Iran will pursue whatever secures its interest, government spokesperson Fatemeh Mohajerani said on Tuesday, when asked if there could be direct talks with the Trump administration.

“Whatever secures the country’s interest and values of the revolution will be pursued by the government,” Mohajerani told a journalist, according to the Iranian Student News Agency.

There have been no reports that Donald Trump or his team are planning any such talks as he prepares to return to the U.S. presidency.

Trump unilaterally pulled the U.S. out of Iran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers during his last term of office in 2018 and re-applied sanctions which severely impacted the Iranian economy.

“The maximum pressure campaign of Trump has failed, even if people have been burdened by it. What is important will be actions and not words, but we recommend Trump to take into account the failure of his past policies,” Mohajerani added.

Indirect talks between Washington and Tehran to revive the nuclear deal were initiated under the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden, but stalled. Iran is still formally part of the deal but has scaled back commitments to honour it due to U.S. sanctions reimposed on the Islamic Republic.

(Reuters)