Iran on Saturday accused the United States of making “illegal threats” against it over its nuclear program.
The rebuke followed U.S. President Joe Biden’s meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett at the White House on Friday, during which the American president said that while he prefers the diplomatic approach when dealing with the Islamic Republic, if negotiations on a new nuclear pact fail, the United States would employ “other options.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei accused Biden of making the same demands as his predecessor Donald Trump in talks to revive the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action nuclear deal, thus making the negotiations impossible for Tehran.
Tehran official Ali Shamkhani blasted Biden, tweeting, “The first meeting between #Bennett and #Biden and the emphasis on using ‘Other Options’ against #Iran, while being an illegal threat to another country, establishes the Islamic Republic of Iran’s right to reciprocal response to ‘Available Options.’”
Shamkhani, the head of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council and a leading adviser to Khamenei, tweeted his message in Persian, Arabic, English and Hebrew.
A vexed Khamenei told members of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi’s new cabinet that “America’s current administration is no different from the previous one, because what it demands from Iran on the nuclear issue is different in words, but the same thing that Trump demanded.
“The Americans truly have no shame on the nuclear issue, and even though they withdrew from the JCPOA ... they now talk in a way and make demands as if it was [Iran] that withdrew,” he added.
This article first appeared in Israel Hayom.
