IRGC commander: negotiating with the US is irrational, impossible

Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps Brigadier General Ahmad Vahidi told Iranian Tasnim News Agency on Monday that Iran’s missile power and defense capabilities will not be subject to negotiations.

“Negotiating defense capabilities would be like making our homeland an easy target for our enemies,” Vahidi told the news agency close to the IRGC, “no sane mind will accept this and no country in the world is willing to negotiate its defense capabilities. Iran is no exception,” he added.

He also emphasized that “negotiating with the US, especially with its current government, is irrational and impossible.”

On Sunday, Deputy Chief of the Army for Coordination Rear Admiral Sayyari had also stressed that Iran’s missile power would be never subject to negotiations.

“We declare explicitly that Iran’s defense and missile power is absolutely non-negotiable,” said Sayyari, speaking to Tasnim News Agency.

Tensions have spiked in recent weeks between Tehran and Washington, which last year pulled out of a landmark Iran nuclear accord and imposed tough sanctions on the Islamic republic.

But Washington’s top diplomat appeared to soften the US stance on Sunday, saying “we are prepared to engage in a conversation with no preconditions.”

Washington is “certainly prepared to have (a) conversation when the Iranians will prove they are behaving like a normal nation,” Pompeo said in Switzerland, which represents Washington’s interests in Iran in the absence of bilateral relations.

Pompeo, however, gave no indication that lifting sanctions would be on the table.

On Saturday, Rouhani insisted that Iran would not be “bullied” into talks with the United States, saying “total respect” was needed for negotiations to take place.