Khamenei appears to reject Trump’s call for new nuclear deal, says negotiating with US is unwise

Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei says that negotiations with the United States will not solve the country’s problems.

“We must understand this correctly; they should not pretend that if we sit down at the negotiating table with that government, problems will be solved,” Khamenei says during a meeting with army commanders. “No problem will be solved by negotiating with America.”

He says experience has proven that entering into negotiations with the US is “not smart, wise or honorable.”

He stops short, however, of issuing a direct order not to engage with Washington.

US President Donald Trump said earlier this week that he wants to create a new nuclear deal with Tehran, and that work on the pact should start immediately. He withdrew the US from a 2015 landmark nuclear deal with Iran during his first term in the White House, and efforts to revive it have been unsuccessful.