‘Not just the nuclear programme‘: Iran's dictator responds to Trump's letter
- Khamenei was never going to agree to negotiations
- Relentless executions: a sign of desperation
- Imminent nuclear threat
In response to the letter from the US president, Donald Trump, to the supreme leader of Iran, Ali Khamenei, in which he attempted to slow down the country's rapidly expanding nuclear programme, Khamenei responded in a meeting held during Ramadan and attended by current and former officials, declaring belligerently:
‘Some bullying governments insist on negotiations. But their aim is not to solve problems, but to impose their demands. For them, negotiations are a means to introduce new expectations. The problem is not only the nuclear programme; they keep raising new demands that Iran will undoubtedly not accept,’ the Ayatollah said.
Khamenei gave more details about these ‘new demands’, citing his country's ‘defensive capabilities’ — that is, its missile programme — and Iran's ‘international capabilities’ — that is, its various proxy forces throughout the region.
‘They tell us ‘Don't do this, don't meet with that person, don't go to that place, don't produce that item and don't allow the range of your missiles to exceed a certain limit’. Negotiations are about these issues,’ he said.
Khamenei was never going to agree to negotiations
From the outset, it was clear that Ali Khamenei would reject any negotiations. His regime has faced persistent resistance from the Iranian people for 45 years. In 1988 alone, 30,000 political prisoners were executed, but these brutal crackdowns failed to quell the opposition. To date, more than 100,000 political dissidents have been killed by this regime.
The Iranian regime has consistently pursued aggressive policies and used terrorism as a tool to mask its internal repression. Each time it feigned interest in negotiations, it was simply a ploy to buy time, ensuring the survival of both its nuclear programme and its regional forces.
Relentless executions: a sign of desperation
The Iranian regime has resorted to mass executions to repress growing public unrest. In 2024 alone, more than 1,000 people were executed, and in the first two months of the new year more than 100 additional executions were recorded. This brutal repression highlights both the regime's deep insecurity and the explosive state of Iranian society.
At the same time, the regime has accelerated its nuclear weapons programme, using it as a lever to threaten and blackmail the international community. Meanwhile, the Iranian Resistance has uncovered the regime's secret nuclear sites and exposed its covert plans.
Imminent nuclear threat
The alarming rate of executions is a clear sign of a society on the brink of uprising.
To further intimidate the world, the regime has stepped up its nuclear weapons programme. The Iranian Resistance has revealed classified details about these activities, revealing the extent of the regime's ambitions.
The so-called ‘Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action’, the 2015 nuclear agreement with the so-called ‘P5+1 nations’ (China, France, Germany, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States) only allowed the regime to come closer to acquiring a nuclear bomb.
As the leader of the Iranian Resistance, Maryam Rajavi, stated on Saturday in her speech to the large demonstration of the Iranian community in Washington D.C., ‘the first urgent step to prevent this warmongering, terrorist-exporting regime from acquiring a nuclear bomb is to completely dismantle its nuclear programme’.
Failure to do so would pose an immense threat to regional and global stability.
Hamid Enayat is an expert on Iran and an author and writer based in Paris, where he has written frequently on Iranian and regional issues for the past 30 years.
Article published in the newspaper WorldNetDaily