Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the US will not be able to overthrow his regime amid fears of renewed conflict despite continuing nuclear talks between the two countries.
His comments come in response to the US President Donald Trump's previous suggestion that regime change would be the ideal outcome to the crisis in Iran.
“The US President has said that for 47 years, the United States hasn't been able to eliminate the Islamic Republic. That is a good confession,” said Mr Khamenei. “I say: 'You, too, will not be able to do this.'”
Mr Trump told reporters last week that he wanted to settle the situation in Iran “once and for all”. When asked if he supported regime change, the US President said that “would be the best thing that could happen.”
“For 47 years, they've been talking and talking and talking,” Mr Trump said, as he declared new military deployments in the region. “In the meantime, we've lost a lot of lives while they talk. Legs blown off, arms blown off, faces blown off. We've been going on for a long time. So let's see what happens.”
The US and Iran continue to trade threats of war, with Iran conducting military drills near the Strait of Hormuz and the US ramping up its naval deployments in the Middle East.
“The Americans constantly say that they’ve sent a warship towards Iran. Of course, a warship is a dangerous piece of military hardware. However, more dangerous than that warship is the weapon that can send that warship to the bottom of the sea,” Mr Khamenei said in his address. “The US President keeps saying that they have the strongest military force in the world. The strongest military force in the world may at times be struck so hard that it cannot get up again,” he added.
Mr Khamenei also addressed indirect nuclear negotiations between Iran and the US, which resumed in Geneva on Tuesday. The talks are focused on a new nuclear arrangement. The US wants Iran to end any uranium enrichment, while Iran – despite losing vital nuclear sites to US strikes and the war with Israel last year – insists it wants to preserve enrichment capability.
“They say, 'Let's negotiate about your nuclear energy, and the result of the negotiation should be that you do not have this energy.' If a negotiation is to take place, pre-determining the outcome is a wrong and foolish act,” said Mr Khamenei.
Iranian media said the agenda for the Geneva talks, similar to previous stages, was “limited exclusively to nuclear-related issues and the removal of unlawful US sanctions”. President Trump had said he would be involved “indirectly” in Tuesday's talks.
The talks follow a round of negotiations mediated by Oman and held in its capital earlier this month. Both Iran and the US described the initial round as “positive”, despite continuing tensions.
