Iran’s Pezeshkian says Trump speaks of peace and threats at same time

Iranian President says his country will continue nuclear talks with the US but is not afraid of threats

Iran's President Masoud Pezeshkian arrives to review a military parade in Tehran to mark the country's annual Army Day on April 18. Getty Images

Iran’s President Masoud Pezeshkian said on Saturday that US President Donald Trump speaks simultaneously about peace and threats.

“No one believes Trump's statements against Iran except himself. On the one hand, he speaks of peace and tranquillity, and on the other hand, he threatens with the most advanced means of killing people, and with contradictory statements, he simultaneously sends a message of peace, killing and insecurity," Mr Pezeshkian said.

His comments came after President Trump said that Iran had received a new proposal over its rapidly advancing nuclear programme and warned Tehran to “move quickly" on it, a day after saying they were close to reaching an agreement.

"They have a proposal. More importantly, they know they have to move quickly or something bad – something bad's going to happen," Mr Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One as he concluded a four-day trip to the Gulf, which took him to the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Qatar.

"We are not looking for war, we are negotiating and holding talks, but we are not afraid of threats and we will not retreat from our legal rights in any way," Mr Pezeshkian said.

Iran and the US have held four rounds of nuclear talks since April, all of which were mediated by Oman. The negotiations aim to prevent Tehran from obtaining nuclear weapons. A new round has not been scheduled.

Iran denied it had received any proposal either "directly or indirectly". Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said the messages being received by Iran and the world were "confusing and contradictory".

He said Iran was still willing to make a deal. But "mark my words: there is no scenario in which Iran abandons its hard-earned right to enrichment for peaceful purposes," he said.

Trump has repeatedly said Iran cannot be allowed to develop nuclear weapons. His administration has said Tehran can have enriched uranium if it purchases from a third country, but there is no need for such a programme if it doesn’t aspire to acquire nuclear weapons.

Iran maintains that its nuclear programme is entirely peaceful and insists it has no intention of developing nuclear weapons. However, since the US withdrawal from the 2015 nuclear deal under President Trump, Tehran has repeatedly breached the accord in response to renewed US sanctions, stockpiling enough highly enriched uranium to potentially produce multiple nuclear bombs.

The 2015 deal, which is set to expire soon, limited Iran to enriching uranium at 3.67 per cent for 15 years. But as of February, the IAEA reported that Iran had enriched uranium to 60 per cent and could rapidly reach weapons-grade levels of 90 per cent.