Iran rejects talks with US in 'atmosphere of threats': foreign minister

PARIS: There can be no negotiations between Washington and Tehran if the United States makes threats against the Islamic republic, the Iranian foreign minister said Wednesday, with President Donald Trump refusing to rule out military action over Iran’s crackdown on protesters.

“Conducting diplomacy through military threat cannot be effective or useful. If they want negotiations to take shape, they must certainly set aside threats, excessive demands and raising illogical issues,” said Abbas Araghchi after the US deployed an aircraft carrier in the region.

“One cannot speak of talks in an atmosphere of threats,” he said in televised comments, adding that in recent days he had “no contact” with US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and that “Iran has not sought negotiations”.

Instability

Iran’s president on Tuesday warned US “threats” against the Islamic republic would only cause instability, as a US naval strike group led by an aircraft carrier took up position in Middle Eastern waters.

Washington has not ruled out military intervention against Tehran over its crackdown on protests — which rights groups say left thousands of people dead — and President Donald Trump has dispatched the USS Abraham Lincoln to the area “just in case”.

Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian hit out at US “threats” in a call with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, saying they were “aimed at disrupting the security of the region and will achieve nothing other than instability”.

The US also maintains several bases in the Middle East, prompting a Revolutionary Guards commander to issue a warning to Iran’s neighbours on Tuesday.

“Neighbouring countries are our friends, but if their soil, sky, or waters are used against Iran, they will be considered hostile,” Mohammad Akbarzadeh, political deputy of the IRGC naval forces, was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency.

Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry said the crown prince had promised Pezeshkian that Riyadh “will not allow its airspace or its territory to be used for any military actions” against Iran.

Since Iran launched its crackdown on protests earlier this month, Trump has given mixed signals on intervention, which some opponents of the clerical leadership see as the only way to bring about change.

“We have a big armada next to Iran. Bigger than Venezuela,” Trump told the Axios news site on Monday, weeks after the US military captured the Latin American nation’s president, Nicolas Maduro.

But he added: “They want to make a deal. I know so. They called on numerous occasions. They want to talk.”

Tehran has previously said a channel of communication is open between Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi and US envoy Steve Witkoff, despite the lack of diplomatic relations between the two foes.

Axios said Trump declined to discuss the options presented to him by his national security team, or which he prefers.

Analysts say options include strikes on military facilities or targeted attacks against the leadership under supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in a bid to bring down the system that has ruled Iran since the 1979 Islamic revolution that ousted the shah.

‘Weakest point’

The New York Times reported that Trump has received multiple US intelligence reports “indicating that the Iranian government’s position is weakening”, and that its hold on power “is at its weakest point” since the shah’s fall.

US Senator Lindsey Graham told the paper he had spoken with Trump in recent days about Iran and that “the goal is to end the regime”.

“They may stop killing them today, but if they’re in charge next month, they’ll kill them then,” he said of the authorities’ treatment of protesters.

Iranian officials have in recent days appeared wary of pouring oil on the fire.

The conservative Javan newspaper said Iran was “ready for a major response” and would seize the strategic Strait of Hormuz, a key transit hub for energy supplies.