Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian warned Donald Trump against the risk of a ‘war’ against the Islamic Republic, reaffirming that Iran was not ‘seeking’ to acquire nuclear weapons, in an interview with a US television channel on Tuesday.
‘I hope that (President-elect Donald) Trump will lead to regional and world peace and will not, on the contrary, contribute to bloodshed or war’, declared Iran's new reformist president in an interview conducted in his country by NBC News, less than a week before the inauguration of the 47th American president.
Washington and Tehran have not had diplomatic relations for 45 years, and Donald Trump suggested several times during his campaign that Israel could strike Iranian nuclear facilities.
‘We will respond to any action. We do not fear war, but we do not seek it’, replied President Pezeshkian, through a translator, when asked about the prospect of Israeli military strikes, with US approval, against his country's nuclear sites.
At the same time, Iran's head of diplomacy, Abbas Araghchi, said on Tuesday that Germany, France and the United Kingdom were ‘seriously’ willing to resume negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, following talks in Geneva.
Tensions over Iran's civil nuclear programme -- with the major powers suspecting Tehran of having military objectives for two decades -- have only increased since President Trump withdrew from a 2015 international agreement in 2018.
This text, signed by the United States under the presidency of Barack Obama, China, Russia, France, the United Kingdom and Germany, offered Iran sanctions relief in exchange for limiting its nuclear ambitions.
Since Washington's withdrawal, Iran has reneged on its commitments on enrichment and control of its nuclear programme.
‘Everything we have done so far has been peaceful. We are not seeking to create a nuclear weapon. But they are accusing us of trying to make an atomic bomb’, the Iranian president defended himself.
Asked by NBC News about the possibility of ‘direct and open negotiations with President Trump’, the Iranian leader was sceptical.
‘The problem is not dialogue. The problem lies in the commitments that result from discussions and from this dialogue’, he replied, deploring the fact that “the other party has not kept its promises or fulfilled its obligations”.
With AFP.
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