Supreme Leader of Iran Rebuffs Trump's Talks Offer

If anyone was unsure what Iran's supreme leader thought of President Trump's offer to hold talks after the US reimposed "the most biting sanctions" on Iran last week, all doubt has been removed, per Reuters. "I ban holding any talks with America. … America never remains loyal to its promises in talks," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Monday, according to Iranian state TV. "America's withdrawal from the nuclear deal is a clear proof that America cannot be trusted." The Times of Israel notes Khamenei's outline on his English Twitter account as to why negotiations are out of the question, in which he calls the US government a "duplicitous" one that uses a bait-and-switch-style "formula" during talks. "Even if we ever—impossible as it is—negotiated with the U.S., it would never ever be with the current U.S. administration," he adds in a follow-up tweet.

Still, Khamenei doesn't see an Iranian-US war coming down the pike anytime soon. "[The Americans] are exaggerating the possibility of a war with Iran. There will be no war," he said, per Reuters, adding a veiled threat on Twitter: "This is because Islamic Republic and Iranian nation have proved that any transgressor will be stricken a bigger blow." Khamenei also took the opportunity during his Monday diatribe to take a jab at Iranian President Hassan Rouhani and the country's faltering economy. "More than the sanctions, economic mismanagement [by the government] is putting pressure on ordinary Iranians," he noted. "I do not call it betrayal but a huge mistake in management." (Trump issued an all-caps warning tweet to Iran's president last month.)