News / Foreign Policy

US sanctions, other pressure will bring Iran to table, Bolton claims

Tuesday, 25 June 2019 1:20 PM [ Last Update: Tuesday, 25 June 2019 5:28 PM ]

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (left) and US National Security Advisor John Bolton visit an old army outpost in Israel on June 23, 2019. (AFP photo)

US National Security Advisor John Bolton has claimed that Washington’s new sanctions and other pressure against Iran would lead it to enter negotiations with the United Sates.

“They’ll either get the point or ... we will simply enhance the maximum pressure campaign further,” he told reporters in Jerusalem al-Quds on Tuesday after meeting with Russian and Israeli officials, according to Reuters. “It will be, I think, the combination of sanctions and other pressure that does bring Iran to the table.”

American disarmament ambassador Robert Wood also said on Tuesday that the United States does not plan to start war Iran.

“We will not initiate a conflict against Iran, nor do we intend to deny Iran the right to defend its airspace but if Iran continues to attack us, our response will be decisive,” he said at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva.

On Monday, the White House introduced new sanctions that targeted Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and top Iranian military commanders. Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif was also going to be targeted by new sanctions, according to some reports.

Iran’s Foreign Ministry said the latest sanctions amounted to a "permanent closure of the path to diplomacy" with the Trump administration.

PressTV-Trump imposes new harsh sanctions on Iran

Trump has announced new sanctions against Iran targeting the office of Leader, Iran's foreign minister and senior IRGC commanders.

Earlier on Tuesday, Bolton said the United States was still looking forward to talks with Iran.

He said that the US remained open to negotiations.

"All that Iran needs to do is to walk through that open door," he said.

He claimed that Trump had more than once expressed readiness for direct negotiations but Iran had yet to respond.

"The president has held the door open to real negotiations," Bolton said. "In response, Iran's silence has been deafening.”

Despite Bolton’s claims, Iran has time and again made it clear that it would not sit down for talks with Washington as long as it continues its current hostile policies against the Islamic Republic.

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