Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi says the United States sends mixed signals by asking Iran for talks and imposing new sanctions at the same time.

Raisi said on Friday that he is “surprised by the Americans who send messages for negotiation and agreement and add to their list of sanctions,” noting that “The world should give us the right not to trust the United States because it breaks its pacts”

He responded to Washington’s move on Thursday to sanction firms and individuals for violating US sanctions by exporting petrochemicals. 

The Vienna talks aimed at reviving the 2015 nucellar deal between Tehran and world powers have stalled since March mainly because of Iran’s demand for the US to remove the Revolutionary Guard (IRGC) from its terrorism list (FTO) and the recent missile attacks have shed more doubts on whether President Joe Biden’s administration would take such a step.

In a clear move to pressure Iran on stalled nuclear negotiations, the Biden administration sanctioned Chinese, Emirati and Iranian companies engaged in illicit export of Iranian petrochemicals.

Iranian crude exports declined in May because of Russian competition, as it offers cheaper oil to China. Iran’s income from oil products and petrochemicals was $23 billion from March 2021 to March 2022 and it aimed to boost it to $27 billion.