TEHRAN — Iran will never hold talks with the terrorist administration of Donald Trump even if America lifts the sanctions, an Iranian lawmaker said on Monday.

“Given the recent atrocity committed by the U.S. as a terrorist state which is headed by a person named Trump, we will never and under no conditions hold negotiations with the U.S.,” said Alaeddin Boroujerdi, Mehr reported.

Boroujerdi, a member of the Majlis National Security and Foreign Policy Committee, said the United States has officially introduced state terrorism by committing an unforgivable sin against the Iranian nation and the Islamic Republic.

He was referring to the U.S. assassination of top Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in a drone strike in Iraq. The strike was ordered by Trump. Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the second-in-command of Iraq’s Popular Mobilization Units (PMU), and several others were also killed in the attack.

Boroujerdi’s remarks came a few days after Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said the Trump administration “can correct its past, lift the sanctions and come back to the negotiating table. We’re still at the negotiating table.”

“The U.S. has inflicted great harm on the Iranian people. The day will come when they will have to compensate for that. We have a lot of patience,” Zarif said in an interview with Der Spiegel published on Friday.

Zarif’s remarks provoked a fierce backlash within Iran, especially after Trump said in a tweet on Saturday, “Iranian Foreign Minister says Iran wants to negotiate with The United States, but wants sanctions removed. @FoxNews @OANN No Thanks!”

Trump also posted the same tweet in Persian.

The Iranian foreign Minister, however, responded to Trump on Sunday, saying Trump should base his foreign policy comments and decisions on facts, rather than Fox News headlines or his Farsi translators.

He also posted an image of part of his Der Spiegel interview to show how Trump had misstated him.

Later in the day, Zarif said in another tweet, “@realDonaldTrump is still dreaming about a bilateral meeting—to satisfy HIS lust for a ‘Trump deal’. It’s wishful thinking. The only possible venue for talks is at the P5+1 table—which HE left—reverting to pre-2017, AND compensating Iran for damages.”

Trump unilaterally quit the nuclear deal in May 2018 and introduced the harshest ever sanctions in history on Iran as part of his administration’s “maximum pressure” strategy against Iran.

In response to this move, on May 8, 2019, Iran announced that its “strategic patience” is over and started to gradually reduce its commitments to the JCPOA at bi-monthly intervals. At the time Iran announced if the European parties to the deal take concrete steps to shield Iran’s economy from the U.S. sanctions it will reverse its decision.

However, seeing no action by the Europeans, on January 5 Iran took the last and final step by removing all limits on its nuclear activities.

MH/PA