The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, is speaking during a meeting in Tehran, Iran, on October 20, 2025. REUTERS/Office of the Iranian Supreme Leader/WANA
The Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, on Monday, October 20, rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to resume nuclear negotiations. He also denied that the United States had destroyed Iran’s nuclear potential, a claim that had circulated on various platforms.
“Trump says that he is a master of deals, but if a deal is backed by coercion and its outcome is predetermined, then it is not a deal, but imposition and intimidation”
– Khamenei
Khamenei added that for the United States there is no difference between Iran with nuclear facilities and Iran without them: these are allegedly inappropriate, improper, and coercive terms that the United States would deem acceptable only in pursuit of its own interests.
Ahead of the Iranian leader’s address, the country and the United States held five rounds of indirect negotiations, during which they discussed the nuclear issue, but no substantial progress was achieved.
“The President of the United States proudly states that they bombed and destroyed Iran’s nuclear industry. Very good, keep dreaming!”
– Donald Trump
In September, Iranian President Masouda Pezeshkian said that the country would remain a party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, despite threats of renewed UN sanctions and pressure from some lawmakers.
In the early hours of June 22, American aviation carried out strikes on three Iranian nuclear facilities – Fordow, Natanz, and Isfahan. These facilities had previously also been targets of Israeli airstrikes. According to Trump, the main aim of the operation was to eliminate the nuclear threat from Iran, and he stated that the attacked facilities “were completely destroyed”.
The U.S. president warned that if Tehran does not come to peace – future strikes could be much larger in scale. At the same time, global media report an initial assessment of the consequences of the strikes by the American side: according to intelligence sources, the complete destruction of Iran’s nuclear program did not occur, underscoring the complexity of the situation.
The situation around the nuclear issue remains tense, with the prospect of new disputes between Tehran and Washington, as well as hope that dialogue can be resumed under certain conditions and circumstances.