Iran's Khamenei rejects idea of nuclear talks with US

Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei on Wednesday rejected the idea of holding negotiations with the United States over a nuclear deal, as a letter arrived from US President Donald Trump calling for such talks.

Trump said last week he had sent a letter to Khamenei proposing nuclear talks but also warning that "there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal" preventing Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

The letter was handed over to Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates.

While Araqchi and Gargash were meeting, Khamenei told a group of university students that Trump's offer for talks was "a deception aimed at misleading public opinion", state media reported.

"When we know they won't honour it, what's the point of negotiating? Therefore, the invitation to negotiate ... is a deception of public opinion," Khamenei was quoted as saying by state media.

Khamenei said negotiating with the Trump administration, which he said has excessive demands, "will tighten the knot of sanctions and increase pressure on Iran".

In 2018, Trump withdrew the United States from Tehran's 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled Iran's economy. Tehran reacted a year later by violating the deal's nuclear curbs.

Khamenei, who has the final word in Iranian state matters, said last week that Tehran would not be bullied into talks with "excessive demands" and threats.

The UAE, one of Washington's key Middle East security partners and host to US troops, also maintains warm ties with Tehran. Despite past tensions, business and trade links between The two countries have remained strong, and Dubai has served as a key commercial hub for Iran for more than a century.

While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the "maximum pressure" campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero.

'NEW AND BIZARRE'

Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon.

"If we wanted to build nuclear weapons, the US would not be able to stop it. We ourselves do not want it," Khamenei said.

However, Iran's stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90 percent weapons-grade level, has jumped, the International Atomic Energy Agency said late last month.

Separately, Araqchi denounced a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday about Iran's nuclear work as a new process that puts in doubt the goodwill of the states requesting it.

Six of the council's 15 members - France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, Britain and the US - requested the meeting over Iran's expansion of its stock of close to weapons-grade uranium.

Araqchi said Iran would soon have a fifth round of talks with France, Britain and Germany - parties to Iran's 2015 nuclear pact.

"Our talks with Europeans have been ongoing and will continue ... however, any decision by the UN Security Council or board of governors of the UN nuclear watchdog to pressure us will put under question the legitimacy of these talks," Araqchi said according to state media.

Separately, the Chinese foreign ministry said China and Russia will hold talks with Iranian officials in Beijing on Friday to discuss the Iranian nuclear issue.