Iran doubtful of US negotiation intentions, says Supreme Leader's rep

Iran's representative in India, Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, expressed doubts over US negotiation intentions, accusing them of force. Meanwhile, US VP JD Vance reiterated that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon and accused it of economic terrorism.

Iran Expresses Doubts Over US Intentions

Abdul Majid Hakeem Ilahi, Representative of Iran's Supreme Leader in India, said that Iran has always been doubtful about the US' intention towards negotiation. Ilahi, held a conversation with ANI on the sidelines of the Yad-E-Shohada Programme organised at Imambara Jawahar Ali Khan with the participation from the Shia Community. "I don't know what they want to do because they want, they say that the Strait of Hormuz should be open and at the same time they are going to blockage around the Strait of Hormuz. It is paradoxical things," he said.

Ilahi said that the US wants to arm twist Iran into accepting their demands. He said, "Actually from the beginning we had doubts about the ceasefire and the intention towards negotiation. They are not people of negotiation. They just want to force whatever they want to get it. By force they want to get it. And from the beginning we announced that we have doubts about them, but because we wanted to show to the world that we are not the people of war, we don't want war, we don't want any crisis, and we want everywhere to be peace. Actually, obviously from the beginning we knew that they are not coming for negotiation."

US Reiterates 'Red Lines' on Nuclear Weapons

As the talks on the Strait of Hormuz sunk, US Vice President JD Vance in an interview with Fox News said on Monday (local time) that Iran was willing to engage in economic terrorism around the world. Vance said he seconds US President Donald Trump and said Iran cannot have nuclear weapon. "I 100% agree with US President Donald Trump on the fact that Iran can't have a nuclear weapon... If they're willing to engage in economic terrorism on the entire world, what would it mean -- what leverage would they have -- if they had a nuclear bomb in Tehran?" he said.

Vance said that the positive part is that the US and Iran met and discussed the contentions. "I think it was the first time that you'd ever seen the Iranian government, the U.S. government meet at such a high level, maybe in the history of the current leadership of Iran. So that's, I think, a positive--and again, we did make some progress in the negotiation," he said.

He added, "What Trump has said is number one, Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. So, all of our red lines flow from that fundamental premise." (ANI)

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by Asianet Newsable English staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)