Iran rules out negotiations with U.S. under "pressures"

Iranian Interior Minister Abdolreza Rahmani Fazli said Sunday that talks with the United States, under sanction pressures, will lead to more pressures on Iran.

An oil installation is pictured in the massive Majnoon oil field, some 40 kms from the eastern border with Iran, north of the Iraqi city of Basra on March 25, 2019. [Photo: AFP/Hussein Faleh]

The United States has resorted to "cruel economic pressures," including curbing Iran's oil sales and reducing its crude exports to zero, said the minister, according to the state IRIB TV.

In this context, Iran will not negotiate with the United States, said Rahmani Fazli.

"We should boost resistance and stand against them," he said.

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled Washington out of the Iranian international nuclear deal in May last year and resumed energy and financial sanctions against the Islamic republic.

Trump administration aims to push Iran to the negotiation table by exerting "maximum pressures." Washington seeks to seal a new nuclear deal with Iran, to further curb Iran's nuclear program, and to stop Iran ballistic missile tests.

Although Iran has stressed that it will not re-enter the talks with Washington under the spell of sanctions, it has hinted that it might negotiate with the United States if the latter returns to the nuclear deal.