Iran's elite Revolutionary Guards called US President Donald Trump "evil and adventurous" on Tuesday for waging an economic war against Tehran, according to a statement published on state media.
Trump pulled out of an international nuclear deal with Iran in May, and has since started reinstating economic penalties and pressing other countries to stop buying Iranian oil.
US President Donald Trump's twitter screenshot. /CGTN Photo
Trump said in July he was ready to meet Iran's President Hassan Rouhani without preconditions to negotiate a new deal.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated the offer on Sunday and expanded it to Supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei, telling Fox News: "That's who's running the show in Iran. I think that would be an important and interesting conversation."
President Rouhani, seen as a moderate, has stopped short of ruling out meetings between the two countries. But he has come under increasing pressure from hardliners, including the Guards, since Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear accord.
Members of Iran's Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC) march during the annual military parade marking the anniversary of the outbreak of the devastating 1980-1988 war with Saddam Hussein's Iraq, in the capital Tehran on Sept. 22, 2018. /VCG Photo
Asked about the offer of talks, Khamenei's top aide, Ali Akbar Velayati, said "Trump's and Pompeo's dream would never come to reality," according to the IRNA news agency.
Trump later responded in his twitter that he has no plans to meet Iranian president but "maybe someday in the future".
The Revolutionary Guards' statement read: "The evil and adventurous American president has focused on an economic war and cruel sanctions to deviate the Iranian nation from the revolutionary values and its national interests."
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani (2nd-R) and Vice President Eshaq Jahangiri (R) and Ali Akbar Velayati (2nd-L), foreign policy advisor to Iran supreme leader, during a farewell ceremony at the Mehrabad airport in Tehran, shortly before leaving Tehran for the UN General Assembly in New York on Sept. 23, 2018. /VCG Photo
Iran curbed its nuclear activities in exchange for sanctions relief in the 2015 nuclear accord. Trump pulled out, saying the agreement did not go far enough.
But the other countries that signed it - who think the pact offers the best chance of stopping Iran developing a nuclear bomb - agreed on Monday to keep working to support the deal and maintain trade with Tehran.
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Separately, the Guards also said the Saturday's attack on a military parade that killed 25 people was a “miscalculation by the enemies as this crime has only made the Iranian nation more united.”
Federica Mogherini (L), European Union's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, and Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif attend a ministerial meeting of the P5+1 countries (Russia, China, United Kingdom, France and Germany) and Iran held on the sidelines of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly at the United Nations headquarters on Sept. 25, 2018. /VCG Photo
Iran accused the United States of supporting the assailants who carried out the attack, but Washington has denied any prior knowledge of the incident.
(With inputs from Reuters)