Trump talks: Iran slams US ‘PR stunts’

TEHRAN : Iran waved away US President Donald Trump’s claims that talks with the country’s leaders were imminent, saying “threats, sanctions and PR stunts won’t work”.

With Washington pulling out of the landmark 2015 nuclear deal and set to reimpose full sanctions on Iran from August 6, Tehran has responded coolly to Trump’s offer on Monday to talk “any time” without preconditions.

The Revolutionary Guards also made their opposition to talks clear. “The Iranian people do not authorise officials to meet the Great Satan... Mr Trump, Iran is not North Korea,” said Gen Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of the Guards, in an open letter published in local media.

Trump told a rally in Tampa, Florida on Tuesday: “I have a feeling they’ll be talking to us pretty soon... And maybe not, and that’s OK too.”

He used the occasion to again blast the “horrible, one-sided” nuclear deal between Iran and world powers which he abandoned in May. “It’s a horror show,” he said. “I hope it works out well with Iran. They are having a lot of difficulty right now.”

There was not yet an official response from the top leadership, but supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said a fortnight ago that talks with Trump would be “useless.” Scepticism is indeed rife in Tehran over Trump’s latest tactic, with one high-profile lawmaker saying negotiations would be a “humiliation.”