Iranian Foreign Ministry: We see no room for negotiations with America

TEHRAN (Reuters) - Iran does not see any chance to negotiate with the United States, Foreign Ministry spokesman Abbas Mousavi said on Tuesday, a day after US President Donald Trump spoke of a possible deal with Iran over its nuclear program.

"We now see no room for any negotiations with America," the spokesman was quoted as saying by the Fars news agency, adding that the basis for the dialogue was to return to and respect international agreements.

The Iranian foreign ministry said that Tehran does not pay attention to American statements, and that any change in it should be accompanied by a change in behavior.

For his part, said Abbas Araji, Assistant Iranian Foreign Minister for Political Affairs, said that his country is ready to find a mechanism to engage in constructive dialogue with the Gulf states.

He said during his meeting in the Kuwaiti capital, Kuwaiti Foreign Minister that the US sanctions policy threatens security in the region.

He handed a message to the Kuwaiti foreign minister from his Iranian counterpart regarding the tension in the region.

Trump said the United States did not want to change the Iranian regime and did not want to harm Iran.

During a press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo, he said he believed Tehran wanted a new deal.

Trump stressed that before his presidency, Iran was behind many of the instability in the Middle East.

Fatwa of Khamenei
The US president also said he wanted to talk to Iran's leaders if they wanted to. "Nobody wants to see atrocities happen, especially me."

For his part, Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Jawad Zarif in a tweet on his Twitter account that the policies of the US administration "harm the Iranian people and cause tensions in the region."

"Acts, not words, will show whether these are Donald Trump's intentions or not," he added, adding Trump's name in the tweet.

Zarif also denied Iran's pursuit of a nuclear weapon, in response to Trump's remarks during his visit to Japan, in which he said, "We are not seeking to change the regime ... but look forward to the disappearance of nuclear weapons."

Zarif pointed out that the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said long ago that "we do not seek to acquire nuclear weapons by issuing a fatwa prohibiting them."

Khamenei issued his fatwa against nuclear weapons in 2003 and has reiterated it many times since then.

Tensions between Washington and Tehran have been escalating since early this month after the latter suspended some of its obligations under a nuclear deal in 2015, a year after Washington withdrew from it. The Trump administration tightened its sanctions on the Iranian economy and strengthened its military forces in the Middle East.