Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on June 13, and, in a video of their meeting that was uploaded on the same day to Khamenei's official website, the Iranian leader said that he would not send any messages to US President Donald Trump because he did not view Trump as someone worthy of exchanging messages with him.
Khamenei also told Abe that the US and Trump are not capable of conducting fair negotiations with Iran and that Iran's problems cannot be resolved through negotiations with America. He added that the US is incapable of bringing down Iran's regime and that the US has no authority to say whether other countries should or shouldn't have nuclear weapons.
The comments were translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI).
The purpose of Abe’s visit to Iran was to discuss trade with Japan and US-Iran relations, after he had offered Trump help in dealing with Iran.
The Japanese premier’s trip to Tehran took place amid increased tensions between Iran and the United States, a year after Trump withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal between Iran and world powers and imposed several rounds of crippling sanctions on the Islamic Republic.
Iran announced last month it was suspending some of its commitments under the 2015 deal in response to the US withdrawal in May of last year.
Earlier this week, Iran said it would take further steps to scale back compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal.