CANT WE JUST ALL GET ALONG ?
Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran is ready for talks with the United States, including on its nuclear program, but called on Washington to lift sanctions, abandon unilateralism and stop negotiating “through force.”
“We are ready for dialogue,” Pezeshkian told India Today, adding that any nuclear negotiations should take place within the framework of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and international law.
Pezeshkian questioned why Washington was seeking fresh negotiations rather than building on an agreement he said had already been drawn up in Pakistan.
“I don’t know what was wrong with what we wrote in Pakistan that the United States now wants us to talk again from scratch,” he said. “What was illogical there? What did we say that was outside the logical, legal and scientific frameworks recognized in the world?”
Pezeshkian said Pakistan had worked extensively to promote peace and security in the region and that Qatar had also sought to help bring the understanding reached in Pakistan to fruition.
“Our position is the same as what we said before: the United States should lift its sanctions, abandon unilateralism, not speak to us through force, and open the way so that we can live like the rest of the world,” he said.
He also said Tehran was unsure which of President Donald Trump’s statements to take as Washington’s position.
“We don’t know which of the things Trump says we are ultimately supposed to accept and stand by,” Pezeshkian said.
He rejected accusations that Iran had initiated the conflict. “We did not attack anyone. They attacked us, and we defended ourselves,” he said.