Iran will persevere in its defiance of US President Trump's bossy orders, a top foreign policy advisor to Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei said on Wednesday, adding Iran is ready for talks based on mutual respect.
The remarks by former foreign minister Kamal Kharrazi appear to signal some flexibility in Iran's position vis-à-vis talks with the United States that Khamenei this month expressly rejected.
"We don’t run away from negotiation; after all, we have negotiated many times before," state media outlet IRNA quoted Kharrazi as saying on Wednesday. "However, it is not compatible with our revolutionary and Iranian spirit to yield to the excessive demands and diktats of others.
"At present, there is no choice but to exercise maximum patience, unless a situation arises where the other side also shows a willingness for genuine negotiation rather than dictation," he added.
Trump reinstated the "maximum pressure" campaign of sanctions from his first term and has mooted military action on Iran's disputed nuclear program, prompting foreign minister Abbas Araghchi to say Tehran would not talk amid threats and pressure.
"Mr. Trump’s way is to unilaterally impose his will and expect others to simply obey his orders. We are witnessing this approach today even with regard to Europe," Khamenei's advisor said.
"We must resist until they approach us not with bossiness, pressure, and sanctions, but based on the principle of equality and mutual respect."
Kharrazi heads the Strategic Council on Foreign Relations and has hinted before that Iran could ditch its stated opposition to acquiring nuclear weapons.
Members of the body he leads are by handpicked by Khamenei and its reports and advisories have often presaged major policy shifts by the ruling system.
Iran is capable of producing nuclear weapons and an existential threat could cause a rethink of Khamenei's injunction against them, he said last year.
