“In the current situation, resistance is the key [to success] because compromising will not only bear no positive results, but it also will inflict heavy costs upon us,” Ahmad Salek, a member of the Iranian Parliament’s Independent Velayee fraction told Mehr on Saturday.
The lawmaker referred to President Hassan Rouhani’s recent talks showing his conciliatory approach toward the US, saying, “Such approach will definitely lead to nowhere, and that is the reason we took the third step in reducing commitments under the nuclear deal.”
He attached a great importance to maintaining the current policy, saying, “We need to continue this path” to overcome the US’ hostilities.
“Those standing against the Islamic Republic have proved their dishonesty and unloyalty for many times, and any settlement with them will not bear any fruit,” he added.
On August 26, Rouhani expressed readiness to negotiate with “anyone” if that would help resolve Iran’s problems.
A day later, however, Rouhani ruled out the possibility of talks with Washington, saying the United States must lift all its cruel sanctions against Iran and begin respecting the nation’s rights as a “first step” towards dialogue.
On Saturday, Mojtaba Zonnour, the chairman of the National Security and Foreign Policy Committee of the Parliament said the committee had given a firm warning to Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif over Rouhani’s earlier stance toward holding talks with the US.
Zonnour said Rouhani’s remarks would only lead to economic instability and unsteadiness. “Mr. Rouhani made a grave mistake.”
“The establishment’s policy is that there’s no possibility of dialogue with the US at any level,” he said.
“When the president speaks like that, it will have echoes at the international level, while Mr. Rouhani is not the decision-maker in this regard.”
The issue of holding “talks with the US is related to the establishment’s macro-policies and Mr. Rouhani is in no position to recognize whether this should happen or not,” the top MP added.
The US, under Donald Trump, has occasionally shown its willingness to hold talks with Tehran, while abandoning the 2015 nuclear agreement with Iran and reimposing sanctions that the agreement had rescinded.
The idea of talks with Trump’s America has been firmly rejected by Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who has the final say in critical issues.
Back in June, Ayatollah Khamenei categorically rejected the possibility of talks between Iran and the U.S., saying the U.S. president is not worthy of having a dialogue with.
MNA/4713267
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