Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that reopening talks with the U.S. would not be ‘smart’ after President Donald Trump threatened to ‘obliterate’ the nation, while also saying he’d ‘love to make a deal’ with Iran.
On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive order outlining a ‘maximum pressure’ campaign against Iran.
During the course of that signing, Trump warned that if Iran assassinated him – as officials have threated to do after he ordered the killing of Quds force leader Qasem Soleimani – there would be retribution.
‘If they did that, they would be obliterated,’ Trump responded. ‘I have left instructions. If they do it, they get obliterated, there won’t be anything left.’
During the same back-and-forth with reporters, Trump said he was ‘torn’ about signing the order because he’d like to make a deal with Iran, to prevent the Middle Eastern nation from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
In his remarks Friday, Khamenei pointed to Trump as the reason a nuclear deal with the U.S. no longer existed.
‘The person in charge tore it up,’ Khamenei said, according to Reuters.
He told Iranians they shouldn’t do it again. ‘Negotiating with America is neither smart, wise, or honorable,’ he said in remarks marking the anniversary of Iran’s 1979 revolution. ‘It will not solve any of our problems. The reason? Experience!’
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Friday that reopening talks with the U.S. would not be ‘smart’ after President Donald Trump threatened to ‘obliterate’ the nation, while also saying he’s ‘love to make a deal’ with Iran
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that he was open to speaking with Iranian leaders about a deal for the country not to get a nuclear weapon, though he pulled the U.S. out of the Iran nuclear deal during his first term
Khamenei also laughed off Trump’s plan for the U.S. to take control of war-torn Gaza, something the president floated Tuesday during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to the White House.
‘On paper, Americans are changing the world map,’ Khamenei said. ‘Of course it’s only on paper because it’s devoid of reality.’
During Trump’s first term, the Republican president pulled out of the Obama-era Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, known colloquially as the Iran nuclear deal.
Trump then levied sanctions on Iran’s economy, cratering it.
In January 2020, he gave the order to assassinate Soleimani outside of Baghdad’s airport.
Since then, Trump and other high-ranking U.S. government officials have been under assassination threat by Iran.
During his first few weeks in office, Trump has stripped security details away from some of these officials – most notably former National Security Advisor John Bolton and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
Bolton became a critic after working for Trump and wrote a tell-all book that came out in the months preceding the 2020 election, which the president lost to President Joe Biden.
Bolton remained under Secret Service protection due to the Iranian threat.
Pompeo chose not to run against Trump in the 2024 Republican primary – and even supported him on the campaign trail, but his actions weren’t loyal enough for some Trump allies, including Roger Stone.
Republican Sen. Tom Cotton said that he’d seen the intelligence about the threat from Iran and feared other Americans could be injured if Iranians decided to attack the officials inolved in the Soleimani strike.
Last week, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked during her first press briefing if Trump might reconsider his decision about the former officials security detais.
‘The president was asked and answered this yesterday, and he was firm in his decision, despite some of the comments that you had referenced,’ Leavitt said. ‘And he’s made it very clear that he does not believe American taxpayers should fund security details for individuals who have served in the government for the rest of their lives.’
‘And there’s nothing stopping these individuals that you mentioned from obtaining private security,’ she added.
