will enter into no talks [with the United States],” the Iranian diplomat said.

Saying that no one with common sense would ever engage in talks under such circumstances, Mousavi added, "The Islamic Republic has a powerful government and nation and will try to give powerful voice to its positions, while Americans have proved time and again that they lack honesty."

The spokesman said confusion in the US foreign policy is indicative of the fact that they are not honest when declaring their positions and this is why the Islamic Republic does not care much about what they say.

In a report back in May, the CNN said the White House had contacted Swiss authorities to share a telephone number with Iran in hopes that Tehran would contact Trump.

Citing an unknown source, the broadcaster said, however, that Iran was “highly unlikely” to demand the number from Swiss authorities.

The development came a year after Trump pulled the US out of the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), claiming that it was a bad deal.

Trump unilaterally withdrew the US from the international deal and unleashed the “toughest ever” sanctions against Tehran in defiance of global criticism, notably targeting the Iranian energy sector.

In April, the White House terminated sanctions waivers for major buyers of crude from the Islamic Republic in an attempt to bring Iran’s oil exports to “zero.”

Washington has also been building up its military presence in the Middle East under the pretext of 'Iranian threats.'

In May, Washington announced a highly provocative plan to dispatch military reinforcements to the Middle East, citing an unspecified Iranian threat.

Later, however, Trump toned down his highly belligerent rhetoric against Iran and repeated, on several occasions, an offer of talks to Tehran.

Last Saturday, Chairman of Iran's Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and former Foreign Minister Seyed Kamal Kharrazi said Washington’s sanctions against Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif proved that Americans were insincere in their call for talks with Tehran, adding that the White House is deceptive in its foreign policy.

Kharrazi described the US call for negotiation with Iran as a “hoax” and a trick, adding that sanctioning Zarif showed the White House’s desperation against Iran’s rightful language of diplomacy.

“The US president and secretary of state have constantly called for negotiation with Iran while they have imposed sanction on the head of the country’s diplomacy, Kharrazi said, adding that “this reveals that the US call for negotiation is a ‘hoax’” which is aimed at getting Iran to give in to their bullying approach.

According to Fars News Agancy, Kharrazi said that Trump applies a unilateralist approach even against the US allies, adding the Europeans have not made a shred of achievement in their talks with the US.

The former Iranian top diplomat added that sanctioning Zarif showed White House’s desperation against Iran’s rightful language of diplomacy, calling for launching a campaign on social networking websites and global media against the US illegal action.

Early in last month, Iranian Vice-President for Legal and Parliamentary Affairs Hosseinali Amiri described the recent US sanctions against the top officials of his country as a display of Washington’s frustration and desperation, adding that the new bans contradict the White House call for talks.

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