Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said over the weekend that his country is open to dialogue with the U.S. but only if the two nations are on an “equal footing.”
His comments come amid President Trump’s push for a diplomatic deal between America and Iran to limit Iran’s nuclear program. Mr. Trump laid out a May deadline to reach such an agreement. If not, he’s left open the possibility of military strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities.
But Mr. Pezeshkian appeared to close the door to talks with the U.S. unless the Trump administration changes its approach.
“The Islamic Republic wants dialogue from an equal position, not that they want to negotiate with Iran on the one hand and threaten it on the other,” he said, according to Iranian state-run media.
“If you want negotiations, what is the point of threatening?” Mr. Pezeshkian said. “Today, America is not only humiliating Iran, but the rest of the world as its behavior contradicts the call for negotiations.”
The Iranian president’s comments came around the same time that suspected U.S. airstrikes on Saturday targeted Yemen’s Houthi rebels, an Iran-backed group that has targeted commercial and American military ships in and around the Red Sea for the past 18 months.
Even as Mr. Trump pushes for talks with Iran, he is using the U.S. campaign against the Houthis to put military pressure on the Pezeshkian government. Last month, after the Trump administration’s first round of airstrikes on the Houthis, the president threatened Iran directly.
“To Iran: Support for the Houthi terrorists must end IMMEDIATELY! Do NOT threaten the American People, their President, who has received one of the largest mandates in Presidential History, or Worldwide shipping lanes,” Mr. Trump said in a March Truth Social post. “If you do, BEWARE, because America will hold you fully accountable and we won’t be nice about it!”
Iran’s nuclear program is accelerating rapidly. Analysts generally agree that Iran is racing ahead with its uranium enrichment efforts to the point that it could build a nuclear weapon in a matter of days.
Both Israel and the U.S. have vowed that they will not allow that to happen, setting the stage for potential direct military action by one or both countries if Mr. Trump’s diplomatic push fails.
The Iranian nuclear issue is sure to be at the top of the agenda when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits Mr. Trump at the White House on Monday.
