• Trump says last week he’d written to Iran’s leaders.
• Khamenei says Iran would not be bullied into talks.
• US president has reinstated maximum pressure campaign.

DUBAI: A letter from US President Donald Trump to Iran’s clerical establishment has been delivered by Anwar Gargash, diplomatic adviser to the president of the United Arab Emirates, Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson and state media said on Wednesday.

Trump, who said last week he had sent a letter to Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei proposing talks on a nuclear deal, has warned that “there are two ways Iran can be handled: militarily, or you make a deal” that prevents Tehran from acquiring nuclear weapons.

Khamenei, who has the final word in Iranian state matters, promptly responded that Tehran would not be bullied into talks with “excessive demands” and threats.

On Tuesday, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian said Tehran would not negotiate with threats hanging over its head, telling Trump in an outburst to “do whatever the hell you want”, Iranian state media reported.

Gargash met Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi on Wednesday, Iranian state media said. Iranian foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei did not give details about the meeting.

The UAE, one of Washington’s key Middle East security partners and host to US troops, also maintains warm ties with Tehran. Despite past tensions, business and trade links between the two countries have remained strong, with Dubai serving as a key commercial hub for Iran for more than a century.

While leaving the door open for a nuclear pact with Tehran, Trump has reinstated the “maximum pressure” campaign he applied in his first term as president to isolate Iran from the global economy and drive its oil exports towards zero.

In 2018, Trump exited Tehran’s 2015 nuclear deal with world powers and reimposed sanctions that have crippled its economy. Tehran reacted a year later by violating the deal’s nuclear curbs.

‘New and Bizarre’

Iran has long denied wanting to develop a nuclear weapon. However, its stock of uranium enriched to up to 60% purity, close to the roughly 90% weapons-grade level, has jumped, the International Atomic Energy Agency said late last month.

Separately, Araqchi denounced a closed-door UN Security Council meeting on Wednesday about Iran’s nuclear work as a new process that puts into question the goodwill of states requesting it.

Six of the council’s 15 members — France, Greece, Panama, South Korea, Britain and the US — requested the meeting over Iran’s expansion of its stock of close to weapons-grade uranium.

Araqchi said that Iran would soon have a fifth round of talks with France, Britain and Germany — parties to Iran’s 2015 nuclear pact.

The Chinese foreign ministry said on Wednesday that China and Russia will hold talks with Iranian officials in Beijing on Friday to discuss the “Iranian nuclear issue”.

“Our talks with Europeans have been ongoing and will continue … however, any decision by the UN Security Council or board of governors of the UN nuclear watchdog to pressure us will put under question the legitimacy of these talks,” Araqchi said according to state media.