TEHRAN – The United States intends to impose its wish on the Islamic Republic through negotiations but Iran will never surrender to Washington’s “maximum pressure”, Assembly of Experts Chairman Ahmad Jannati said on Tuesday.

“The Americans negotiate to make us agree to whatever they say and we wouldn’t emerge victorious in such negotiations,” Jannati said, Tasnim reported.

“They want to tie our hands and make us surrender but the Leader of the Revolution has said ‘we won’t give in to maximum pressure’,” the top cleric added.

Jannati made the remarks while addressing a periodic session of the Assembly of Experts in Tehran on Tuesday.

He underlined the effectiveness of “active resistance” when facing the enemies, saying such strategy has enabled the Lebanese Hezbollah to bring the Israeli regime and the U.S. to their knees.

The cleric said resistance has forced the U.S. government to back off from responding to the downing of its military drone by Iran.

Resistance has enabled the Yemeni forces to launch drone strikes on Saudi Arabia’s oil facilities, deal a heavy blow to the kingdom’s economy, and leave the Riyadh regime with no choice but to import oil, Ayatollah Jannati remarked.

“Resistance against the powers bombarding Yemen led to these victories,” he added.

In remarks last week, Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Khamenei slammed the U.S. bid for talks with Iran as a trick, stressing that Iranian and U.S. officials will not hold negotiations, either in New York or anywhere else.

However, the Leader said, “If the U.S. backs off from its call, repents, and returns to the nuclear treaty it has breached, then it will be able to join the gathering of the parties to the deal (JCPOA) who hold meetings and talk with Iran, otherwise no negotiations will take place between the officials of the Islamic Republic and the Americans at any level, not in New York and not anywhere else.” 

U.S. President Donald Trump pulled out of the nuclear deal, formally known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), in May 2018. He has since imposed more than 1,000 individual sanctions on Tehran, which culminated with an oil embargo this May. Zarif himself is also sanctioned.

The U.S. Department of the Treasury on Friday slapped sanctions on the Central Bank of Iran and the country’s sovereign wealth fund, a move Trump described as the “highest level of sanctions”.

MH/PA