Tehran, Feb. 25, (dpa/GNA) – An Iranian politician close to President Masoud Pezeshkian has called for talks with the United States, opposing previous statements by the country’s supreme leader.
“Negotiations and dialogue do not mean bowing to the blackmail and power of the enemy,” former president Mohammad Khatami told the Jamaran web portal.
Khatami, like Pezeshkian, belongs to the reformist camp, which is calling for better relations with the West.
Members of Iran’s more conservative factions promptly issued criticism, questioning the intentions of the US in an editorial in the newspaper Kayhan, which is considered a mouthpiece for the country’s conservatives.
The authors questioned whether Khatami really cared about the Iranian people or was acting “as a stooge and representative of the interests of [US President Donald] Trump’s team.”
At the beginning of February, Trump again called for talks on the dispute over Iran’s nuclear programme.
Pezeshkian signalled his willingness to engage in negotiations, but Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei – who has the final say on strategic issues – categorically rejected the prospect, saying the arch-enemy could not be trusted.
In 2018, Trump unilaterally withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal reached in Vienna, which was intended to limit Iran’s nuclear programme and lift sanctions.
In response, Tehran pulled out of the agreement, ramped up its uranium enrichment and restricted checks on its nuclear facilities.
At the start of his second term, Trump has shown rapprochement towards Russia and angered former European allies, suggesting a general change in the previous world order. Russia and Iran are allies.
GNA