Ayatollah Khamenei rejects talks with US, warns of ‘serious, irreparable harms’. Press TV – September 23, 2025.
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Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei has rejected Washington’s demands over nuclear negotiations, saying that accepting talks under threat is something “no honorable nation would ever do, and no wise statesman would ever endorse.”
Speaking in a televised address to the nation on Tuesday, Ayatollah Khamenei said negotiations with Washington under the current circumstances would bring “no benefit” to Iran and instead carry “serious and possibly irreparable harms.”
“Accepting negotiations under such threats would mean that the Islamic Republic of Iran is susceptible to intimidation.”
“If we were to negotiate under such threats, it would mean that we tremble and surrender whenever threatened,” the Leader said.
“If such susceptibility to threats were established, it would never end. Today, they say: if you enrich, we will do this. Tomorrow they will say: if you have missiles, we will do that … There would be endless threats, forcing us to retreat step by step.”
Ayatollah Khamenei said the United States is predetermining the outcome of any dialogue, and that Washington’s demands amount to dictation rather than negotiation.
“They have announced that the only acceptable result of negotiations is the shutdown of Iran’s nuclear activities and enrichment. So, we would sit at the table, and the outcome of the talks would be exactly what they had dictated in advance.”
“That is not negotiation,” the Leader stated, “that is dictation, that is imposition.”
“To negotiate with a party where the result must necessarily be what they want, and what they say; is that negotiation?”
The Leader pointed to recent American calls for Iran to abandon not only long-range but even short-range missiles.
The aim of such demands, Ayatollah Khamenei said, was to render Iran so weak and defenseless that it could not respond in any form if attacked. |
