Khamenei tells Trump to 'keep dreaming' he destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities"
   The  US president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran's nuclear  industry. Very well, keep dreaming!" Khamenei said on X/Twitter.
  Khamenei tells Trump to 'keep dreaming' he destroyed Iran's nuclear capabilities"The  US president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran's nuclear  industry. Very well, keep dreaming!" Khamenei said on X/Twitter.  L to R: Iran Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, US President Donald Trump against backdrop of respective flags and missile strikes.(photo credit: ILLUSTRATION, REUTERS/Majid Asgaripour/WANA 2, Shutterstock/noamgalai, Getty Images/Iranian Leader's Press Office - Handout)ByREUTERSOCTOBER 20, 2025 14:17Updated: OCTOBER 20, 2025 18:48Iranian Supreme Leader  Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  on Monday rejected an offer of renewed talks from US 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 US  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 terror group Hamas.
  "The US president proudly says they bombed and destroyed Iran's nuclear industry. Very well, keep dreaming!" Khamenei added.
 
    Illustrative image of Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei  (credit: LISI NIESNER/ REUTERS, Office of the Iranian Supreme  Leader/WANA (West Asia News Agency)/Handout via REUTERS)"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 program has solely  civilian energy purposes.
  Iran says cooperation deal with UN nuclear watchdog is void 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.
  "The agreement has been canceled," Larijani said while meeting with his Iraqi counterpart in Tehran, according to state media.
  "Of course, if the agency has a proposal, we will review it in the secretariat," he added.    
  jpost.com
  >>why provoke Trump, and the IAEA?   What does it gain Iran to strengthen Netanyahu's claim of existential threat?    One could argue that the opposite tactic would better serve Iran. |