Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian gestures as he speaks to reporters during a press conference, on Monday.—AFP
Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian gestures as he speaks to reporters during a press conference, on Monday.—AFP

DUBAI: President Masoud Pezeshkian has said Iran can hold direct talks with the United States if Washington demonstrates “in practice” that it is not hostile to Tehran.

“We are not hostile towards the US. They should end their hostility towards us by showing their goodwill in practice. We are brothers with the Americans as well.”

“We do not want to fight with America if it respects our rights. It is not us who are hostile (to the Americans). We have not built military bases around their country,” the Iranian president said.

President Pezeshkian expressed these views on Monday at a news conference in Tehran while responding to the question whether Tehran would be open to direct talks with the US to revive a 2015 nuclear deal.

Pezeshkian says Iran has not built military bases around America

Former US president Donald Trump reneged on that deal in 2018, arguing it was too generous to Tehran, and restored harsh US sanctions on Iran, prompting Tehran to gradually violate the agreement’s nuclear limits.

After taking office in January 2021, US President Joe Biden tried to negotiate a revival of the nuclear pact under which Iran had restricted its nuclear programme in return for relief from US, European Union and UN sanctions. However, Tehran then refused to directly negotiate with Washington and worked mainly through European or Arab intermediaries.

About recent fresh sanctions by US allies on Iran for allegedly delivering ballistic missiles to Moscow, President Pezeshkian said his government had not transferred any weapons to Russia since it took office in August. However, he added, “It is possible that a delivery took place in the past.”

Disarm Israel first

The Iranian president also insisted on Iran’s right to maintain its missile programme, which has drawn Western criticism, as a deterrent against its arch-foe Israel.

“They (the West) want us not to have missiles, that is fine, but you need to disarm Israel first,” he said, adding that otherwise “they can drop bombs on us whenever they want, like in Gaza”.

On the domestic front, the president vowed to ensure the morality police would no longer bother women, in remarks to the media on the second anniversary of Mahsa Amini’s death in custody. “The morality police were not supposed to confront (women). I will follow up so they don’t bother” them, the president said.

Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2024

Opinion

Editorial

Kurram fragility
Updated 03 Feb, 2025

Kurram fragility

JUST as the people of Kurram began to see some relief in the form of convoys laden with essentials reaching...
Inheritance denied
03 Feb, 2025

Inheritance denied

PAKISTAN’s heritage — from the Hindu Kush range to the Indus banks and delta — is a testament to the richness...
Captive shift
03 Feb, 2025

Captive shift

THE objective of the Power Division’s directive to the public distribution companies, including K-Electric, to ...
Absent justice
Updated 02 Feb, 2025

Absent justice

If the senior-most judges are so helpless, what hope does the common citizen have?
Out of tune
Updated 02 Feb, 2025

Out of tune

Constitutional assurances of freedom to practise faith and protection of life and liberty for all citizens ring hollow for many of Pakistan’s religious minorities.
Vanishing lifeline
02 Feb, 2025

Vanishing lifeline

AS the world marks Wetlands Day, Pakistan’s critical ecosystems find themselves in an unenviable position. The...