Iran pushed back against President Donald Trump Wednesday (February 25) ahead of scheduled talks about its nuclear program in Geneva, claiming his comments made during his State of the Union speech were “big lies,” but also acknowledged that an agreement could be reached through “honorable diplomacy.”
Trump issued a warning to Iran during his State of the Union address Tuesday (February 24) night as the United States has assembled its biggest deployment of aircraft and warships in the Middle East in decades as it weighs whether to carry out new military action. Iranian Foreign ministry spokesman Esmail Baghaei compared Trump to Joseph Goebbels, who served as Adolf Hitler‘s propaganda minster, accusing the president’s administration of launching a “disinformation & misinformation campaign” against Iran.
“Whatever they’re alleging in regards to Iran’s nuclear program, Iran’s ballistic missiles, and the number of casualties during January’s unrest is simply the repetition of ‘big lies,’” Baghaei wrote on X via the Associated Press.
Trump said that Iran had “already developed missiles that can threaten Europe and our bases overseas,” while also claiming that at least 32,000 people were killed in Iranian protests. The U.S.-based Human Rights Activist News Agency has estimated more than 7,000 people have been killed in the Iranian protests, but acknowledged that the death toll is likely higher.
Iran’s parliament speaker Mohammad Bagher Qalibaf issued a separate response to Trump claiming the U.S. could attempt diplomacy in Geneva or face the country’s wrath.
“If you choose the table of diplomacy — a diplomacy in which the dignity of the Iranian nation and mutual interests are respected — we will also be at that table,” Qalibaf said, according to the semiofficial Student News Network, which is suspected to be close to the all-volunteer Basij force of Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, via the Associated Press. “But if you decide to repeat past experiences through deception, lies, flawed analysis and false information, and launch an attack in the midst of negotiations, you will undoubtedly taste the firm blow of the Iranian nation and the country’s defensive forces.”
Iran and the United States are scheduled for their latest round of nuclear negotiations in Geneva on Thursday (February 26).
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