Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian dropped a diplomatic bombshell on Sunday, flatly rejecting direct negotiations with the United States over Tehran’s fast-evolving nuclear program.
The announcement, made during a televised Cabinet meeting, marks Iran’s first official response to a letter from U.S. President Donald Trump to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, delivered via Oman on March 12.
While slamming the door on face-to-face talks, Pezeshkian left a crack open for indirect negotiations—a path that’s yielded little since Trump torched the 2018 nuclear deal.
“We don’t dodge talks, but broken promises have burned us before,” Pezeshkian said, jabbing at the U.S. for its 2018 withdrawal from the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA). “They need to prove they’re worth trusting.” The U.S. State Department fired back, underscoring Trump’s stance: “The United States cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon.” It added a carrot and stick: Trump’s open to a deal, but if Iran balks, “he’ll pursue other options, which will be very bad for Iran.”
Those “options” aren’t vague. Trump, in an NBC News clip aired Sunday, warned of unprecedented military action if Iran doesn’t play ball. “If they don’t make a deal, there’ll be bombing the likes of which they’ve never seen,” he said, doubling down on his “maximum pressure” playbook—already hammering Iran’s rial into a freefall.
The rejection reflects a sharp pivot for Pezeshkian, elected six months ago on a pledge to thaw ties with the West. That hope dimmed after Khamenei’s February broadside, calling talks with Trump’s crew “not intelligent, wise, or honorable.”
Iran’s mixed signals add fuel to the fire. Friday’s Quds Day rallies swapped “Death to America” for a narrower “Death to Israel!” chant, while a Revolutionary Guard video skipped the usual Stars-and-Stripes stomping. Yet Press TV dangled a threat, listing U.S. bases—like Diego Garcia’s stealth bomber hub—as potential targets.
Parliamentary speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf upped the ante: “If they touch our sovereignty, it’ll spark a regional inferno. Their bases and allies won’t be safe.”
Trump’s letter, light on specifics, echoed his Kim Jong Un pen-pal days—talks ensued, but no nuclear curbs stuck. “I wrote, ‘I hope you negotiate, because military action would be terrible,’” he said. The gambit flopped in 2019 when Khamenei mocked a similar note via Japan’s Shinzo Abe. N
ow, with Iran enriching uranium to 60% purity—near weapons-grade—both the U.S. and Israel vow to stop a nuclear-armed Tehran, stoking fears of airstrikes. A February UN watchdog report flagged Iran’s uranium production surge, despite Tehran’s “peaceful purposes” line.
Tensions trace back to Trump’s 2020 drone strike on Gen. Qassem Soleimani, a wound still raw in Tehran. The U.S. claims Iran plotted to avenge it with a Trump hit—denied, but not without threats.
As Yemen’s Houthi rebels eat U.S. bombs and Israel guts Iran’s air defenses, the nuclear standoff teeters on a razor’s edge—diplomacy stalled, and the drums of war beating louder.