President Hassan Rouhani of Iran on Tuesday called the White House “mentally retarded” and vowed that Tehran would not be intimidated by American threats and sanctions.
John Bolton, the White House national security adviser, separately accused Iran of being “a source of belligerence and aggression” across the Middle East.
Their remarks made it clear that Washington and Tehran remained locked in a standoff despite President Trump’s last-minute decision to call off a missile strike against Iran in retaliation for the downing of an American surveillance drone last week.
Mr. Trump ordered new sanctions this week that are intended to pressure Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and other senior Iranian officials this week. But on Tuesday, Mr. Rouhani dismissed the new penalties as pointless and vowed that Iran would not bow to American demands.
“Today, the Americans have become desperate and confused,” Mr. Rouhani said, speaking in a televised address. “This has made them take unusual measures and talk nonsense.”
Mr. Bolton, speaking at a meeting in Jerusalem with his Russian and Israeli counterparts, insisted that the Trump administration was ready to negotiate with Tehran to alleviate the tensions. But both sides appeared unwilling to bend from their demands.
The caustic tone of Mr. Rouhani’s remarks, in particular, further diminished the already remote prospects of talks to reach some accommodation.
Other Iranian officials have described the White House as “mentally retarded,” but Mr. Rouhani’s slinging of insults was significant because, in the context of the Iranian political system, he has been regarded as a moderate relatively open to negotiations with Washington.
The United States wants Iran to commit to a long list of new restrictions, including limits on any potential development of a nuclear weapon. Iran is refusing to hold talks until Washington lifts the economic sanctions that have crippled the Iranian economy.
Instead, Iran has said it will take steps that will soon exceed limits set in the 2015 nuclear deal that it reached with the United States, Russia, China and several European nations.
Iran has said that all of its nuclear work is for peaceful civilian purposes, but it had accepted limits on its nuclear efforts in exchange for sanctions relief under the agreement. Then Mr. Trump withdrew the United States from the deal last year in order to start his administration’s “maximum pressure” campaign, which is intended to force Iran into a more restrictive pact.
The Trump administration tightened its sanctions six weeks ago in an effort to cut off all international sales of Iran’s oil, the lifeblood of its economy, setting off a steep escalation in tensions.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told reporters in Kabul, Afghanistan, that he had not heard Mr. Rouhani’s remarks because he had been in meetings with Afghan officials all day. But he insisted that Mr. Trump would stick with the sanctions campaign.
“If your representation of what they said today is right, that’s a bit immature and childlike,” Mr, Pompeo said. “But know that the United States will remain steadfast in undertaking the actions that the president laid out in this strategy to create stability throughout the Middle East, which includes the campaign we have, the economic campaign, the pressure campaign that we have on the Islamic Republic of Iran.”
The United States has accused Iran of lashing back by using naval mines to damage six tankers in the waters of the Persian Gulf, allegations Mr. Rouhani has denied.
Iran, however, boasted last week of shooting down the American surveillance drone. The United States has said that the drone was in international air space, while Iran maintains that the aircraft was over its territory.
Nikolai Patrushev, Mr. Bolton’s Russian counterpart, supported Tehran’s account, the Russian news agency Interfax reported. “I have information from the Defense Ministry of the Russian Federation that the drone was in Iran’s airspace at the time,” Mr. Patrushev said on Tuesday in Jerusalem, where he was attending the same summit meeting as Mr. Bolton.
He did not explain how the Russian military knew the whereabouts of the drone and said he had not discussed the question with Iran. “We haven’t received any other evidence,” he added.
The sanctions added this week are intended to prevent Ayatollah Khamenei, Iran’s supreme leader, and other officials from entering the United States or using the international banking system. But the move is largely symbolic.
Mr. Rouhani ridiculed the effort, noting that the supreme leader never visits the United States or does business with it.
“Tehran’s strategic patience does not mean that we are afraid,” Mr. Rouhani said, according to the Mehr news agency. “We do not fear America, and have shown restraint so far.”
Trump administration officials have insisted that the United States is prepared to reopen negotiations with Iran as soon as Tehran is willing. But Mr. Trump has often sounded notably more flexible about such talks than the officials he has appointed to advise him, like Mr. Bolton, the national security adviser, and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.
On Tuesday, Mr. Bolton appeared to simultaneously invite Iran into negotiations while demanding complete capitulation.
Accusing Iran of a “continued pursuit of deliverable nuclear weapons” despite the deal reached in 2015, Mr. Bolton said that Mr. Trump now sought “real negotiations to completely and verifiably eliminate Iran’s nuclear weapons program, its pursuit of ballistic missile delivery systems, its support for international terrorism and its other malign behavior worldwide.”
“All that Iran needs to do is to walk through that open door,” Mr. Bolton said.
Mr. Rouhani and other Iranians have said the mixed messages and coercive tactics from the Trump administration belie its professed desire to negotiate.
Still, the history of the Trump administration’s foreign policy suggests that a sudden reversal remains a possibility, even after caustic barbs from a relative moderate like Mr. Rouhani.
Mr. Trump has at times shown a remarkable willingness to move past an exchange of insults. After President Trump threatened to destroy North Korea with “fire and fury,” the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un, responded by calling Mr. Trump “mentally deranged” and a “dotard.” Months later, the two leaders met for face-to-face talks.
2019-06-25 14:45:43Z
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