Iranian Supreme Leader Rebuffs Negotiations Following New Trump Outreach

This week, the governments of France, Germany, and the UK issued a statement raising concerns that Iran has not lived up to its nuclear deal commitments.

In this photo released by an official website of the office of the Iranian supreme leader, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei sits in a meeting in Tehran, Iran, on Oct. 27, 2024. Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader via AP

Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has rebuffed calls for new negotiations a day after President Donald Trump announced that he had reached out in an attempt to begin negotiations on a new nuclear agreement with Tehran.

Addressing Iranian government officials on March 8, Khamenei said he’s not interested in bending to international pressure. Without directly naming Trump or the United States, Iran’s ruling cleric said that “some foreign governments and domineering figures insist on negotiations, while their goal is not to resolve issues but to exert control and impose their own agendas.”

In his first term, Trump withdrew the United States from the Iran nuclear deal and reimposed sanctions while calling for a new deal to restrain the country’s nuclear programs. Other signatories have remained party to the deal but have raised concerns about Iran exceeding the uranium stockpile and enrichment levels specified under the original framework.

This week, the governments of France, Germany, and the UK issued a statement raising concerns that Iran has not lived up to its commitments under the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

“You say Iran has not fulfilled its nuclear commitments. Well, did you fulfill yours?” Khamenei said on March 8, in response to the European nations.

Khamenei’s defiant response to calls for new negotiations and concerns about Iran’s nuclear program raise the prospect of an armed confrontation.

Trump Threatens Military Action

In a March 7 interview with Fox Business, Trump said he would not allow Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon.

“There are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily or you make a deal,” Trump told Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo. “I would prefer to make a deal because I’m not looking to hurt Iran.”

Trump said he’s hopeful that Tehran will respond to his diplomatic outreach.

“Because if we have to go in militarily, it’s going to be a terrible thing,” he said.

“The people of Iran are great people, but they had a tough regime, and they meet, and they'd be shot in the streets.”

Trump is yet to respond to Khamenei’s apparent rebuff. During his Fox Business interview, the president suggested that time is of the essence.

“We can make a deal that would be just as good as if you won militarily, but the time is happening now. The time is coming up,” he said.

President Donald Trump speaks after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on March 6, 2025. Alex Wong/Getty Images

Last month, the U.N. International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) reported that Iran has stockpiled about 605 pounds of 60 percent enriched uranium. Iran would need to enrich uranium to 90 percent to achieve weapons-grade fissile material.

The IAEA has raised alarm about the level of uranium enrichment Iran has already reached.

“The significantly increased production and accumulation of high enriched uranium by Iran, the only non-nuclear weapon State to produce such nuclear material, is of serious concern,” the Vienna-based nuclear watchdog wrote in its report last month.

Tehran Distancing From Talks

Last summer, Khamenei expressed some openness to talks with Washington, saying that there is “no harm” in engaging with the “enemy.” Tehran’s openness to talks appears to have lessened since Trump returned to the White House.

Last month, Trump issued a statement that rumors that the United States and Israel will work to “blow Iran into smithereens” are “greatly exaggerated.” While downplaying the threat of military action, Trump moved that same day to reimpose the “maximum pressure” campaign of his first term. The strategy calls for rescinding existing sanctions waivers for Iran, imposing new sanctions, and encouraging allies and partners to do the same.

Responding, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran is willing to work with the Trump administration but claimed that the renewed campaign of sanctions from Washington would not work.

“Maximum pressure is a failed experiment, and trying it again will lead to another failure,” Araghchi told reporters on Feb. 5.

Araghchi said that if Washington is concerned about Iran gaining nuclear weapons, it can rely on assurances that Tehran isn’t pursuing such capabilities.

Centrifuge machines at the Natanz uranium enrichment facility in Iran, on Nov. 5, 2019. Atomic Energy Organization of Iran via AP

“Iran’s position is clear: it is a member of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, and the Supreme Leader’s fatwa has already clarified our stance [against weapons of mass destruction],” Araghchi said in a Feb. 5 statement.

In the days after Trump announced a return of his maximum-pressure campaign, Khamenei distanced himself from the prospect of talks with Washington. In a Feb. 7 statement, the Iranian supreme leader said negotiations with the United States are “neither rational, nor intelligent, nor honorable.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.