Under the new legislation, if Washington does not apologize for its repeated threats against the Islamic Republic, Iranian authorities are advised to continue the negotiations only with other international mediators, namely China, France, Germany, Russia and the United Kingdom. Negotiating with the US team would not be an option.
The initiative comes after several high-ranking US officials, including State Secretary John Kerry, reiterated that the United States could take military action against Iran to make sure that Tehran's nuclear ambitions are peaceful. Tehran insists that its nuclear program does not have a military component and was never meant to receive it.
Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei criticized Kerry's remarks, saying there was no sense for Iran to take part in the talks under the threat of violence. "What does negotiation mean under ghost of a threat?" he asked in a tweet.
Recently two US officials threatened to take military action against #Iran. What does negotiation mean under ghost of a threat?
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) 6 мая 2015
The United States needs the negotiations as much as if not more than Tehran, Khamenei added.
US need for the #talks–if not more- is not less than #Iran's. Negotiators should observe red lines& tolerate no burden, humiliation &threat.
— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) 6 мая 2015
Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari, commander of Iran's Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC) dismissed US saber rattling as "ridiculous." Westerners "know that if the military option could have produced any result, they would have already used it many times," he pointed out.
