Dubai — Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian on Monday questioned the US’s sincerity in seeking negotiations with Tehran as crowds of people, many chanting “Death to America”, rallied across the country to mark the anniversary of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
US President Donald Trump last week restored his “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran that includes efforts to drive its oil exports down to zero to stop Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
Trump said however that he would like to have a verified nuclear peace agreement with Tehran and expressed a willingness to talk to Pezeshkian, who said last week it would be easy to verify Iran was not developing atomic weapons.
Pezeshkian, in a televised speech at Tehran’s Azadi (Freedom) Square on Monday, adopted a harsh tone: “If the US were sincere about negotiations, why did they sanction us?”
He said Tehran “does not seek war... but will not yield to foreign pressure”.
Iranian state television showed hundreds of thousands of people turning out to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution in a rally the clerical establishment billed as a chance to show unity amid mounting US and Israeli pressure.
“Death to America,” and “Death to Israel,” shouted demonstrators in cities and towns across Iran, repeating the ritual chant of the revolution which toppled the US-backed Shah and swept the Shiite Muslim clergy to power.
State media published a picture depicting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Trump wearing prison uniforms and standing inside a metal cage. Another picture showed some marchers hanging an effigy of Trump by a noose.
On Friday, Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that talks with the US were “not smart, wise, or honourable”, but he stopped short of renewing a ban on direct talks with Washington decreed during the first Trump administration in 2018.
During his previous term in office in 2018, Trump ditched Tehran’s 2015 nuclear pact with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran’s economy.
Iran’s currency fell on Monday to an all-time low of 932,500 to the dollar on the unofficial market compared with 869,500 rials on Friday, according to the foreign exchange website alanchand.com.
Last month, UN nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told Reuters that Iran is “pressing the gas pedal” on its enrichment of uranium to near weapons grade. Iran, which has breached the 2015 pact’s nuclear curbs, has long said its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful.
“No country negotiates under pressure and coercion unless it intends to surrender, especially when we remember a history of unfulfilled promises from Washington,” Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi told state TV.
Reuters
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