Iran: Direct talks with US ‘constantly threatening force’ would be ‘meaningless’

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi says direct negotiations with the United States would be “meaningless,” after US President Donald Trump said he would prefer direct talks with Tehran.

“Direct negotiations would be meaningless with a party that constantly threatens to resort to force in violation of the UN Charter and that expresses contradictory positions from its various officials,” Araghchi says in a foreign ministry statement.

Last week, US President Donald Trump threatened Iran with “bombing” and secondary tariffs if Tehran did not come to an agreement with Washington over its nuclear program.

Iran, which is sworn to Israel’s destruction, denies seeking a nuclear weapon, but has ramped up its enrichment of uranium up to 60 percent purity, the only country in the world without a nuclear weapons program to do so, and has obstructed international inspectors from checking its nuclear facilities.