‘Iran’s retaliation is decisive and definite, and the one who will be the loser would be America,’ Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei says
The White House on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to take military action against Iran if the country does not consent to negotiations on its contested nuclear weapons program, ratcheting up pressure just a day after Tehran’s hardline leadership categorically rejected diplomatic overtures from the Trump administration.
“To reiterate, President Trump said it clearly that there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or by making a deal,” White House National Security Council spokesman Brian Hughes told the Washington Free Beacon. “We hope the Iran Regime puts its people and best interests ahead of terror.”
Tehran, however, says it has no interest in negotiating with America. Iranian supreme leader Ali Khamenei was defiant on Wednesday when he promised to retaliate if the United States resorted to military force.
“Iran does not seek war, but if the Americans and their cohorts do a damn thing whatsoever, Iran’s retaliation is decisive and definite, and the one who will be the loser would be America,” Khamenei said during a meeting with Iranian university students on Wednesday. “Iran is capable of dealing a blow to the aggressor and will definitely hit it back.”
The fiery rhetoric comes less than a week after the White House confirmed that Trump sent a letter to the Iranian leadership asking for diplomatic talks. That letter was delivered Wednesday to Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi during a meeting with a delegation from the United Arab Emirates.
“The claim by the U.S. president that they are ready to negotiate is a deception of world public opinion,” Khamenei said, adding that if Iran “wanted to acquire nuclear weapons, the United States could not have stopped us.”
Just a day earlier, Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian expressed a similar sentiment, rejecting talks with Washington and daring it to attack.
“When you threaten me, I don’t want to negotiate with you,” Pezeshkian said Tuesday during a televised speech. “Do whatever damn thing you can.”
Behnam Ben Taleblu, an Iran analyst with the Foundation for Defense of Democracies think tank, said Tehran may be miscalculating when it dismisses Trump’s threats to start a war.
“When Trump signals all options are on the table, he means that—from good to bad,” Taleblu said. “Despite Iranian newspapers saying Trump is beating an empty drum, his willingness” to kill Iranian commander Qassem Soleimani in his first term and to keep imposing crippling sanctions signals the American president’s more recent comments “should not be minimized.”
Trump has repeatedly said he prefers a diplomatic solution to address growing concerns around Iran’s nuclear program but also made clear he will not shy away from the military option.
“I said I hope you’re going to negotiate because it’s going to be a lot better for Iran,” Trump said in an interview with Fox Business Network on Friday.
“We’re down to final strokes with Iran. That’s going to be an interesting time. And we’ll see what happens. But we’re down to the final moments. Final moments. Can’t let them have a nuclear weapon,” the president said later in the day from the Oval Office.
Rather than broach the subject of diplomacy, Iran’s leadership has positioned itself as the global leader of an anti-American resistance movement that includes regional terror groups and countries like Russia.
“Today, the bullies of the world say that everyone must obey us and prioritize our interests over their own, but the Islamic Republic of Iran is the only country that has firmly rejected this,” Khamenei emphasized during his Wednesday remarks.
The United States, meanwhile, has sought to increase pressure on Iran’s regime through a combination of tough sanctions and the threat of war.
The Trump administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign on Iran includes sanctions meant to cripple the country’s illicit oil trade, which brought in billions under the Biden-Harris administration.
The White House is also mulling a plan to intercept Iranian oil tankers at sea, including along key maritime routes in the Malacca Strait and in Asia, according to Reuters.
Other sanctions have already targeted Iran’s so-called shadow fleet, a large array of oil tankers that surreptitiously transport Iran’s illicit crude oil across the globe, primarily to countries like China.
Russia has also promised to help Iran evade U.S. sanctions, with Tehran’s state-controlled media reporting that Moscow “is ready to help Iran despite the ‘maximum pressure’ policy that Trump favors.” Earlier this year, Iran and Russia inked an economic cooperation agreement that will see the two countries “fortify their partnership amid mounting Western sanctions.”
