Iran Will Only Negotiate With U.S. If Supreme Leader Gives Nod

(Bloomberg) -- Iran will only negotiate with the U.S. if the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei agrees to it, a minister said.“Negotiation between Iran and America will take place if the supreme leader gives the permission,” Intelligence Minister Mahmoud Alavi was cited as saying by state-run IRNA news agency on Thursday. “The U.S. president thought that sanctions would bring Iran to its knees but the Islamic Republic will not succumb to negotiations under the pressure of global arrogance.”Major state-run news agencies, including IRNA, later simultaneously ran a statement from the intelligence ministry denying that there was any mention of negotiations by the minister.Iran’s leaders, including Khamenei, have repeatedly refused to negotiate with the U.S. while under crippling sanctions.(Updates with denial in 3rd paragraph.)To contact the reporter on this story: Arsalan Shahla in Dubai at ashahla@bloomberg.netTo contact the editors responsible for this story: Shaji Mathew at shajimathew@bloomberg.net, Lin NoueihedFor more articles like this, please visit us at bloomberg.com©2019 Bloomberg L.P.

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