Iran’s Larijani refutes claims Tehran pushed to resume US talks

Al Jazeera · Mar 2, 2026 · Collected from RSS

Full Article

The comments come after US media reported a diplomatic push after the killing of Iran’s supreme leader.Published On 2 Mar 2026The secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Ali Larijani, has refuted media reports in the United States claiming he had made a new push to resume nuclear talks with Washington, as Israel and the US have continued attacks on Tehran.“We will not negotiate with the United States,” he wrote in a post on X on Monday.Recommended Stories list of 3 itemslist 1 of 3Israel bombs Beirut after Hezbollah launches rocket attacklist 2 of 3Iraqi police disperse pro-Iran protesters near US embassylist 3 of 3Poll suggests only a quarter of Americans support attacks on Iranend of listThe statement came after The Wall Street Journal claimed Larijani made the push through Omani mediators following the killing of Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei in a joint attack by the US and Israel on Saturday.In a separate post on X, Larijani said Trump had plunged the Middle East into chaos with his “delusional fantasies and now fears more American casualties”.“He turned his self-made ‘America First’ slogan into ‘Israel First’ and sacrificed American soldiers for Israel’s power-hungry ambitions,” Larijani said.It is American soldiers and their families who will pay the cost, he said, adding that Iran will continue to defend itself.At least three service members were killed in an operation against Iran on Sunday, the US Central Command (CENTCOM) confirmed in a statement, and five others were “seriously wounded”.The US and Israel continued with their attacks across Iran on Monday, the third day of a campaign that US President Donald Trump says is aimed at removing Iran’s government from power.Iran has responded to the assault with attacks targeting US assets across the Middle East, raising fears of a wider regional war.Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi sent a letter to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the UN Security Council decrying the killing of Khamenei as a “cowardly act of terror” and describing the attacks as a “dangerous and unprecedented escalation that strikes at the most fundamental norms of statehood and civilised conduct among nations”.Al Jazeera’s Rosiland Jordan, reporting from Washington DC., said there had been conflicting messages from within the administration of US President Donald Trump on any possible off-ramps after three days of conflict.“At one turn the president will suggest the possibility that negotiations could resume, and in the next breath either he or one of his unnamed aids will say that this military campaign will continue, not for days but perhaps for several weeks until all goals are achieved,” Jordan said.The reporter added that while Washington’s objectives remain unclear, some answers may be provided at 13:00 GMT, when US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Dan Caine will speak to the press for the first time since the launch of the military offensive on Iran.US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will also be at Capitol Hill on Monday and Tuesday to brief legislators about the intelligence leading up to the decision to go to war against Iran. “Up until now, there has not been a full and clear public explanation and we expect to start hearing some answers starting Monday morning,” Jordan said.