US President Donald Trump said on Monday he was not speaking to Iran and was not offering the country "anything," and he reiterated his assertion that the United States had "totally OBLITERATED" Tehran's nuclear facilities.
Former president Barack Obama "paid [Iran] $Billions under the stupid “road to a Nuclear Weapon JCPOA (which would now be expired!)" Trump's Truth Social post continued.
Trump on Friday dismissed media reports that said his administration had discussed possibly helping Iran access as much as $30 billion to build a civilian-energy-producing nuclear program.
The US must "rule out" any strikes against Iran in order to hold further nuclear negotiations with the Islamic Republic, Majid Takht-Ravanchi, the regime's deputy foreign minister, said in a BBC interview published early Monday morning.
Ravanchi told the UK news source that the US "has not made their position clear" regarding nuclear talks, as the Trump administration informed the Islamic Republic through mediators that they wish to resume negotiations.
Ravanchi added that his country will "insist" on being able to enrich uranium, claiming that they are doing so for "peaceful purposes."
He added that the Islamic Republic "had to rely on ourselves" due to being "denied access to nuclear material."
Iran awaiting the green light to begin negotiations
Senior Iranian officials are awaiting the green light from Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei to begin negotiations with the Trump administration, a source familiar with the matter told The Jerusalem Post.
US President Donald Trump said countries expressed interest in joining the Abraham Accords following the US military strikes on Iran in an interview with Maria Bartiromo on Fox News on Sunday.
Amichai Stein contributed to this report.