US must forget about holding one-sided negotiations with Iran: Foreign Ministry

Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Bahram Qassemi says the US should forget about the possibility of holding one-sided negotiations with the Islamic Republic “under the shadow of threats.”

“The Iranian nation has never and will never hesitate a moment to defend the people’s rights and Iran’s territorial integrity and independence in the face of excessive demands, domination and pressures,” Qassemi said on Wednesday.

He advised US officials to never hope for the possibility of holding “one-sided negotiations with Iran… under the shadow of threats” in a bid to advance their excessive demands, noting American authorities need to avoid repeating their “failed experience” of the past.

“The US should know better that the world today and the current era are no place for domination, bullying or one-sidedness,” he said, adding that the negative view of the world public opinion towards US policies was indicative of a great change in the international scene.

“The United States should not bite off more than it can chew and should know its place in this era, and make further efforts to understand Iran’s status, dignity and role,” Qassemi added.

He said that Iran could not put trust in deeds and words of US officials to sit at a negotiating table with them.

The remarks came after US President Donald Trump on Tuesday kept open the possibility of negotiating a new agreement on Iran’s nuclear program, two days after he threatened the nation with unprecedented hardships.

“We’ll see what happens, but we’re ready to make a real deal, not the deal that was done by the previous administration, which was a disaster,” he said during a speech to the Veterans of Foreign Wars.

The remarks came after he threatened Iran risked dire consequences “the like of which few throughout history have suffered before.”

Trump’s message on his official Twitter account came after Iranian President Hassan Rouhani’s warning to him not to “twist the lion’s tail” after the US unveiled a series of anti-Iran measures. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif also warned the US president to be cautious after his threats.

Also on Monday, US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley defended Trump’s threat against Iran.

She, however, said Washington was ready to come to the negotiating table if Iran wanted a new deal.

“If you want to come to the table and work on a new Iran deal, we’ll be right there to talk to you. But you’re not going to threaten us to do it,” Haley said in an interview with CBN News.

Trump announced on May 8 that Washington was walking away from a nuclear agreement signed between Iran and the P5+1 group of countries in 2015, officially known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), and that he planned to reinstate US nuclear sanctions on Iran and impose “the highest level” of economic bans on Tehran.

Iranian officials have said that they would not seek a new agreement and downplayed US threats to hit the country with new sanctions.

Iran files letter of objection against US

Meanwhile, Iran has filed an official letter of objection to the Swiss embassy in Tehran, which represents US interests, over recent anti-Iran remarks by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

The Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Wednesday that “following meddlesome remarks and baseless allegations by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo at an anti-Iran gathering in California, the Islamic Republic of Iran officially protested the measure through a letter handed to the Swiss embassy in Tehran.”

Qassemi said that the letter voiced the Islamic Republic’s official protest against the US administration, and condemned the unfounded statements by the US secretary of state as interference in Iran’s internal affairs.