Negotiation With U.S. ‘a Poison’

Leader: There Will Be No War

Date: 14 May 2019 - 22:05

News ID: ۶۵۹۸۷

Kayhan Int’l Political Desk
TEHRAN – Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei reiterated on Tuesday that no war will take place in the region despite Washington’s recent brinksmanship.
"No war will occur and the definitive option of the Iranian nation is to resist America and in this confrontation, America will be forced to retreat,” the Leader told a group of state officials here.
"This confrontation is not military, because a war is not about to take place. Neither are we looking for a war, nor them because they know it is not in their best interests,” Ayatollah Khamenei.
"This is a clash of wills and our will is stronger, because in addition to our will, we have faith in God,” the Leader added.
Ayatollah Khamenei also dismissed negotiations with Washington after reports said the White House had contacted the Swiss to share a phone number the Iranians could call U.S. President Donald Trump.
"Some inside the country say what’s wrong with negotiation. Negotiation is a poison as long as the U.S. remains what it is now, and negotiating with the current U.S. administration is a double poison. Negotiation is give and take, but what America has in its mind is our points of strength.”
"They say let’s negotiate about your defensive weapons; they also say why you build missiles with such and such ranges; reduce the range so that when we hit you, you cannot strike our bases in response.
"Well, it is obvious that no zealous and intelligent Iranian will ever deal on his points of strengths.
"Or, for instance, they say let’s talk about your strategic depth in the region and they mean we give it up. Therefore, the idea of negotiation is wrong,” the Leader added.
John Bolton, President Trump's national security adviser, announced on Sunday that the U.S. was sending the USS Abraham Lincoln aircraft carrier and its associated strike group to the waters near Iran to "send a message".
Though the carrier's deployment had been planned long ago, Bolton boasted that the ship's return to the region marked a response to "a number of troubling and escalatory incident and warnings" from Iran.
On Tuesday, Iran's ambassador to the United Nations accused the U.S. of engaging in "psychological warfare," citing Trump's public threats and his administration's military maneuvers.
"We are not in the business of trying to create conflict in our neighborhood, because nobody is going to have benefit from such a conflict in our region except for a few -- as I explained earlier -- some people in Washington and some countries in our neighborhood," Majid Takht Ravanchi told CNN.