Iran’s supreme leader rejects direct talks with U.S. over his country’s nuclear program

This shows Iran's nuclear enrichment facility in Natanz, Iran, on April, 9, 2007. (AP Photo/Hasan Sarbakhshian, File)

VIENNA — Iran’s supreme leader on Tuesday rejected direct negotiations with the United States over his country’s nuclear program, likely slamming the door shut on a last-ditch effort to halt the reimposition of United Nations sanctions on Tehran.

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei’s remarks, aired on Iranian state television, likely constrain any possible outreach to the U.S. by Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, who is in New York for the UN General Assembly. Separately, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi held meetings there with diplomats from France, Germany and Britain over the reimposition of the sanctions, set to take effect Sunday.

Talks with the U.S. represent “a sheer dead end,” Khamenei said.

“The U.S. has announced the results of the talks in advance,” he added. “The result is the closure of nuclear activities and enrichment. This is not a negotiation. It is a diktat, an imposition.”

The German Foreign Office, in comments posted on X after the meeting with Araghchi, said that France, Germany, Britain and the EU urged Iran to take steps within days, “if not hours,” to address concerns over its nuclear program. It should resume direct talks with the U.S. and provide the International Atomic Energy Agency with access to all its nuclear sites, “in line with its obligations,” the statement said.

The three European countries, known as the E3, triggered the so-called “snapback” mechanism to reinstate sanctions -- barring a last-minute accord -- over Iran’s failure to comply with conditions of a 2015 nuclear deal aimed at preventing Tehran from developing nuclear weapons.

The meeting Tuesday did not appear to move closer to a resolution before Saturday’s deadline. But a French diplomat said that the European leaders plan to make “full use” of the remaining time. The diplomat spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the private meeting.

The German Foreign Office said “diplomatic engagement” would continue even if sanctions are reimposed Sunday.

Earlier, Germany’s Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul had described the chance of reaching an agreement with Iran by the weekend “extremely slim,” the German news agency dpa had reported, even before Khamenei’s comments.

In his speech late Tuesday, French President Emmanuel Macron said the Middle East region can only be at peace if Iran’s nuclear program “is once again fully under control.”

“The next steps to come will be decisive,” he said, adding that he’s willing to meet with Iran’s president this week to secure a deal.

Iran has stopped inspectors, refused U.S. talks

Amid a flurry of diplomatic engagements, Araghchi on Monday also met with Rafael Grossi, the IAEA director-general, in New York.

Earlier this month, the UN nuclear watchdog and Iran signed an agreement mediated by Egypt to pave the way for resuming cooperation, including on ways of relaunching inspections of Iran’s nuclear facilities. However, that agreement has yet to fully take hold.

In July, Pezeshkian had signed a law adopted by his country’s parliament suspending all cooperation with the UN nuclear watchdog. That followed Israel’s 12-day war with Iran in June, during which Israel and the U.S. bombed Iranian nuclear sites.

France, Germany and the U.K. began the process of reimposing sanctions on Iran at the end of August.

The process -- termed a “snapback” by the diplomats who negotiated it into Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers -- was designed to be veto-proof at the UN It started a 30-day clock ticking for the resumption of sanctions unless the West and Iran reach a diplomatic agreement.

European nations have said they would be willing to extend the deadline if Iran resumes direct negotiations with the U.S. over its nuclear program, allows UN nuclear inspectors access to its nuclear sites, and accounts for the more than 400 kilograms (880 pounds) of highly enriched uranium the UN watchdog says it has. Iran is the only nation in the world that enriches uranium up to 60%, a short, technical step from weapons-grade levels, that does not have a weapons program.

If no diplomatic deal is found this week, the sanctions will automatically “snapback” on Sunday. That would again freeze Iranian assets abroad, halt arms deals with Tehran and penalize any development of Iran’s ballistic missile program, among other measures, further squeezing the country’s reeling economy.

Khamenei made a point in his roughly half-hour speech to say his comments focused only on America, not on Europe.

Iran maintains its atomic program is peaceful

Iran has long insisted its program is peaceful, though Western nations and the IAEA assess that Tehran had an active nuclear weapons program until 2003. Khamenei again pledged that Iran does not seek atomic bombs.

“We do not have a nuclear bomb and we will not have one, and we do not plan to use nuclear weapon,” he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump, who unilaterally withdrew America from the Iran nuclear deal in 2018, made a point to reference Tehran in his speech before the UN on Tuesday. He recounted writing a letter to Khamenei seeking talks. U.S. and Iranian negotiators met five times before the 12-day war in June.

“There is no more serious danger to our planet today than the most powerful and destructive weapons ever devised by man, of which the United States, as you know, has many,” Trump said. “I’ve made containing these threats a top priority, starting with (the) nation of Iran.”

However, Khamenei stressed that Israeli and American attacks would not destroy the nuclear knowledge gained by Iran over the decades over the crisis surrounding the program.

“Science will not be demolished by threats and bombing,” he vowed.

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Gambrell reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Amiri reported from the United Nations. Associated Press writer Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.

Stephanie Liechtenstein, Jon Gambrell and Farnoush Amiri, The Associated Press