DUBAI--Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Monday rejected an offer of renewed talks from U.S. President Donald Trump and denied his assertion that the United States has destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities.
Tehran and Washington engaged in five rounds of indirect nuclear negotiations that ended with the 12-day air war in June in which Israel and the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites. "Trump says he is a dealmaker, but if a deal is accompanied by coercion and its outcome is predetermined, it is not a deal but rather an imposition and bullying," Khamenei said according to state media.
Last week, Trump told the Israeli parliament that it would be great if Washington could negotiate a "peace deal" with Tehran, following the start of a ceasefire in Gaza between Israel and Palestinian militant group Hamas. "The U.S. president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran's nuclear industry. Very well, keep dreaming!" Khamenei added. "What does it have to do with America whether Iran has nuclear facilities or not? These interventions are inappropriate, wrong and coercive."
Western powers accuse Iran of covertly trying to develop a nuclear bomb through enrichment of uranium, and want it to cease such activity. Tehran denies seeking to weaponise enrichment, saying the programme has solely civilian energy purposes.
Iran has scrapped a cooperation deal that it signed with the UN nuclear watchdog IAEA in September, its Supreme National Security Council Secretary said on Monday, according to state media. The statement came around three weeks after Iran's foreign minister, Abbas Araqchi, said Tehran would scrap the agreement, which let the IAEA resume inspections of its nuclear sites, if Western powers reinstated U.N. sanctions. Those were reinstated last month.
The confirmation will be a setback for the International Atomic Energy Agency which has been trying to rebuild cooperation with Tehran since Israel and the United States bombed the nuclear sites in June.
